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

Aynne Kokas, assistant professor of media studies at University of Virginia, discusses the debut of Disney’s “Mulan” in China and why this version is so contentious. She speaks on “Bloomberg Markets: China Open.”
Aynne Kokas Bloomberg Markets
It’s a humongous ethical lapse (not to mention PR malpractice) that “underscores that in China, Disney is operating as a Chinese company,” University of Virginia media studies professor Aynne Kokas tells China Watcher. “They are willing to make the same trade-offs Chinese production companies would make in order to operate in the market.” Hollywood is already a bugbear for Republican politicians; look for Mulan to become a specific target.
Aynne Kokas POLITICO
Though we're accustomed to thinking of Hollywood as a vehicle of U.S. soft power, “Mulan” exemplifies how Beijing has deputized it to advance China’s political interests and national narrative.
Aynne Kokas The Washington Post
Senior Fellow Aynne Kokas is interviewed in "The Straits Times."
Aynne Kokas The Straits Times
For a deeper understanding of the issues at play, UVA Today caught up with Aynne Kokas, a University of Virginia media studies associate professor whose work focuses on the intersections between Chinese and U.S. media and technology industries. Her book, “Hollywood Made in China” (University of California Press 2017), examines the cultural, political and economic implications of U.S. media investment in China as it becomes the world’s largest film market.
Aynne Kokas UVA Today
Hollywood faces a fresh test in its bid to gain audiences in China without alienating film viewers elsewhere with the release on Friday of Disney's much-hyped live-action remake of "Mulan."
Aynne Kokas Nikkei Asian Review