Dr. Keren Wang is an interdisciplinary scholar who studies political and legal thought and the exchange of meanings from transnational perspectives. His research brings legal, historical, and critical-interpretative approaches together to interrogate the dynamics between collective memory and present realities. His recently published book, Legal and Rhetorical Foundations of Economic Globalization: An Atlas of Ritual Sacrifice in Late-Capitalism, surveys the “rituological” dimension of modern legal instruments, specifically as legitimation frameworks for the taking and transferring of rights from one group to another. His current book project focuses on the rituology of emergent data governance structures from both within and beyond China.
EXPERIENCE
July 2022 – Present: American Council of Learned Societies Emerging Voices Fellow, Dept. of Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
July 2021 – July 2022: Visiting Fellow at the Center for Humanities and Information, Pennsylvania State University – Main Campus, University Park, PA, USA
July 2018 – July 2022: Assistant Teaching Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences and Assistant Director of the Coalition for Peace & Ethics, Pennsylvania State University – Main Campus, University Park, PA, USA
July 2013 – July 2018: Graduate Instructor, Pennsylvania State University – Main Campus, University Park, PA, USA.
2011: Research Intern, Global Security Institute, Philadelphia, PA.
EDUCATION
Doctor of Philosophy in Communication Arts and Sciences, Political Communication Concentration • Pennsylvania State University, Main Campus • University Park, PA • 2018
Master of Arts in International Affairs, International Law and Policy concentration • Pennsylvania State University, Main Campus • University Park, PA • 2013
Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies • Drexel University • Philadelphia, PA • 2010
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Book:
- Legal and Rhetorical Foundations of Economic Globalization: An Atlas of Ritual Sacrifice in Late-capitalism. Routledge, 2019. Available: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429198687
Journal articles:
- “A Rhetorical Autopsy of the Architect of Apartheid and its Transnational Implications.” Forthcoming for publication on Communication and Race, 2024
- “Legal and Rhetorical Dynamics of Personalized ‘Pillars of Shame’ in the Chinese Social Credit System.” Forthcoming for publication on China Review, 2024 (under contract).
- “The Legitimation Crisis of the Japanese Constitution: Reflections on Japan’s Judicial Rhetoric and Its Post-WWII Constitutionalization Process.” Communication Law Review, Volume 20, Issue 1, (2020): 1-29.
- “Rhetorical Invention of Laws of Sacrifice: Kelo v. New London,” Communication Law Review, Volume 18, Issue 2 (2018): 59-95.
- With Nabih Haddah, “Participatory Global Citizenship: Civic Education Beyond Territoriality.” Journal of Self-Governance & Management Economics 3, no. 1 (2015).
- With Backer, Larry Catá. “The emerging structures of socialist constitutionalism with Chinese characteristics: extra-judicial detention and the Chinese constitutional order.” Washington International Law Journal 23 (2014): 251.
- With Backer, Larry C. “Jiang Shigong on ‘Written and Unwritten Constitutions’ and Their Relevance to Chinese Constitutionalism.” Open Times, vol. 2014, no. 2 (2014): 20-29
- With Larry C and Keren Wang. “Toward A Robust Theory of the Chinese Constitutional State: Between Formalism and Legitimacy.” Open Times, vol. 2014, no. 2 (2014): 37-56.
Book chapters:
- With Dominic Manthey. “Democracy in a Networked World: Advocacy and Imitation in Hong Kong Protest.” In: Silence is Dissent: The Rhetoric of Silent Protest. David Seitz (ed.). Washington DC, Lexington Books, Forthcoming 2024 (under contract).
- “Persuasion and Propaganda in Classical Chinese Intellectual History,” in Persuasion and Propaganda, edited by Mary E. Stuckey. University Park, Penn State University Press, 2023.
