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Professor Paola Voci

Dr Paola Voci

Professor in Chinese and Asian Studies
Global Studies Director

Office Arts 3S1
Tel +64 3 479 5994
Email paola.voci@otago.ac.nz

Brief Bio
Teaching
Postgraduate Supervision
Research Publications

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:

Supervision

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)
  • Chinese documentary
  • Chinese animation
  • Chinese digital cultures

Film and Media Studies

  • Animation, Handmade cinema
  • Documentary, docuanimation
  • Screen cultures and soft power
  • Small-screen cinema (digital movie-making practices, DYI movies, microcinema)

Recently Completed Honours Theses:

  • 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

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Publications

Voci, P. (2010). China on video: Smaller-screen realities. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 259p. doi: 10.4324/9780203850107

Voci, P., & Hui, L. (Eds.). (2018). Screening China's soft power. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 266p. doi: 10.4324/9781315617930

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

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

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

Voci, P. (2010). China on video: Smaller-screen realities. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 259p. doi: 10.4324/9780203850107

Authored Book - Research

Voci, P., & Hui, L. (Eds.). (2018). Screening China's soft power. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 266p. doi: 10.4324/9781315617930

Edited Book - Research

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. (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. (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. (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. (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. (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. (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. (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. (2014). The Light out of the tunnel: Re-thinking Chinese cinema’s war film Realism. Parol, XXVII(25), 81-101.

Journal - Research Article

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., & Fowler, C. (2011). Screen attachments: Introduction [Editorial]. Screening the Past, 32. Retrieved from http://www.screeningthepast.com/2011/11/an-introduction/

Journal - Research Other

Voci, P. (2006). Quasi-documentary, cellflix and web spoofs: Chinese movies' other visual pleasures. Senses of Cinema, 41. Retrieved from http://sensesofcinema.com/2006/41/other-chinese-movies-pleasures/

Journal - Research Article

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

Fowler, C., & Voci, P. (Eds.). (2011). Screening the Past, 32 [Screen Attachments]. [Guest Editor].

Other - Edited Journal

Voci, P. (2010). Film «portabili» in Cina [Chinese portable movies]. Bianco e Nero, 568, 64-74.

Journal - Research Article

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. (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. (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., & Leckie, J. (Eds.). (2011). Localizing Asia in Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand: Dunmore, 248p.

Edited Book - Research

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., & 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

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. (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. (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. (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. (2009). A view from Aotearoa-New Zealand. In K. Merkel-Hess, K. L. Pomeranz & J. N. Wasserstrom (Eds.), China in 2008: A year of great significance. (pp. 184-185). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Chapter in Book - Other

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. (2009). Translation of Blood-red morning: Excerpt by Li Shaohong and Xiao Mao in Renditions, 71, 76-97. [Translation].

Other Research Output

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). 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. (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. (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). 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

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

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. (2012). Whose documentary: Lightness and the amateur in Chinese documentary. Proceedings of the Visible Evidence XIX Conference. Retrieved from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:gia1UMUcm6YJ:www.visibleevidence.org/xix/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/VEXIX_Canberra.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

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. (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. (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. (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. (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. (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). 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

More publications...