Professor Paola Voci completed a B.A. Honours in Chinese Language and Literature, Venice University, a Diploma in Film Theory and Practice, Beijing Film Academy, a MA in East Asian Studies, Indiana University, and a PhD in Chinese, Indiana University. She has served as The New Zealand Asian Studies Society, President (2015–2017).
Her area of study combines East Asian Studies (in particular, Chinese language and culture), film and media studies, visual culture, and digital culture. In particular, her research has focused on documentary, animation, and other hybrid digital video practices in contemporary China. Her current research on handmade cinema, shadow play and animation expands from her conceptualisation of light amateur, vernacular creative practices to rethink the past of digital cultures.
She is the author of China on Video (Routledge 2010, 2012), a book that analyses and theorises light movies made for and viewed on computer and mobile screens, and the co-editor of Screening China's Soft Power (Routledge, 2017), a book focusing on the role played by film and media in shaping China's global image.
She has published in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture,Journal of Chinese Cinemas, Screening the Past, Senses of Cinema,New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, and Bianco e Nero. Her work also appears in several edited collections of essays, such as The New Chinese Documentary Movement and The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Cinemas.
Teaching
Paola teaches and coordinates:
GLBL 202/302 A World of Stories: Global Storytelling in the Digital Age
Paola welcomes applications from research students with a disciplinary focus in film & media studies, a regional focus on Chinese/Sinophone contexts, and an interdisciplinary interest in global perspectives.
Chinese Studies:
Chinese cinemas (Hong Kong, PRC, Taiwan, and the Chinese diasporas)
Imogen Walker, "Bromance: Re-mediating gender and sexuality in contemporary Chinese culture and society”, November 2017
Samantha Steel, “The Adventures of Children in the May Fourth Movement: “The Child” in Early 20th Century China”, June 2015
Ishbel McLachlan, From Tianshu to Dishu: How “Chinese is Chinese Contemporary Art? A Case Study of Xu Bing”, November 2012
Lucy Morris, “Disaster Strikes: China and Japan's Media response to Catastrophe: a Comparative Analysis”, November 2012
Sajini Jesudason, Non-government organisations in contemporary China: an Overview, November 2009
Tenzin Mullin, A Study of Education and English Training Programme in Tibetan regions of modern China: A case Study, November 2009
PhD Supervision:
Massimilian Urbano, "Radical politics, social media and the subaltern question in contemporary Italy" with Brett Nichols and Rosemary Overell (MFCO). Degree Awarded, 2017
Li-jiun Shen, "Re-writing Women in Qingshi". Degree Awarded, 2015
Weijun Ma, "Political TV drama in China". Degree awarded 2012
Publications
Voci, P. (2023). Para-animation in practice and theory: The animateur, the embodied gesture and enchantment. Animation, 18(1), 23-41. doi: 10.1177/17468477231155543
Journal - Research Article
Voci, P. (2022). This is not reality (Ceci n’est pas la réalité): Capturing the imagination of the people creativity, the Chinese subaltern, and documentary storytelling. Global Storytelling, 1(2), 41-75. doi: 10.3998/gs.1701
Journal - Research Article
Voci, P. (2022, September). Accented and gendered: Redefining diaspora, women's cinema, and Chineseness. Verbal presentation at the Changing Arts, Changing China Research Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2022, August). This is not an IPL: "Lightness" and the survival of open societies. University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Inaugural Professorial Lecture].
Other Research Output
Voci, P. (2021). The China Story 2.0: Unofficial digital storytellers. Proceedings of the 24th Biennial New Zealand Asian Studies Society International Conference (NZASIA): Asia: Change, Disruptions and Resilience. (pp. 20). Retrieved from https://www.nzasia.org.nz/conferences.html
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2021). The Chinese animateur 2.0: Playful technologies and magical wonders. Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of the Association for Chinese Animation Studies (ACAS). Retrieved from https://acas.ust.hk
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2021, April). A (quasi) archeology of (post) digital lightness. Presented as part of the Apertures Seminar Series for the Machine Vision in Everyday Life Project, University of Bergen, [Online]. [Research Presentation].