- With Larry Catá Backer, Nabih Haddad, Tomonori Teraoka. “Democratizing the Global Business and Human Rights Project by Catalyzing Strategic Litigation from the Bottom Up.” Chapter. In The Business and Human Rights Landscape: Moving Forward, Looking Back, edited by Jena Martin and Karen E. Bravo, 254–87. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. doi:10.1017/CBO9781316155219.010.
- “Religion in China – Historical and Legal Context,” chapter in Law and Religion: Cases, Materials, and Readings 3rd ed., edited by Frank Ravitch and Larry C. Backer. St Paul, MN: West Academic Publishing, 2015. ISBN: 0314284079
Book reviews:
- Review of Reconsidering Knowledge: Feminism and the Academy, by Meg Luxton and Mary Jane Mossman,” Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, vol. 43 no. 4 (2014) ISSN 0094-3061 1939-8638
- Review of Computer Games and the Social Imaginary by Graeme Kirkpatrick, Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, vol. 43 no. 4 (2014)
- Review of Moving Matters: Paths of Serial Migration by Susan Ossman, Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, vol. 43 no. 3 (2014)
Translations:
- Backer, Larry C. Translation by Keren Wang. “Jiang Shigong on Written and Unwritten Constitutions” and Its Relevance to Chinese Constitutionalism,” [English to Chinese] 40(2) Modern China (2014): 119-132
- Backer, Larry C. Translation by Keren Wang. “The Constitutional Legitimacy of China’s Party-State System,” [English to Chinese] China Studies Report, Vol.25-2012 (2012).
TEACHING
Courses delivered at Emory University, Atlanta, GA • July 2022 – Present
- Persuasion and Propaganda in East Asia and Beyond: This seminar focuses on the role of public communication and media in shaping peace and conflict dynamics in East Asia. It covers historical and contemporary issues, enabling students to critically analyze and understand the impact of propaganda and misinformation in international relations and conflict resolution.
- Chinese Political Thought and Propaganda: This upper-level, writing-intensive undergraduate course explores Chinese political thought and its impact on peace and conflict in the Asia-Pacific region. It examines the evolution of Chinese intellectual traditions and their influence on political propaganda, societal changes, and conflict resolution strategies from early modernity to the age of AI.
Courses delivered at the Pennsylvania State University – Main Campus, University Park, PA
Visiting Fellow at the Center for Humanities and Information • July 2021 – July 2022 | Assistant Teaching Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences • July 2018 – July 2022 | Graduate Instructor at the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences • July 2013 – July 2028
- “What is Information?” – This special topic undergraduate seminar integrates perspectives from the social sciences and the humanities and prepares students to think about and act in a world in which information and its linked concepts play an increasingly important social and political role.
- Persuasion and Propaganda (in-person): This course allows students to develop a more precise understanding of propaganda and the techniques of audience adaptation. It includes important cases from the history of propaganda as well as contemporary cases of public advocacy that raise questions about the distinction between persuasion and propaganda.
- CAS420 Advanced Seminar on Contemporary Rhetorical Theory (in-person): This upper-level undergraduate seminar examines historical and contemporary issues in political discourse from comparative and transnational perspectives.
- CAS100A Public Speaking (in-person and online formats): This introductory undergraduate course studies the effective use of oral and digital/visual communication as a means of addressing problems in public and civic contexts.
- CAS100B Interpersonal Communication (in-person): This general education course introduces students to principles of effective communication with a specific focus on collaborative communication and group problem solving. The goal of CAS 100B is skill development in effective group communication.
- CAS100C Message Analysis and Civic Engagement (in-person and remote formats): This general-education undergraduate course introduces students to principles of effective public communication and civic engagement with an emphasis on analyzing and evaluating public information from the rhetorical perspective.
