Helen Hess, M.A.
Teaching and Research Assistant Chinese Studies
Room number: ZUB 3-320
Table of contents
Short Biography
| 2018 – present | Ph.D. in Chinese Studies, University of Zurich Doctoral scholarship by the Janggen-Pöhn-Stiftung Thesis (working title): “Identities, Memories, Visions – An Intersectional Analysis of Contemporary Ma-Hua Fiction” |
| 2016 – 2018 | Student Assistant Chinese Studies (Modern China), University of Zurich |
| 2015 – 2018 | M.A. in Chinese Studies and Gender Studies, University of Zurich Thesis: “(De-)Konstruktion weiblicher Subjektpositionen im zeitgenössischen chinesischen Kontext – Eine transmediale Diskursanalyse literarischer und filmischer Werke” |
| 2013 – 2014 | Semester abroad General Linguistics and Chinese Studies, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris |
| 2011 – 2012 | Chinese language program, Guangxi University for Nationalities, Nanning (full scholarship by the China Scholarship Council) and The Central Academy of Drama, Beijing |
| 2010 – 2015 | B.A. in Chinese Studies and General Linguistics, University of Zurich |
Research Interests
- Literature and visual culture across the Sinosphere
- Contemporary Sinophone Malaysian (“Ma-Hua”) fiction
- Chinese diaspora (histories, memories, identities, spaces)
- China and/in Southeast Asia
- Gender Studies and transnational feminism
Publications
Hess, Helen. Conference Report: Wired China: Digital Media and Online Culture. 27.11.2020 – 28.01.2020, digital, in: H-Soz-Kult, 05.02.2021, www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-8870.
Hess, Helen. Book review: “Chan, Shelly: Diaspora’s Homeland. Modern China in the Age of Global Migration. Durham: Duke University Press, 2018.” In: Asien: The German Journal of Contemporary Asia, Nr. 152/153 (Juli/Oktober 2019): 156–158.
Courses Taught
| Fall semester 2021 | “Methoden der Text- und Kulturanalyse: Einführung” (Methods of Text and Cultural Analysis: Introduction), BA course, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich |
| Fall semester 2020 | “Methoden der Text- und Kulturanalyse: Einführung” (Methods of Text and Cultural Analysis: Introduction), BA course, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich |
| Fall semester 2018 | “Sinophone Gemeinschaften in Südostasien” (Sinophone Communities in Southeast Asia), BA/MA lecture, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich |
Conferences and Talks
| 24–28/08/2021 | “Qu(e)er(y)ing Gender Roles in Singaporean and Malaysian Literature,” 23rd Biennial Conference of the European Association of Chinese Studies, Leipzig (online) |
| 14–17/07/2021 | “Negotiating Women’s Space – An Intersectional Reading of Female-Authored Sinophone Malaysian Fiction,” 16th Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies, Asia Research Institute, University of Singapore, online |
| 31/05–01/06/2021 | “Spectral Encounters in Sinophone Malaysian Women’s Literature, Film, and Art,” 9. Schweizerische Nachwuchstagung der Schweizerischen Asien- und Orientwissenschaften, University of Geneva, online |
| 07, 08, 15/05/2021 | “Envisioning Digital Art Spaces in the Contact Zone: (In-)Visibility of Sinophone Malaysian Women Artists During the Covid-19 Crisis,” 10th Conference of the Young Scholars Group of the German Association for Asian Studies (DGA), online conference |
| 27–28/11/2020 | “Art Without Borders? Sino-Malaysian Art Spaces in the Age of Digital Culture,” International Online Workshop: Wired China: Digital Media and Online Culture, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich |
| 09/09/2020 | Co-organization of a session (incl. presentation) on decolonial and intersectional approaches to analysis and evaluation processes, Research retreat: Situating Knowledge, Inter-University Gender Studies Doctoral Program, University of Basel |
| 20/05/2019 | “Intersektionale Identitäten, unbehagliche Erinnerungen und quere Visionen in sinophoner malaysischer Kunst,” lecture series Zugänge zur Sinologie, Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich |
| 7–9/11/2019 | “Contested Territories and Fragile Identities – Memories of the Malayan Emergency in Sinophone Malaysian Fiction,” PhD workshop: Across the Strait – Sinophone Literature from the 19th Century to the Contemporary Ages, Roma Tre University, Rome |
| 16–19/07/2019 | “Deconstructing Utopia in (Sinophone) Ma-Hua Cultural Productions,” ICAS 11 (International Convention of Asian Studies), Leiden University |
| 8–11/11/2018 | “Haunting Memories and Rewriting History – Representations of the Malayan Emergency in Literature and Visual Art,” PhD workshop: Chinese History after 1949, University of Vienna |
Memberships
- DGA (German Association of Asian Studies): Spokesperson of the DGA Young Scholars Group
- EACS (European Association of Chinese Studies): Member
- AAS (Association of Asian Studies): Member