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'Scientist's Code': Svetlana Krivokhizh on Chinese Narratives, Post-Colonial Optics and Playing Badminton

Traditionally, it is believed that experts in Asian and African Studies work with classical sources—for instance, ancient texts. Our today's hero, Svetlana Krivokhizh, Head of the Department of International Relations and Political Processes in Asia and Africa, chooses another way. Together with her colleagues and students, she studies media. We talked to the candidate of historical sciences about what it was like when your ideas went all the way from criticism to recognition, how post-colonial optics showed itself in daily life and what kind of sport was the best to distract from busy weekdays.

'Scientist's Code': Svetlana Krivokhizh on Chinese Narratives, Post-Colonial Optics and Playing Badminton

Vladimir Aleksandrov / HSE University — Saint Petersburg

Research you are proud of

At the university, I studied public diplomacy in China, this was the topic of my dissertation. Back then, I was already interested in how countries promoted their values in the international arena. Working at HSE University, together with my colleague Elena Soboleva and students of the Bachelor's programme 'Asian and African Studies', we created the research and study group 'Media and Politics in the Countries of the East'. There, we focused on how various world events were covered by mass media of Asian and African countries. For instance, we analysed how the Belt and Road Initiative was reported by the Chinese and Arab press. It turned out that its media coverage in various states is radically different—some aspects came to the forefront, and others were not mentioned at all. 

We went further and decided to check through which channels and in which form China promoted its agenda in the global arena. This topic turned out to be to my liking because I have always been interested in how abstract ideas turn into our reality and how greatly they change depending on the filter bubble. This is how Elena Soboleva and I created our research on modern strategic narratives of China. 

I think that this work was the best of mine. It's hard to say what exactly made me feel proud. Perhaps, several things overlapped. Elena and I made up a good creative tandem which inspired me a lot. We truly found the topic that made our eyes shine. Even though sometimes our work was not easy, the motivation didn't fade out—we wanted to immerse ourselves in the material deeper. 

We were delighted by the reaction of the scientific community as well. Our topic drew a lot of attention: we participated in several seminars and even organised one together with Moscow colleagues. There, we realised that the idea of our research had been in the air for a long time, and there were scientists who studied something similar. Why was it important to me? When we only started working with mass media, lots of colleagues and reviewers in scientific journals treated our research with caution. Traditionally, it is believed that experts in Asian and African Studies work with classical sources: documents and ancient texts, and media is too revolutionary. But now, I see: more and more colleagues start working with mass media and social networks. It's pleasant to see how our ideas went all the way from criticism to recognition and realise that we didn't give up.

Research which changed your conception of science

My focus in science was strongly influenced by the post-colonial researches, especially 'Can a Subaltern Speak?' by Gayatri Spivak. In it, Spivak asks herself a question about the language’s impact on self-consciousness and the understanding of the world. She reflects on whether the subaltern peoples, who were colonised, could express their identity and tell their story when the only available language for them was the language of the colonisers. Another research with a similar idea is 'Provincializing Europe' by Dipesh Chakrabarty. His main idea is that European values and form of organising international relations are only one of the options of world structure. Perhaps, thanks to these two works, I put on glasses with the post-colonial optics, and now, I can't look at the world otherwise. 

It shows not only in science but in my daily life as well. Recently, I have gone to the Chinese ballet in the Mariinsky Theatre. The audience definitely expected something different and resented: 'What sort of ballet is it?' But the Chinese term used for this kind of art means not ballet at all but an acrobatic drama—circus, in fact. We are not used to this terminology and this art, and this is where failed expectations come from. 

I named the philosophical essays but there are some works which attracted me by their research design. For example, I really like the article by Yuen Khong 'The American Tributary System'. It drew a parallel between the American relations with allies and the Chinese interaction with vassals. Comparing completely different countries during completely different historical periods is a non-trivial perspective, isn't it? Such an approach is close to me: trying to step back from the usual view of the issue and find an unexpected solution.

Researcher you want to look up to

There are quite a lot of such researchers. From my closest circle, it's Yana Leksyutina, professor of the Department of American Studies at SPbU. When I was studying at the university, she reviewed my works. Back then, she was an assistant, and now, she is a professor of the Russian Academy of Science. It was she who inspired me to become a researcher because, in the third year, she praised my term paper and said that I should have engaged in science. The research was very good for real: it was fundamental, based on the sources which you cannot easily find in open access. But I am not sure that I would have gone for the academic career without her support: science is a rather hard thing, often very confusing. I hope, one day, I will become such a person for students myself.

