Department of Anthropology and Sociology

Hsiao-Chen J. Lin

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Key information

Department: Department of Anthropology and Sociology
Qualifications: BA in Visual Critical Studies (School of the Art Institute of Chicago), MPhil in Social Anthropology (University of Oxford, distinction)
Thesis title: The Divine Mountain that Protects the Nation: The Impact of the Semiconductor Industry on Taiwanese Ideas of Defence and War
Internal Supervisors: Professor Catherine Dolan

Biography

Lin holds an MPhil in Social Anthropology from the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford (Green Templeton College). Their also hold a BA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Visual Critical Studies and a Senmonshi degree from Osaka Designers’ College in Computer Graphics and Game Design.

Research interests

Lin is currently researching the politicisation of Taiwan-China trade relations and its multifarious meanings through investigating the semiconductor industry in Taiwan, also known as ‘silicone shield’ and ‘the divine mountain that protects the nation’ (hùguóshénshān) for its speculative ability to defend. Lin developed their academic interest in economic trade as part of everyday practices with political implications in their MPhil thesis project (University of Oxford) studying Chinese ‘cotton dolls’ (miánhuawáwa) being traded in Taiwan.

Lin is also interested in the cyber flow of border-crossing popular culture and the consequent formation of subversive and creative online communities that resist state powers and influences. Lin has presented at academic symposia on topics including Taiwanese-related videogames such as Devotion, Detention, and Butterfly Soup in the form of critical cultural studies and translation studies.