Other Research Output
Voci, P. (2020). Alternative ways of seeing: Post-digital detours in Chinese cinema. In S. H. Lim & J. Ward (Eds.), The Chinese cinema book. (2nd ed.) (pp. 258-268). London, UK: Bloomsbury.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2020). Can the creative subaltern speak? Dafen village painters, Van Gogh, and the politics of 'true art'. Made in China Journal, 5(1), 104-111. Retrieved from https://madeinchinajournal.com/2020/05/14/the-work-of-arts/
Journal - Research Article
Voci, P. (2020, January). The personal is political reloaded: Accented storytelling and activist documentaries. Verbal presentation at the Global Storytelling Symposium, Hong Kong, China.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2019). Activist sinology and accented documentary: China on the (Italian?) internet. Modern Italy, 24(4), 437-456. doi: 10.1017/mit.2019.49
Journal - Research Article
Voci, P. (2019). China's postdigital documentaries: De Certeau 2.0. Proceedings of the 23rd Biennial International Conference of the New Zealand Asian Studies Society (NZASIA). (pp. 62-63). Retrieved from http://www.nzasia.org.nz
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2019, October). Postdigital subaltern China: Online activist practices, accented encounters, and the reappearance of concern. Verbal presentation at the Internet In China: A Symposium, Columbia, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P., & Hui, L. (Eds.). (2018). Screening China's soft power. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 266p. doi: 10.4324/9781315617930
Edited Book - Research
Voci, P. (2018). Animating virtual soft power: Digital animation's dreams, nightmares, and wonders. In P. Voci & L. Hui (Eds.), Screening China's soft power. (pp. 167-195). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315617930
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P., & Hui, L. (2018). Screening China's soft power: Screen cultures and discourses of power. In P. Voci & L. Hui (Eds.), Screening China's soft power. (pp. 1-18). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315617930
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2018, August). Screening soft power in China. Department of Languages & Cultures Seminar Series, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Department Seminar].
Other Research Output
Voci, P. (2017). Electric shadows reloaded: The post-digital animateur, shadow play and handmade cinema. Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 11(3), 192-209. doi: 10.1080/17508061.2017.1376551
Journal - Research Article
Voci, P. (2017). Animating virtual soft power: Digital animation’s dreams, nightmares, and wonders. Proceedings of the New Zealand Asian Studies Society (NZASIA) International Conference. (pp. 26). Retrieved from http://www.otago.ac.nz/nzasia-2017/index.html
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2017, March). Three for digital Animateur: Shadow plays and handmade cinema. Verbal presentation at the 58th Society for Cinema & Media Studies (SCMS) Annual Conference, Chicago, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2017, November). Electric shadows reloaded: The post-digital animateur, shadow play and handmade cinema. China Centre Seminar Series on Visual Culture in Modern and Contemporary China, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. [Public Seminar].
Other Research Output
Voci, P. (2016, August). Screening Chinese virtual soft power. Keynote presentation at the Exploring the China Dream Conference: Trajectories and Articulations of Soft Power in the Sinophone World, Stockholm, Sweden.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2015). DV and the animateur cinema in China. In Z. Zhen & A. Zito (Eds.), DV-made China: Digital subjects and social transformations after independent film. (pp. 260-288). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2015). The Sino-Japanese War in Ip Man: From miscommunication to poetic combat. In K. Tam, T. Y. Tsu & S. Wilson (Eds.), Chinese and Japanese films on the Second World War. (pp. 40-53). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2015). The (moving) image amateur: Auteur, artisan, archivist, and ... revolutionary. Proceedings of the XVIIth Film and History Association of Australia and New Zealand (FHAANZ) Conference. (pp. 122). Retrieved from https://www.ivvy.com/event/FHAANZ/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2015, June). Collective amnesia and individual memories: Remembering Chinese unofficial past. Keynote presentation at the International Postgraduate Symposium: "Forgetting/Remembering", Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2014). The Light out of the tunnel: Re-thinking Chinese cinema’s war film Realism. Parol, XXVII(25), 81-101.