Besides, I can think of the philosopher Judith Butler. Recently, she published a book which was written after the performance in Brazil where she was received badly. They said that all her ideas were senseless and that she should have left as soon as possible. Then, she started thinking: 'Why did they take my theory so badly?' And she wrote a whole book about it. For me, it is an example of the involvement which I would like to strive for. When literally all your life is built around scientific problems which you regularly think about. I think it's amazing. 

I believe that I am close to such an involvement. I often contemplate the articles which I could write even about simply daily occasions, and I share my ideas with the students. Recently, we talked about how our language impacted our perception of the world, and once, we discussed how we would live if it wasn't the European system of international relations which scaled but the Chinese one, for instance. We carried out such a mental experiment. Then, now, we would discuss not sovereignty and borders but who knows Confucian rituals better! Whether everything we perceive as reality is truly what we think it is—this is what I often think about.

Sources of inspiration

Travelling

I often get inspiration from things which are far from the academic environment. One of them is travelling. I like going on my own and blending into the rhythm of each city. For example, at school, I went on an exchange to the USA and lived there in a host family. At first, my parents didn't want me to go: they were worried that people would treat me badly because I was Russian. But in the country, I saw that there were very pleasant people, and in fact, our countries had a lot in common. This trip encouraged me to study international relations—I took an interest in how stereotypes influenced the interaction of different countries and sometimes led them to a dead end.   

Back at the university, I undertook an internship in China. There, I tried to follow the traditions of the local citizens. For the New Year, my coursemate and I made dumplings—a traditional activity for this festival in China! Besides, I was travelling between Chinese cities for thirty hours on trains without passenger seats—sitting on the floor and talking to the locals. That means that it was important to me to feel like another person, to look at usual things with new eyes. The most important thing in such moments is to think non-judgementally. For instance: if the locals eat in this diner and it's okay for them, I also eat there and it's okay for me. And it goes for everything.

Sport

At some point, I started jogging but for my temper, it is a rather boring activity. Once, I even ran a half-marathon but it was emotionally difficult. Then, I found such an amazing game as badminton and have been playing it for a year already. At first, it seemed to me that badminton was a game for dacha with no rules and specific hits. It's a mistaken impression: in the end, it's an Olympic sport! 

Badminton is the best activity you can think of at the end of the intense workweek because the only thing you worry about on the court is how to hit the shuttlecock. Now, I'm in the group of intermediate players. I hold the racket correctly but I cannot win a stronger player yet. I don't have a large repertoire of hits yet and I lack visual erudition: I cannot always predict what hit will come next. Now, I would like to play more confidently with my rivals and have a strategy. Even though I don't have any professional goals in this game, from time to time, I participate in competitions. For me, they are similar to scientific conferences. At both events, you can get a hundred points for your progress: look at others' level and reflect on your mistakes. 

The main thing for a scientist

It seems to me that a scientist is a brave person. When we wrote the first articles about mass media, some scientific journals refused to publish us. They said they didn't understand why we did that at all. It made me really sad, I even thought about giving up science. But to continue studying what I considered important, I needed a lot of stubbornness and a desire to try again and again. I believe dogmatism is an anti-quality. I would like to keep my gaze always open and always have an opportunity to say: 'Yes, until this moment, I had been mistaken'.

You cannot do without working capacity. A researcher must devote a large part of their life to science. Research work is kind of freelance in a certain sense. A researcher has a final deadline, and at the same time, they do not sit in the office from nine to six. I am not very disciplined but joint work helps me a lot. 

Together with colleagues from the Institute for Asian and African Studies, we created a small co-writing group: we gather once a week together, and each of us works on their own project. At first, we discuss plans and then certainly sum up the results. Sometimes, you can ask the audience for help, that's truly helpful. The colleagues work on very different but at the same time extremely interesting things: some translate modern Japanese literature, others work on the Middle Eastern NPO, and others analyse the values of modern Chinese youth. Quite often, the ideas for my research and lectures appear after the conversations with my colleagues.

I also like it when a researcher is an activist to a certain extent. When they try to make the world more humane and strive to show that there are different perspectives and all of them have the right to exist. In the end, science must encourage positive changes.