Jun Liu
Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
September-December 2012. Hosted by Fred Turner, Dept of Communication
My research examines the use of the mobile phone in contentious politics in contemporary China. Drawing on Negt and Kluge’s conceptual framework of the counter-public sphere, my study addresses the role of the mobile phone in guaranteeing the right to communication, which not only articulates the lived experiences of social and political exclusion but also ensures a relatively independent communicative sphere for counter-publics beyond the dominant public sphere in China. During my stay at H-STAR, I am focusing on the idea of “liberation technology,” social movement, and democratization in authoritarian regimes.