Sylvia Martin

Short Biography:

Sylvia J Martin received her PhD in anthropology from the University of California, Irvine. Prior to joining the University of Hong Kong, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor in Anthropology at Pomona College in California. She was also the recipient of a Postdoctoral Fulbright Fellowship at The University of Hong Kong in 2010-2011.

Sylvia’s forthcoming book, Haunted: An Ethnography of the Hollywood and Hong Kong Media Industries(Oxford University Press), is based on multi-sited fieldwork she conducted in the Hollywood and Hong Kong film and television industries. Through participant observation on film and television sets, she examined how media professionals in both sites were impacted by the various risks involved in filming spectacular images and dramatic storylines. She also explores how job insecurity and industrial decline were experienced in both sites. Not just a study in contrasts, the book lays out some of the commonalities and transnational connections between the two commercial production centers.

She has also taught and published on the construction of cultural icons through myth, media, and transnational markets. She is interested in ethnographic encounters and ethnographic writing.

Research interests

• State
• Empire
• Creativity and imagination
• Applied entertainment and storytelling
• Digital technologies
• Precarity
• Performance
• Globalization
• Fandom

Current research

• Operationalizing Hollywood: Storytelling in the Service of the State (Principal Investigator). Hong Kong Research Grants Council, Early Career Scheme, 2018-2021.

• Film Industries, Cities, and Soft Power (Principal Investigator). HKU Seed Fund, 2016-2019.

Honours and recognitions

• 2017 Academy of Hong Kong Studies, Communications Sector. Outstanding Paper Prize, “The Death Narratives of Revitalization: Colonial Governance, China, and the Reconfiguration of the Hong Kong Film Industry.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 32(5):318-332.

• 2010-2011 Fulbright Scholarship: Postdoctoral Research in the Social Sciences for China Specialists, The University of Hong Kong.

• 2008 International Communication Association, Mass Communication Section. Top Student Paper Award, “Of Ghosts and Gangsters: Capitalist Film Production in the Hong Kong Film Industry.” Visual Anthropology Review, v. 28, n. 1, p. 32-49.

Selected Publications

Books:

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2017. Haunted: An Ethnography of the Hollywood and Hong Kong Media Industries. New York: Oxford University Press.

Journal articles:

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2022. “Globalization and Film Locations: Runaway Productions in Hong Kong.” Economic Sociology: Perspectives and Conversations. 23(2): 22-27.

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2021. “Anthropology’s Prophecy for #MeToo: From Hollywood to Hong Kong.” Visual Anthropology Review, Volume 37(1): 120-141.

• Chan, Cheris Shun-ching, Paul Joosse, Sylvia J. Martin and Xiaoli Tian. 2020. “Ethnography in Calamitous Times.” Special Issue “Ethnography in the Age of Covid-19″. Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa (Ethnography and Qualitative Research). Eds: Gary Alan Fine, Cheris Chan, and Chiara Bassetti. 2: 175-184.

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2020. “Shared Visions: The Gift of ‘The Eye’.” Made in China Journal. Spectral Revolutions: Occult Economies in Asia Volume 5(2): 131-137.

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2019.“Imagineering Empire: How Hollywood and the U.S. National Security State ‘Operationalize Narrative’.” Media, Culture & Society, 30 Dec. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443719890540.

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2017. “Grounded Dreams? Hollywood and Hong Kong Face the Challenges of a Globalizing Movie Economy.” Anthropology News. March 9.

• (Featured on the cover of print edition)

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2015. “The Death Narratives of Revitalization: Colonial Governance, China, and the Reconfiguration of the Hong Kong Film Industry.” Critical Studies in Media Communication, v. 32, p. 318-332.

• (Awarded Outstanding Paper Prize, Academy of Hong Kong Studies, Communications Sector.)

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2015. “Michael Jackson’s Gesamtkunstwerk: Artistic Interrelation, Immersion, and Interactivity From the Studio to the Stage.” Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, v. 11, 5.

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2012. “Of Ghosts and Gangsters: Capitalist Cultural Production and the Hong Kong Film Industry.” Visual Anthropology Review, v. 28, n. 1, p. 32-49.

• (Awarded Top Student Paper Award, International Communication Association, Mass Communication Section.)

• Maurer, Bill and Sylvia J. Martin. 2012. “Accidents of equity and the aesthetics of Chinese offshore incorporation.” American Ethnologist, v. 39, n. 3, p. 527-544.

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2012. “The Roots and Routes of Michael Jackson’s Global Identity. Society. 49(3): 284-290.

Book chapters:

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2021. “Stealing Shots: The Ethics and Edgework of Industrial Filmmaking.” In Anthropology, Film Industries, Modularity. Ramyar Rossoukh and Steve Caton, eds. Durham: Duke University Press.

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2013. “Transformations and Tactics: The Production Culture of the Hong Kong Film Industry.” In Volume 2, “Media Production” of The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies. Vicki Mayer, ed. Wiley-Blackwell.

• Martin, Sylvia J. 2012. “Stunt Workers and Spectacle: Ethnography of Physical Risk in Hollywood and Hong Kong.” In Film and Risk. Mette Hjort, ed. Wayne State University Press. Pp. 97-114.