Lin Zhang

Lin Zhang is an Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Their research focuses on critical innovation studies, knowledge and digital labor, and intersectionality, with a geographical emphasis on China and transnational Asian communities.

• B.A. in English from Beijing Foreign Studies University
• M.A. in Media, Culture and Communication from New York University
• M.Phil. in Communication from Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Ph.D. in Communication from University of Southern California

Lin’s research critically examines technology, innovation, labor, and governance through a global lens, prioritizing social justice and intersectionality. They explore sectors like digital platforms, biomedicine, and agriculture, using ethnographic participant observation, in-depth interviews, and historical/archival research. Their work spans two interdisciplinary avenues: platform capitalism and global production networks, with a focus on China’s institutional shifts in digital labor, and innovation/technology dynamics through racialized and gendered transnational knowledge work.

Lin’s 2023 book, The Labor of Reinvention, and their 2025 publications on Alibaba’s governance regime and rural e-commerce highlight their focus on decolonizing communication studies. Their work appears in journals such as New Media and Society, International Journal of Cultural Studies, and Feminist Media Studies.

• Visiting Fellow, Center of Cultural Sociology at Yale University (2020-2021)

Lin teaches courses like From Silicon Valley to Foxconn and Seminar in Media Theory, addressing themes of global digital capitalism and mass entrepreneurship. Their feminist, decolonial approach challenges U.S.-centric frameworks in analyzing geopolitical shifts in technology and labor.