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About Jonathan
Dr. Jonathan Benney is a Lecturer in Chinese Studies within the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University, holding this position since July 2015. He earned his PhD in Chinese Studies from the University of Melbourne in 2010. His previous appointments include lecturer at Macquarie University, postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for U.S.-China Issues at the University of Oklahoma, visiting researcher on the LOEWE Research Focus project 'Extrajudicial and Judicial Conflict Resolution' at Goethe University Frankfurt, and research fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Benney is a Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA) and actively supervises Honours and postgraduate students on topics related to his research interests. He coordinates units including ATS1001 and ATS1002 (Introductory Chinese 1 and 2), ATS2040 (Understanding contemporary China), and ATS3959 (Chinese politics and political cultures), as well as Asian Studies Honours students. Additionally, he leads secondary school outreach programs for the school, such as the Monash Asian Studies Debating Competition.
Benney's research centers on political communication in modern China, emphasizing political campaigns, new media, visual culture, aesthetics, and design processes, alongside the teaching of Chinese culture and society in Australian educational contexts. His earlier work explored rights concepts and conflict resolution in China. Key publications include the monograph Defending Rights in Contemporary China (Routledge, 2013); 'Aesthetic resources in contemporary Chinese politics' in Critical Inquiry (2020); 'Decentralization of political design in China' in Pacific Affairs (2020); 'Weiwen at the Grassroots: China's stability maintenance apparatus as a means of conflict resolution' in Journal of Contemporary China (2016); 'The aesthetics of Chinese microblogging: state and market control of Weibo' in Asiascape: Digital Asia (2014); and 'Smoothness, beauty, and persuasion in Chinese political visual culture' in Visual Studies (2025). His scholarship has accumulated over 380 citations on Google Scholar. Benney serves as Deputy Editor and Associate Editor of Asian Studies Review, and editorial board member of Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal. He is a committee member of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia.
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