Dr Zhongwei (Mabu) Li

Profile

Zhongwei (Mabu) Li (he/him) gained his PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2020 with a dissertation titled Cut-out: Music, Profanity and Subcultural Politics in 1990s China. Mabu has a Bachelor's in Pedagogy from Beijing Normal University and an MPhil in Sociology from the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining the MUSICSTREAM project, he worked as an LSE Fellow in Media and Communications, teaching and convening a variety of courses on media theories, audience research, and Chinese media cultures. Outside of academia, he has also been involved in music scenes both in China and in the UK, working with various projects and organizations to bring China’s emerging artists to a wider international stage.

Research interests

Having previously focused on music, subcultures, and the informal ways of cultural consumption and circulation in 1990s China, Mabu’s current research explores the ruptures and continuities between the contemporary moment of music streaming and music cultures in the past thirty years afforded by different media formats – from physical recording media to downloadable digital files – and their respective ecosystems. His work with the MUSICSTREAM project aims to contextualise this set of changes within broader social, political, and economic transformations on the Chinese path to global capitalist modernity.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's in Pedagogy, Beijing Normal University
• MPhil in Sociology, University of Cambridge
• MPhil/PhD in Media and Communications, LSE

Professional memberships

• Visiting Fellow, Department of Media and Communications, LSE