After obtaining her Bachelor’s degree of Journalism and Master’s degree of Communication studies in Sichuan University in China (2013-2020), Yanning began her doctoral research at 含羞草视频 in October 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Emily Keightley and Dr. Alena Pfoser. Her PhD project is jointly funded by 含羞草视频 and the China Scholarship Council.
Yanning’s PhD research focuses on the process in which old mobile phones transported from other countries as e-waste are circulated and transformed into nostalgic commodities in China. The sources of consumed recycled mobile phones are complex, some are selected from ungraded and uniformly priced e-waste and transported into China from other countries. They are represented on social media platforms and recommodified. After being purchased, they will be used in creative ways, transformed into collections, or sold on again. Their social and cultural meanings are continuously changing in this ongoing process.
This study investigates: 1) How accumulated globally shared memory of mobile phone technology shapes the contemporary circulation of old mobile phones in China? 2) What role recycled old mobile phones play in people's social lives and what social meanings they have? 3) What people, institution, media, and images are playing their parts, what forces are influencing this process, and how these forces entangle and interact.
The study is important for exploring people's memories of technology, which reflect people's attitudes towards changes in contemporary China. It will respond to the need for research on memory and nostalgia practices in a non-western context. Also, it will respond to the lack of concern of economic activities in current memory studies.
Huang, S. & Chen, Y. (2021). The ‘rebirth’ of old-tech things: Second-hand practices surrounding iPod on an online platform. Journalism & Communication, 28(10), 92-109+128.黄顺铭，陈彦宁：《旧技术物的“重生”：一个线上平台的iPod二手实践》，《新闻与传播研究》第10期， 92-109+128页.
Huang, S., Chen, Y., & Wangzhou, L. (2019). Park as “landscape of practice”: A case study of the Luodai Park, 1928-2019. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication, 41(9), 6-34. 黄顺铭，陈彦宁，王周霖欣：《公园作为“实践景观”：对洛带公园（1928-2019）的个案研究》，《国际新闻界》第9期，6-34页。