Dr. Lili Lai

Biography

Lili Lai is an Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2009 and then completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Sociology and Anthropology at Peking University, where she joined the School of Health Humanities in 2011. Her research interests focus on the body, everyday life, and medical practices, particularly in the context of ethnographic and interdisciplinary studies in North and Southwest China. Lai has conducted extensive research on health-related issues in both rural and urban areas, sensitively engaging with the everyday social lives of communities. Her 2016 book, "Hygiene, Sociality and Culture in Contemporary Rural China," challenges conventional generalizations about rural populations in China. She is also co-author of the 2021 book, "Gathering Medicines: Nation and Knowledge in China’s Mountain South," which discusses the development of ethnic medical systems and the historical anthropology of cultural production in national contexts. Her work includes examining assisted reproductive technologies and the intersection of scientific knowledge with traditional practices regarding fertility.

Research Interests