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From Women’s Space to Gendering the Public Sphere : Ai Xiaoming’s Practice of Everyday Life and Activism

Zeng, Jinyan LU and Xu, Xibai (2024) p.353-368
Abstract
How do Chinese activists and intellectuals continue to make a social impact under heightened repression? In particular, how do female activists and intellectuals cope with political repression in addition to the structural gender bias already present in Chinese society? This chapter examines the life and activism of feminist scholar and independent filmmaker Ai Xiaoming. Despite being banned from public life by the Chinese authorities, Ai has made creative use of her residential spaces for social causes while fulfilling her traditional gendered role as the main caregiver in the family. In doing so, she has redrawn the boundaries between the personal and the political, transformed domestic space into semi-public space, created virtual and... (More)
How do Chinese activists and intellectuals continue to make a social impact under heightened repression? In particular, how do female activists and intellectuals cope with political repression in addition to the structural gender bias already present in Chinese society? This chapter examines the life and activism of feminist scholar and independent filmmaker Ai Xiaoming. Despite being banned from public life by the Chinese authorities, Ai has made creative use of her residential spaces for social causes while fulfilling her traditional gendered role as the main caregiver in the family. In doing so, she has redrawn the boundaries between the personal and the political, transformed domestic space into semi-public space, created virtual and counter-public spaces, and reinvented the social meaning of her gendered role. As an example of ‘the personal is political’, Ai’s story highlights the gendered bias of the public sphere and invites us to rethink the domestic and the private as spaces where Chinese female intellectuals can make important social interventions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Ai Xiaoming, China, gender, intellectual, space/sphere, practice, activism
host publication
Routledge Handbook of Chinese Gender and Sexuality
editor
Zhao, Jamie J. and Bao, Hongwei
pages
16 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85192585697
ISBN
9781003273943
DOI
10.4324/9781003273943-28
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8490cd7c-a3f5-42a8-b7e0-8cfcc26c8f9b
date added to LUP
2023-01-12 16:03:44
date last changed
2024-06-10 15:08:04
@inbook{8490cd7c-a3f5-42a8-b7e0-8cfcc26c8f9b,
  abstract     = {{How do Chinese activists and intellectuals continue to make a social impact under heightened repression? In particular, how do female activists and intellectuals cope with political repression in addition to the structural gender bias already present in Chinese society? This chapter examines the life and activism of feminist scholar and independent filmmaker Ai Xiaoming. Despite being banned from public life by the Chinese authorities, Ai has made creative use of her residential spaces for social causes while fulfilling her traditional gendered role as the main caregiver in the family. In doing so, she has redrawn the boundaries between the personal and the political, transformed domestic space into semi-public space, created virtual and counter-public spaces, and reinvented the social meaning of her gendered role. As an example of ‘the personal is political’, Ai’s story highlights the gendered bias of the public sphere and invites us to rethink the domestic and the private as spaces where Chinese female intellectuals can make important social interventions.}},
  author       = {{Zeng, Jinyan and Xu, Xibai}},
  booktitle    = {{Routledge Handbook of Chinese Gender and Sexuality}},
  editor       = {{Zhao, Jamie J. and Bao, Hongwei}},
  isbn         = {{9781003273943}},
  keywords     = {{Ai Xiaoming; China; gender; intellectual; space/sphere; practice; activism}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  pages        = {{353--368}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  title        = {{From Women’s Space to Gendering the Public Sphere : Ai Xiaoming’s Practice of Everyday Life and Activism}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003273943-28}},
  doi          = {{10.4324/9781003273943-28}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}