EVENTS

This Wednesday Seminar presentation examines the Chinese diaspora in the United States through the dynamic frames of belonging, identity, and the PRC’s engagement with overseas Chinese communities. It asks how China’s diaspora policies have evolved beyond questions of citizenship and nationality, and how the idea of shared civilisation has become a part of this engagement. The presentation situates these developments within the broader political and social context of the United States, where Chinese diaspora communities have developed their own networks, institutions and forms of political and civic participation. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the United States, the talk focuses on community organisations and non-profit associations to examine how these actors negotiate their relationships with both China and the United States. It argues that the Chinese diaspora cannot be understood simply as an extension of the Chinese state or as a homogeneous community. Its political agency is shaped through interactions between state policies, community institutions and the broader US political environment. These interactions also reveal how questions of belonging and identity are negotiated within the context of Sino-US relations.

Speaker

Himadree Sonowal is a researcher working on China, the Chinese diaspora, migration, and Sino-US relations. She holds a PhD from the Centre for East Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where her doctoral research, based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the United States, examined the Chinese diaspora in the United States and its role in Sino-US relations. Her research interests include diaspora governance, transnationalism, civilisational ties, migration, and China’s engagement with overseas Chinese communities. She is currently a visiting scholar at Sichuan University under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Fellowship.

Chair

Rityusha Mani Tiwary is Associate Professor, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi and an Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. She is also the Associate Editor of China Report and holds a Ph.D in Chinese Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her current research focuses on the interplay of leadership, power and hegemony in East Asia and China’s role in shaping regionalism across political economy and foreign policy. She was the recipient of the Visiting Program for Young Sinologists in 2017, awarded by the Ministry of Culture, People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing. She was earlier awarded the International Visitor Leadership Program by the Department of State, USA, in 2016 and Pavate Fellowship at the Politics and International Studies Department, University of Cambridge, UK, in 2013. She was a Visiting Scholar at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and a Visiting Researcher at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies.

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