Willy Sier

Dr. Willy Sier is an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University's Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, specializing in Cultural Anthropology. Her research focuses on China's rapidly urbanizing society, with particular interest in mobility, gender, family structures, and racialization processes.

• PhD in Anthropology (2020), University of Amsterdam
• Current book manuscript: Dream Chasers: Becoming Urban in the New China

Her fieldwork-based work examines:

• Racialized relationships between white/yang women and Chinese men
• Impact of pandemic policies on migrant families
• Homeownership patterns in urbanizing China
• Reproductive pressures in contemporary families
• Post-COVID care practices
• Educational migration in Hubei province

Scientific output trends:

• 12 peer-reviewed articles
• 5 digital/visual products
• Interdisciplinary approach combining anthropology, gender studies, and urban sociology
• Key journals: Identities, Asian Anthropology, China Information, Visual Studies

  Media contributions include documentary films about:

  • Wuhan lockdown (2020)
  • Shanghai lockdown (2022)
  • Urban reproductive stress (2023)
  • Cultural transitions in migrant families