Erika Ningxin Wang

Fan studies

Media anthropology

Digital ethnography

Social media and internet culture

Algorithm, censorship, and platform governance

Fandom nationalism, cyber-nationalism, and internet activism

ACG (Anime, Comics, Games) and TV studies

Consumers of creative industries

Cultural policies, cultural market, and the state

Popular culture in Greater China

Erika Ningxin Wang received her PhD in Culture, Media, and Creative Industries from KCL. Her doctoral thesis is entitled Governed Fandom; Ungovernable Love: Gender, Power, and Politics among Fan Communities in China. This groundbreaking study represents the first systematic ethnography of the current Chinese fan economy, providing critical insights into the interactive relationship between fans and digital media platforms, the market, and the state.

She has excelled as a visiting scholar at Taiwan Academia Sinica and a guest lecturer at prestigious institutions including KCL, Birkbeck, Hong Kong University, and Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University.

As a media anthropologist, she boasts a wealth of experience in conducting ethnographic fieldwork related to fans, pop culture, social media, manga, and the theater industry in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. For her PhD project, she carried out a 24-month digital ethnography on social media platforms, as well as a 20-month multi-sited fieldwork in seven cities across China, including Beijing, Tianjin, Suzhou, Changsha, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Hengdian.

Her articles and chapters are published in SSCI and peer-reviewed journals spanning the fields of new media, internet culture, digital history, audience studies, and Asian studies. Additionally, her papers have been accepted and presented at international conferences such as ICA, IAMCR, MeCCSA, FSN, FSNNA, JEASC, and ASAHK. 

Erika has been elected as the Early Career Representative to the International Communication Association (ICA) in the division of Popular Media and Culture for the term 2023-2025.

Her dedication and achievements have been acknowledged through various prestigious awards and grants, including:

- Top Paper Prize, 2022 International Conference on Global Cultural and Creative Industries, Shanghai Jiaotong University.
- Sino-British Fellowship Trust (SBFT) 2021-2022.
- Universities China Committee in London (UCCL) Grant 2020-2021.
- The Antonian Fund, St Antony's College, University of Oxford, 2018.
- Reaching Out Award, HKSAR Government Scholarship 2015-2016.
- First prize, China Anthropology Fieldwork Fund 2015.

Beyond academia, Erika's reports and commentaries on Chinese pop culture have been published by prominent media outlets such as Xinhua News Agency, Beijing Youth Daily, Jiemian Culture, China Central Radio-The Voice of Economy, T magazines, and so on. She has been invited as a guest advisor and consultant by film and TV production companies in China.

Now she starts her new position as an assistan professor in The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. Please see the webpage and contact her.