What was “revolutionary” about Hong Kong’s anti-extradition movement in 2019? This talk assesses the breakthroughs and limits of the historic uprising, against an entrenched colonial hegemony co-produced by British and Chinese rules. Specifically, we shall review four salient elements of this hegemony that have long defined the boundaries of the “political” in Hong Kong. To what extent, how and why had protesters and citizens shattered these colonial boundaries through collective praxis and deliberations? As a critical moment in the long struggle for decolonization, what were the lessons of 2019?

Ching Kwan Lee is a Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research interests lie in the areas of global and comparative issues, work, globalization, political sociology, development of the global south, comparative ethnography, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and Africa.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology and the Program in International Studies.