School of Social and Political Science

Background

Yubai Li is a first-year PhD student in Gender Sociology at the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests include gender, embodiment, emotion, cultural sociology and social reproduction. In her PhD thesis, Yubai would examine how do the Chinese middle-upper class families cultivate their privileged kids in a gendered and embodied way through the lens of extracurricular activities. Specifically, she would take rhythmic gymnastics training clubs in Beijing as a case, to understand how do the youth accumulate embodied and gendered capital, how is the discourse of embodied meritocracy constructed and practiced within this field, and how the families cultivate their privileged youth to be global elite in a gendered way.

In addition, Yubai also seeks to shed light on music and everyday resistance. She completed her MA in Sociology from Tsinghua University, where her thesis explored the construction of musical scenes in Chinese live house and the authenticity of live music.

Publications

Yubai Li. 2020. “Female’s Body Experience and Embodied Practices in Childbirth: A Case Study in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Region” Chinese Journal of Sociology (《社会》) 40(06): 157-185.

Working Papers

Fei Yan & Yubai Li. "Echoes of Empowerment: Trans-local Framing and the Cultural Resistance in the Soundscape of DIY Music"

Yubai Li. “Privileged Emotional Laborer: Female Gynecologists’ Practice of Constructing Rules, Identifying Others and Crossing Boundaries” (in Chinese)

Selected Conferences Presentations

Fei Yan & Yubai Li. 2023. "Echoes of Empowerment: Trans-local Framing and the Cultural Resistance in the Soundscape of DIY Music“ Yale Conference: "Cultural Sociology East and West". New Haven, USA.

Yubai Li. 2023. “Ambivalent Resistance: Indie Music, Mobilization and Localist Movement” XX ISA

World Congress of Sociology. Melbourne, Australia.

Yubai Li. 2022. “Place, Urban and Affections: Cultural Resources and Strategies for Action in Indie Bands” Annual Meeting of the Chinese Sociological Association. Xiamen, China.

Yubai Li. 2021. “State, Media, and Power: The Memory of SARS among Health Care Providers in China” Asian Universities Association and ICSGS Academic Conference. Depok, Indonesia.

Yubai Li. 2021. “Emotional Labor of Gynecologists: Rules Shaping, Othering, and Physician-patient Interaction”

Annual Meeting of the Chinese Sociological Association. Chongqing, China; Doctoral Student Forum of School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University. Beijing, China.

Yubai Li. 2019. “Female’s Body Experience and Embodied Practices in Childbirth: A Case Study in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Region” Annual Meeting of the Chinese Ethnologists Association, Undergraduate Session. Nanning, China.

Qualifications

Visiting fellow, Department of sociology, Harvard University (2024)

M.A. in Sociology, Tsinghua University(2023)

B.A. in Sociology, Minzu University of China (MUC)(2021)

Teaching Experiences

TA 2021/22 Contemporary Sociological Theory, Tsinghua University   

TA 2021/22 Classical Sociological Theory, Tsinghua University

Selected Honors and Awards

School of Social and Political Science PhD Scholarship. The University of Edinburgh (2023)

Tsinghua University Comprehensive Excellent Scholarship. Tsinghua University (2022)

Best Paper Award. Doctoral Student Forum of School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University (2022)

First-Class Academic Honors. Minzu University of China (2020)(2019)(2018)

Third Prize in National Students Commercial Research and Analysis Competition. CSSC (2020)

Activity Achievement Scholarship. Minzu University of China (2019)

First Prize of Undergraduate Student Paper Award. Ministry of Education, Ethnological Committee (2019)