Experts

Aynne Kokas

Fast Facts

  • Director, UVA East Asia Center
  • Non-resident scholar, Rice University’s Baker Institute of Public Policy
  • Member, Council on Foreign Relations
  • Fellow in the National Committee on United States-China Relations’ Public Intellectuals Program
  • Expertise on U.S.-China relations, cybersecurity, media industry

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • Asia
  • Domestic Affairs
  • Media and the Press
  • Science and Technology

Aynne Kokas is the C.K. Yen Professor at the Miller Center, director of UVA's East Asia Center, and a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia. Kokas’ research examines Sino-U.S. media and technology relations. Her award-winning book Trafficking Data: How China Is Winning the Battle for Digital Sovereignty (Oxford University Press, October 2022) argues that exploitative Silicon Valley data governance practices help China build infrastructures for global control. Her award-winning first book Hollywood Made in China (University of California Press, 2017) argues that Chinese investment and regulations have transformed the U.S. commercial media industry, most prominently in the case of media conglomerates’ leverage of global commercial brands. 

Kokas is a non-resident scholar at Rice University’s Baker Institute of Public Policy, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a fellow in the National Committee on United States-China Relations’ Public Intellectuals Program.

She was a Fulbright Scholar at East China Normal University and has received fellowships from the Library of Congress, National Endowment for the Humanities, Mellon Foundation, Social Science Research Council, Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Japan’s Abe Fellowship, and other international organizations. Her writing and commentary have appeared globally in more than 50 countries and 15 languages. In the United States, her research and writing appear regularly in media outlets including CNBC, NPR’s MarketplaceThe Washington Post, and Wired. She has testified before the Senate Finance Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Aynne Kokas News Feed

UVA media studies professor Aynne Kokas notes that the circumstances of Zhao's win, suppressed by the Chinese government on a night with record-low Oscar viewership, offer the chance to think about "Nomadland" as art made by humans rather than geopolitical actors.
Aynne Kokas Nikkei Asia
UVA media studies professor Aynne Kokas notes, of Zhao's censure, that "There was political pressure from the top. But then there was also bottom-up pressure from Chinese netizens who pushed back against . . . Zhao for being insufficiently patriotic,”
Aynne Kokas KCRW News
Aynne Kokas, author of Hollywood Made in China and media studies professor at UVA, discusses diversity among this year's Academy Award nominees.
Aynne Kokas VOA News
UVA Media Studies Professor Aynne Kokas discusses the significance of having six Asian or Asian-Americans among this year's Academy Award nominees.
Aynne Kokas VOA News
UVA professor and Chinese film expert Aynne Kokas notes that China has long regarded the Oscar awards as the apex of American culture, but it's challenging to make creative films that fit with government guidelines.


Aynne Kokas Financial Times
"It's a smear on the ability of the U.S. to advocate for human rights globally," said Aynne Kokas, senior fellow and media studies professor at UVA.
Ayanne Kokas Nikkei Asia