Dr Sarah Dauncey
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BA, MA, PhD (Durham) |
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Email: s.dauncey@sheffield.ac.uk |
ProfileDr Sarah Dauncey has been a lecturer in Chinese studies here since 1999 following the award of her PhD from the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Durham. Prior to that she had studied China and Mandarin Chinese at various leading universities, including the University of Durham, Renmin University in Beijing and Taiwan Normal University in Taibei. Her research interests include material culture and gender in pre-modern China, particularly the role of clothing and gift-exchange, and the representation of disability in contemporary China. On the teaching side, she has overseen the development of the University’s Chinese language programmes and the establishment of its Confucius Institute (Confucius Institute of the Year 2010). In recognition of the work she has done in these areas, she was awarded a prestigious Senate Award for Learning and Teaching for her 'Partnership in Chinese Language Learning and Teaching' with Dr Lili Chen in 2009. She is an active member of the Chinese Studies community, currently serving as Honorary Secretary of the British Association of Chinese Studies and Panel Chair for the annual HSBC/British Council Mandarin Speaking Competition for schools. She also regularly acts as external examiner for universities around the UK and has been invited to speak at the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust annual Chinese Language Conference. |
Current Administrative ResponsibilitiesDirector of the Chinese Language ProgrammesChinese Degree Tutor SEAS Careers Liaison SEAS Alumni Relations Officer Faculty Languages Review Group (Academic Marketing Lead) |
TeachingSince arriving at the University of Sheffield, I have been heavily involved in designing new teaching methods that enhance student experience both inside and outside the classroom. I have benefited greatly from successful bids for competitive grants from CILASS (for co-developing the School’s Virtual Language Laboratory), LeTS (for leading the development of an innovative CD-ROM based Chinese language learning system) and the Alumni Fund (for a brand new physical digital language laboratory), all of which have supported tutors during in-class teaching hours and helped students develop independent learning techniques. I strongly believe in fostering a spirit of enquiry among all my students. It is much more rewarding to see students work out the answers for themselves using the academic and linguistic skills and cultural understandings I teach them, than handing them all the answers on a plate. Developing transferable skills such as these are the key to the employability of our students following graduation and this is something I see confirmed every day in my roles as Careers Liaison and Alumni Relations Officer for the department. I currently teach on the following modules: EAS214/215/6700/6701 Unseen Chinese>English translation (intermediate level) EAS314/315/6703/6704 Unseen Chinese>English translation (advanced level) EAS168 'Chinese Society & Culture' 1st-year lecture module EAS360 'Literature & Culture in Modern China' 4th-year lecture module EAS6154 'Classroom Observations' (compulsory module for the MA in TCFL) |
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ResearchI maintain a keen interest in material culture, gender and literature in late imperial China, the subject of my doctoral research. I am regularly invited to speak on my research in this area to a wide variety of audiences, general and academic. Most recently, these have been at the Medieval and Ancient Research Society, the University of the Third Age, and the British Museum’s visiting exhibition ‘China: A Journey to East’. I have also turned my attention to the representation of disability in contemporary China, particularly in film, literature and other texts. This is an exciting new field which is leading to the development of new ways of understanding disability in a non-Western context. My work focuses particularly on how people with various types of impairment are depicted in different types of media and, more significantly, how these images contribute to the formation and articulation of identities, both collective and individual. Part of this research is based in the Writing Lives in China project, which is co-organised by Dr Marjorie Dryburgh. This project aims to develop interdisciplinary and comparative approaches to understanding the production and use of life writing as a form, a practice and a resource for scholars. Much of my research and further study has been funded by grants from the Chinese Ministry of Education, Taiwan Ministry of Education, British Academy, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, University China Committee in London and Japan Foundation. In line with my research interests, I welcome applications from research students who wish to work in the areas of Chinese material culture, literature, disability and gender. |
List of Major PublicationsThree Days to Walk: A Personal Story of Life Writing and Disability Consciousness in China,” Disability and Society 27.3 (2012). Breaking the Silence? Deafness, Disability and Education in two post-Cultural Revolution Chinese Films, in Marja Mogk (ed.), Different Bodies: Disability in Film & Television, Jefferson: McFarland (2012). Screening Disability in the PRC: the Politics of Looking Good, China Information 21 (3), (2007). Sartorial Modesty and Genteel Ideals in the Late Ming, chapter 7 of D. Berg and C. Starr eds., The Quest for Gentility in China: Negotiations beyond Gender and Class, London: Routledge (2007). Illusions of Grandeur: Perceptions of Status and Wealth in Late-Ming Female Clothing & Ornamentation, East Asian History 25/26 (2003): 43-68. Bonding, Benevolence, Barter and Bribery: Female Gift-Giving and Social Communication in the Jin Ping Mei, Nannü: Men, Women & Gender in Early & Imperial China 5.2 (2003): 203-239. |
Other Academic WorkContributor to Edward Davis, ed., Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture, New York: Routledge, 2004. Contributor to Michael Dillon ed., China: A Cultural and Historical Dictionary, Richmond: Curzon Press, 1998. |
