Authoritarian Absorption: The Transnational Remaking of Infectious Disease Politic in China

Wednesday, 31 October 2024 | 14:00 to 16:00 EST | Room 305, Third Floor, York Lanes, Keele Campus, York University

With Yan Long (University of California, Berkeley)

Discussants:

• Anna M Agathangelou, Department of Politics, York University
• Eric Mykhalovskiy, Department of Sociology, York University

Drawing from years of fieldwork and research, Dr Long’s book, Authoritarian Absorption: The Transnational Remaking of Infectious Disease Politic in China (Oxford University Press 2024), analyzes the evolving relations between infectious disease and authoritarian state-building by tracing the evolution of public health systems in China. She focuses on how foreign interventions drove the formation of Chinese public health technocrats between 1978 and 2018 by highlighting the interactions between transnational organizations, Chinese health departments, and local social movements. In the book, she also studies topics such as why social health insurance reform fails in the Global South. Her analyses examine how local cultural discourses and community relationships around gender and class mediate the impact of institutional reform on individual health-seeking behaviours.

Dr. Yan Long is Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of California, Berkeley.

This is a hybrid event. Virtual attendees can register at this link.