The series of research projects and events is part of our mission to facilitate global dialogues: making intersectional space for studying intersectionality and race in and with China and Japan.
Recognising that research on racism is inherently intersectional, and mindful of the significant body of scholarship addressing gender, sexism, and discrimination in China and Japan, GRIST’s collaborative series of research projects and events seeks to experiment with a conversational format that bridges critical perspectives on race and gender.
Global dialogues: making intersectional space for studying gender and race in and with Japan
The collaboration with the University of Tokyo began in March 2025 with a panel titled “Global dialogues: making intersectional space for studying gender and race in and with Japan.” It brought together researchers working on issues of inequality and oppression in and with Japan, with a primary focus on gender and race, while prioritising intersectionality as both a method and a perspective.
Scholars from the Universities of Tokyo, Ritsumeikan, Kansai Gaidai, Kobe, Keio, and Cambridge came together to collectively assess the current landscape of intersectional research on race and gender in Japan. Drawing on research and analyses from Mexico and Latin America, the session also explored opportunities for co-developing new research trajectories, collaborative programs, and experimental initiatives.
Panellists
Mónica G. Moreno Figueroa, Akiko Shimizu, Sachi Takaya, Kazuyoshi Kawasaka, Tomomi Yamaguchi, Yasuko Takezawa, Christopher Tso, Hiroki Ogasawara and Aki Son-Katada.
Website
Race and gender studies in China
GRIST also supports and hosts research projects led by PhD students at the Department of Sociology with the focus on gender and race studies in China.
Yiyun Bai: An Intersectional Study of Chinese Women’s Transnational Reproduction and the Making of Assisted Hun-Xue-Er
A study of the complex interplay of race, gender, and national identity within the context of transnational assisted reproduction. In particular, how Chinese single women and lesbian couples navigate the selection of gamete donors abroad, revealing how racialised ideals—particularly the allure of ‘proximity to whiteness’—shape their choices in ways that perpetuate prevailing racial orders.
Yue Zhong: An Ethnography of the Lived Experiences of Chinese–African Couples in Contemporary China.
This project explores the everyday lived experiences of Chinese–African couples in contemporary China, focusing on how interracial intimacy is experienced, negotiated, and interpreted across different social contexts. It examines how Chinese perceptions of Blackness intersect with gender, class, and nationality, and how these perceptions shape couples’ daily lives and social interactions. The research draws on a multi-method ethnographic approach, combining in-depth interviews, participant observation, and analysis of online discussions and social media content to understand both how these couples live their relationships and how they are perceived within wider Chinese society.
Tianran Qin: Representation of Women in Chinese Television: The Predicament of the “Big Heroine”
An intersectional analysis of the structural tensions between gender, class, and race/ethnicity in “Big Heroine” dramas (shows that revolve around the growth and success of a main female character), and the ways in which these superficial representations can be a symptom of deeper sociocultural tensions.
Ziqi Yin: Reassessing Intersectionality Through Micro Realities: A Case Study of Chinese Female Migrant Workers in a Chengdu Electronics Factory
A study of the lived experiences of young rural-urban female migrant workers in China, a group traditionally viewed through the lens of triple oppression—class, gender, and rural-urban disparity.
Hao Li: Investigating the Role of Childbearing as an Existential Milestone in China
Against a backdrop of declining fertility rates and recent policy shifts, this study considers the intersection of individual agency and cultural norms in relation to childbearing aspirations, particularly across gender, socioeconomic status, and education.
Jing Jyng Chang: Racial Grammar Without Racial Language: Suzhi, Everyday Enforcement, and Racialised Hierarchies in Contemporary China
This research examines how racism operates in contemporary China through Suzhi 素质 ( roughly translates to ‘human quality’ in English), which ranks people by ethnicity, class, and gender using the language of education and cultural refinement rather than explicit racial categories, naturalising hierarchy as personal merit. Using photovoice methodology with educated unmarried women in China, the project investigates how this hidden racial grammar is enforced through the pressures of everyday life, focusing on those who reproduce it without recognising themselves as doing so.
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