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
- “Demystifying the Historical and Rhetorical Contexts of Chinese Digital Governance Regime,” presentation at the Symposium on China’s Data Governance and Its Impact on US-China Relations.” The Carter Center China Focus. Atlanta: The Carter Center, Sept. 26, 2023. https://chinafocus.info/symposium-data-governance-and-its-impact-on-us-china-relations/
- “Dasein, ChatGPT, and the Ritology of AI.” Special guest lecture at East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai, June 18 2023
- “Vulnerability Theory and Digital Intimacy: ‘Pillars of Shame’ in the Age of Big Data.” Presented at the Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative Workshop at Emory University School of Law, Atlanta (March 24, 2023).
- “Social and Moral Engineering in the Age of Big Data: Personalized ‘Pillars of Shame’ and the Chinese Social Credit System.” Lecture hosted by REALC Faculty Spotlight Series at Emory University, Atlanta: Feb 6, 2023.
- “Legal and Rhetorical Dynamics of Personalized Shaming Rituals in the Chinese Social Credit System.” Presented at the German Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, University of Vienna (November 3, 2022).
- “Revisiting Classical Rhetoric in Chinese Intellectual History.” Presented at the Association for6 Political Theory Annual Conference, University of Houston (October 28, 2022).
- “HKGolden and the Emergence of Internet-Nativist-Right Discourse.” Presented at the 2020 Camp Rhetoric conference in University Park, PA. (February 29, 2020)
- “A Rhetorical Analysis of HKGolden’s ‘Alternative’ Networked Activism.” Presented at the Exploring Social Media: Online Political Rhetoric, Intercultural Fandom Identity, Corporate Social Responsibility, Millennials, and Non-Use panel at the National Communication Association Annual Convention in Baltimore, Maryland (November 16, 2019).
- “Reexamining Ritual Sacrifice in Late Capitalism,” presented at the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists 2019 Annual Conference in Sydney, Australia (April 27, 2019)
- With Dominic Manthey, “Play of Democratic Signification: Digital Rhetoric in Hong Kong’s 2014 Pro-Democracy Movement,” presented at the National Communication Association 104th Annual Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, Critical and Cultural Studies Division (November 11th, 2018).
- With Tomonori Teraoka, “Reflections on the Japanese post-WWII Constitutionalization Process (Top Student Paper Award).” Presented at the National Communication Association Annual Conference Annual Convention, Dallas, TX (November 19, 2017).
- With Tomonori Teraoka, “Legitimation Crisis of the Japanese Constitution,” presented at Harvard East Asia Society Conference 2017, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (February 25, 2017)
- “Public Rituals and The Rhetorical Invention of Laws of Sacrifice,” presented at The Sixth “Rhetoric in Society” Conference of the Rhetoric Society of Europe, University of East Anglia, Norwich (July 5th, 2017)
- “Fractured Legal Theology: Tension between Doxa and Pistis in Chinese Judicial Reform Discourse,” paper presented at the 11th Annual General Conference of the European China Law Studies Association, at the Faculty of Law of the Roma TRE University in Rome (September 24, 2016)
- “Reexamining Hong Kong’s Political Tension and Rhetoric under of Chinese Socialist System,” presented at the 10th Annual Conference of the European China Law Studies Association, University of Cologne (September 28, 2015)
- “The Dynamic Role of Strategic Framing in Shaping Social Movement Personae: Analyzing Metaphors of ‘Revolution’ and ‘Movement’ in 2014 Hong Kong Protests.” Presented at the Third International Conference on Asian Studies, International University of Japan, Niigata, Japan: June 20-21, 2015.
- “Framing and Persuasion: An Epistemological Perspective on Contemporary Social Movement,” paper presented at the National Communication Association Annual Conference, Chicago (November 22, 2014).
- “A Written Constitution without Functioning Constitutionalism (NCA Top Paper Award)” presented at the Top papers panel – Chinese Communication Studies Division, National Communication Association Annual Conference, Chicago, (November 22, 2014).
- “International Organizations and Participatory Global Citizenship: Civic Education beyond Territoriality,” (paper presented at the 19th Annual UBC Interdisciplinary Legal Studies