Journal - Research Article
Voci, P. (2014). Culture at our fingertips: Alternative ways of seeing - a non-technological look at the digital. Proceedings of the Association of Asian Studies (AAS) Conference. Retrieved from http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/aas/aas14/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2014). Digital democracy behind the great firewall: Ambiguity, humour and language games. Proceedings of the Surveillance, Copyright, Privacy: The End of the Open Internet Conference. Retrieved from https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/scpconf/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2013). Online small-screen cinema: The cinema of attractions and the emancipated spectator. In C. Rojas & E. C.-Y. Chow (Eds.), Oxford handbook of Chinese cinemas. (pp. 377-397). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2013). [Review of the book Screen Dynamics: Mapping the Borders of Cinema]. Screen, 54(1), 121-123. doi: 10.1093/screen/hjs071
Journal - Research Other
Voci, P. (2013). [Review of the book The Chinese cinema book]. China Journal, 69, 251-254. [Book Review].
Journal - Research Other
Voci, P. (2013). Light power: A hitchhiker's guide to the Chinese animateur. Chinese Soft Power and Culture Workshop: Between Complicity and Independence. Retrieved from http://www.otago.ac.nz/chinese/chinasoftpower.html#programme
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Ding, M., Summerhayes, G., Voci, P., & Johnson, H. (2013, March). Asian migration. Panel discussion at the Asian Migrations Research Theme Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2013, November). Chinese cinema: From the professional to the amateur, ... and back. Verbal presentation at the 20th New Zealand Asian Studies Society (NZASIA) International Conference, Auckland, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Huat, C. B., Schonthal, B., Voci, P., Hill, D., Ghosh, G., Devadas, V., & Nicholls, B. (2013). The Asian century: Encounters and exchanges [Panel discussion], Asian Migrations Research Theme, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Department Seminar].
Other Research Output
Voci, P. (2012). [Review of the book Post socialist modernity: Chinese cinema, literature, and criticism in the market age]. New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 14(1), 124-126. [Book Review].
Journal - Research Other
Voci, P. (2012). Screen (mis)communications: The Sino-Japanese War and its translators. Proceedings of the Visions of Peace, Memories of War International Conference: Filmic Representations of World War Two in China, Japan and Korea. Retrieved from https://www.polyu.edu.hk/cc/conference/filmic2012/abstracts.html#Paola_VOCI
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P., & Leckie, J. (Eds.). (2011). Localizing Asia in Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand: Dunmore, 248p.
Edited Book - Research
Voci, P. (2011). 'Isn't it great? They all speak English!': Screen representations of Asia and Asians in New Zealand. In P. Voci & J. Leckie (Eds.), Localizing Asia in Aotearoa. (pp. 74-97). Wellington, New Zealand: Dunmore.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P., & Leckie, J. (2011). Beyond nations and ethnicities: Localizing Asia in New Zealand. In P. Voci & J. Leckie (Eds.), Localizing Asia in Aotearoa. (pp. 7-23). Wellington, New Zealand: Dunmore.
