Wanning Sun

Social cohesion has been identified as a key element of Australia's national interest, underpinning Australia's prosperity and security. The media play an important role in building social cohesion. This presentation discusses how exposure to media content about the PRC and Chinese-Australian communities impact on Australia’s social cohesion objectives. The discussion draws on data from recent focus group meetings, a large quantitative survey, and in-depth interviews with twenty individuals. 

About the Speaker

Wanning Sun is Deputy Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute and a Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Technology Sydney. A fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities since 2016, she is a member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts (2020-2023). As an academic researcher, Wanning is best known for her ethnography of rural-to-urban migration in China, and for her study of transnational and diasporic Chinese media. Over the past two decades, Wanning has spearheaded global diasporic Chinese-language media as an distinct area of research. Her recent work in this area includes WeChat and the Chinese Diaspora (2022) and Digital Transnationalism: Chinese-language Media in Australia (2023). Her latest report on first-generation PRC migrants and social cohesion can be found here. She also writes a monthly column for Crikey.

The ANU China Seminar Series is supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World at ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.