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

Senior Fellow Aynne Kokas, author of "Hollywood Made in China," a senior fellow at the Miller Center, notes that political content [from China] tends to present a challenge overseas."
Aynne Kokas South China Morning Post
Senior Fellow Aynne Kokas notes, “There’s a financial imperative for her [Chloe Zhao] not to tick off the Chinese government. But maybe she sees a moral imperative to stand her ground.”
Aynne Kokas The Washington Post
Senior fellow Aynne Kokas discusses China's global television network in the U.K. and Beijing’s campaign for media influence abroad.
Anne Kokas The Diplomat
Senior Fellow Aynne Kokas on the backlash against Chinese-born Chloe Zhao, the director of "Nomadland."
Aynne Kokas The New York Times
Hollywood self-censorship comes down to whether America places more value on free speech or on “maximizing shareholder value,” said Aynne Kokas, professor of media studies at the University of Virginia and author of a book about China’s influence on Hollywood. “It goes to the very core of what constitutes free speech and what constitutes democracy, and how important corporate earnings are in that framing.”
Aynne Kokas Los Angeles Times
"If China doesn't need US movies, Hollywood studios will have to dramatically reduce their spending on big budget blockbusters," Aynne Kokas, the author of "Hollywood Made in China," told CNN Business. "The current budgets are unsustainable without access to the China market. That could fundamentally change the model of the US film industry."
Aynne Kokas CNN