Chapter in Book - Research
Fowler, C., & Voci, P. (2011). Brief encounters: Theorizing screen attachments outside the movie theatre. Screening the Past, 32. Retrieved from http://www.screeningthepast.com/2011/11/
Journal - Research Article
Voci, P. (2011). (Chinese?) smaller-screens: Film spaces and theories. Proceedings of the Screen Cultures Conference. Retrieved from http://www.otago.ac.nz/languagescultures/screencultures.html
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2011). Smaller screen's lightness: From accidental journalism to amateur/auteur microcinema. Proceedings of the Association of Asian studies (AAS) and International Convention of Asian Scholars (ICAS) Joint Conference. Retrieved from http://www.asian-studies.org/absts/2011abst/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2010). China on video: Smaller-screen realities. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 259p. doi: 10.4324/9780203850107
Authored Book - Research
Voci, P. (2010). Blowup Beijing: The city as a twilight zone. In C. Berry, L. Xinyu & L. Rofel (Eds.), The new Chinese documentary film movement: For the public record. (pp. 99-116). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2010). Rejecting words: Illiteracy, silence, and the visual. In C. Prentice, V. Devadas & H. Johnson (Eds.), Cultural transformations: Perspectives on translocation in a global age. (pp. 209-238). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2010). Film «portabili» in Cina [Chinese portable movies]. Bianco e Nero, 568, 64-74.
Journal - Research Article
Voci, P. (2010, November-December). Chinese portable movies. Verbal presentation at the XVth Biennial Conference of the Film and History Association of Australia and New Zealand: Cinema, Modernity and Modernism, Sydney, Australia.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2010, October). China on video: The (un)bearable lightness of seeing. Research seminar at the Mass Culture Workshop, University of Chicago, Illinois. [Research Presentation].
Other Research Output
Voci, P. (2010, October). Chinese portable movies: Redefining film spaces and theories. Public lecture at the East Asian Studies Centre, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, USA. [Public Seminar].
Other Research Output
Voci, P. (2009). Multiple-screen realities. In O. Khoo & S. Metzger (Eds.), Futures of Chinese cinema: Technologies and temporalities in Chinese screen cultures. (pp. 265-276). Bristol, UK: Intellect.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2009). Chinese Docu-animation. Proceedings of the Association of Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference. Retrieved from www.asian-studies.org/absts/2009abst/China/C-69.htm
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2009). Chinese independent/amateur docs. Proceedings of the 18th New Zealand Asian Studies Society International Conference. [Abstract]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2009, January). 'Isn't it great? They all speak English!': (Mis-)Representations of China and the Chinese on NZ TV. Verbal presentation at the Localising Asia in Aotearoa/NZ Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2009, October). Re-drawing the nation: Chinese animation from local to transnational practices. Verbal presentation at the Globalization and National Identity in Asia Conference, Wellington, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2009). Translation of Blood-red morning: Excerpt by Li Shaohong and Xiao Mao in Renditions, 71, 76-97. [Translation].
Other Research Output
Hemelryk Donald, S., & Voci, P. (2008). China: Cinema, politics and scholarship. In J. Donald & M. Renov (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of film studies. (pp. 54-73). London: SAGE.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2008). Multiculturalism's pitfalls on New Zealand television: The rise and fall of Touch China TV. New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 10(1), 85-107.
