Hello! My name is Suvi Rautio and I am an anthropologist specializing on China.
Background
I was born in Helsinki but grew up in Beijing from the age of two in 1987. I spent my childhood between Beijing and Singapore, and adult years in Beijing, UK (London & Glasgow), Helsinki and now, New York.
Before pursuing my academic career in 2014, I worked in Beijing in a range of industries including fashion retail, market data analysis and environmental campaigns.
Research Interests
My research engages with collective memory, cultural heritage, and the lived dynamics of encounter. I am particularly drawn to understanding how ‘othering’ and stigmatization are shaped by political and social experiences in contemporary China.
Trained as a social and cultural anthropologist, I have conducted long-term ethnographic research alongside diverse populations across China.
My academic research has brought me to live in a Dong ethnic minority village in Guizhou, Southwest China; to dance and learn from African dance entrepreneurs in Guangzhou; and more recently to a multi-sited project delving into the old artefacts, love letters and oral histories told by the offspring of Chinese intellectuals that lived through the turmoil of the Maoist era. The project starts from my own family history before, during and after the Cultural Revolution.
In addition to my research and writing projects, I am also an active podcast host for New Books Network Chinese studies.
关于 Suvi Rautio 苏葳
芬兰赫尔辛基大学博士后，出生于赫尔辛基，在北京度过了童年和少年时期，青年时期曾在北京环保组织工作。2014年，我在赫尔辛基大学开始读博士后，我的人类学方向研究方向是文化遗产，集体记忆、国家认同及边缘性。2015-2016年间，我只身一人到贵州的一个偏远侗寨居住了一年，研究村民的生活方式和村子的发展。离开村寨后，她就此次田野调查写了一本书，名为《The Invention of Tradition in China: Story of a Village and Nation Remade》。
Education
2019 Ph.D., University of Helsinki, Social & Cultural Anthropology
2010 MA, London School of Economics
2007 MSc, University of Glasgow
Languages
English — speaking, reading, writing: fluent
Mandarin — speaking, reading, writing: advanced
Finnish — speaking, reading, writing: advanced
SUVI RAUTIO 