Dr. Helen Siu

Biography

Helen F. Siu is an Emerita Professor of Anthropology at Yale University and chair of the Council on East Asian Studies. She has conducted decades of fieldwork in Southern China, focusing on agrarian change, commerce, the nature of the socialist state, and the refashioning of identities. Recently, her research has expanded to explore the rural-urban interface in China, inter-Asian connections, and China-Africa encounters, as well as the role of popular music in the new political landscape of Hong Kong. Professor Siu has served on various funding research assessment committees across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Furthermore, she is the founding director of the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, underscoring her commitment to cross-disciplinary research and global collaborations. Notable publications include 'Asia' (2015, 2019, Harvard University Press), 'Tracing China: Forty Year Ethnographic Journey' (2016, HKU Press), and the article 'Financing China’s Engagements in Africa: New State Spaces and a Variegated Landscape' (2019, Africa). Her editorial contributions include several works that investigate Asia's itinerant populations and cultural exchanges.

Research Interests