Journal - Research Article
Voci, P. (2008). Browsing audiences: From street posters to video posting. In C. Fowler & R. Simmons (Eds.), Proceedings of the XIVth Biennial Conference of the Film and History Association of Australia and New Zealand (Vol. 1: Refereed Abstracts). (pp. 75-76). Dunedin, New Zealand: Department of Film, Media and Communication, University of Otago. [Abstract]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2008, December). Ceci n'est pas un documentaire: Truth, lies and online videos. Verbal presentation at the Institute of East Asian Studies: New Media in China Colloquium, Berkeley, CA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2007). Extending the tale: An analysis of The Lord of the Rings extended editions. In A. Lam & N. Oryshchuk (Eds.), How we became Middle-earth: A collection of essays on The Lord of the Rings. (pp. 327-345). Zollikofen, Switzerland: Walking Tree.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2007). Animating China. Proceedings of the 17th New Zealand Asian Studies Society International Conference. Retrieved from http://www.nzasia.org.nz/conference07.html
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2007). Animating China. Proceedings of the Cultural Transformations Research Network Annual Symposium. Dunedin, New Zealand: Division of Humanities, University of Otago. [Abstract]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2006). From Middle Kingdom to Middle Earth and back: Chinese media/mediated identities in New Zealand. In H. Johnson & B. Moloughney (Eds.), Asia in the making of New Zealand. (pp. 163-184). Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2006). Zhongguo jilupian: Yingxiang Zhongguo wenhua [Chinese documentary: Changing film culture in China]. In P. Jie (Ed.), Lingyan xiangkan: Haiwai xuezhe ping dangdai Zhongguo jilupian [Reel China: A new look at contemporary Chinese documentary]. (pp. 103-113). Shanghai, China: Shanghai Wenhui.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2006, November). Sex, lies, and pandas: Chinese documentary's unfettered takes on reality. Verbal presentation at the 4th Film and History League Biennial Conference: The Documentary Tradition, Dallas, TX.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2006, November). Sex, lies, and pandas: Multiple-screen realities. Plenary presentation at the Media: Policies, Cultures and Futures in the Asia Pacific Region Conference, Perth, Australia.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2005). Dal grande al piccolo schermo: Il cinema documentario cinese contemporaneo (From silver screen to small screen: Contemporary Chinese documentary). In Ombre elettriche cento anni di cinema cinese (1905-2005) (Electric shadows: 100 years of Chinese cinema 1905-2005). (pp. 158-167). Venezia: Electa.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2005). Ombre elettriche cento anni di cinema cinese (1905-2005) (Electric shadown: 100 years of chinese cinema 1905-2005). In Del grande al piccolo schermo: Nuovi sviluppi del socumentario cinese (From silver screen to small screen: New developments of Chinese documentary). (pp. 158-311). Milano: Electa.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2005). ″Un intento sincero e dei metodi onesti″. Riflessioni sul documentario Cina di Antonioni e il nuovo documentario cinese [A sincere purpose and honest means: Rethinking Antonioni's documentary 'China' and the new Chinese documentary]. In Caro maestro...scritti in onore di Lionello Lanciotti per l'ottantesimo compleanno [Dear master...essays in honour of Lionello Lanciotti for his eightieth birthday]. (pp. 1234-1248). Venezia, Italy: Ca' Foscarina.
Chapter in Book - Research
Voci, P. (2005, December). A world without film? Chinese documentary at the intersection of urban cinema, history/discovery channel, reality TV and TV drama, internet hyperlinks and the moblog. Verbal presentation at the One-Day Symposium on Chinese Language Cinema, Nottingham Trent University, UK.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2005, December). From silver screens to small -and smaller!-screens: Visual pleasures and documentary (film/video/DV) making. Verbal presentation at the Invited Talk, Goldsmith College, London.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2005, February). From Middle Kingdom to Middle Earth and back: Chinese media/mediated identities in New Zealand. Verbal presentation at the Asia in New Zealand Research Symposium, St Margaret's College, University of Otago, Dunedin.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2004). From the centre to the periphery: Chinese documentary's visual conjectures. Modern Chinese Literature & Culture, 16(1), 65-113.
Journal - Research Article
Voci, P. (2004, February). From the centre to the periphery: Chinese documentary's visual conjectures. Verbal presentation at the International Symposium on Contemporary Chinese Visual Culture, London.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2004, June). Documenting China's localities. Verbal presentation at the Place Imaginaries, Mobilities, and the Limits of Representation: 9th China's Provinces in Reform Workshop, Sydney.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Voci, P. (2003). Exposing contradictions, exhibiting the other China: Documentary videomaking and visual dissent. Proceedings of the AAS Annual Meeting. [Abstract]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2003). Performing dissent in contemporary China: Images and sounds of resistance. Proceedings of the AAS Annual Meeting. [Abstract]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Voci, P. (2003, November). 'Beyond narrative: Chinese cinema's exhibitionist mode'. Verbal presentation at the Asia: Images, Ideas, Identities 15th NZASIA International Conference, University of Auckland.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
