Workshop: A Feminist Reading of China’s Digital Manosphere

The Asian Cultural Research Hub and the Media and Communications Studies are excited to announce an
upcoming PhD and ECR workshop by Associate Professor Altman Yuzhu Peng, from the University of
Warwick. In this workshop, Altman will provide a feminist reading of China’s digital manosphere through
critical discourse analysis, followed by discussion and Q&A. Please find the workshop abstract and speaker
biography below. This is a rare opportunity for our Graduate Researchers and early-career-researchers working
in related areas to have a direct dialogue with one of the most esteem scholars in the field.

Date: Friday, 14 August 2026
Time: 2:30pm – 4pm
Venue: Level 4 Linkway, John Medley Building (Building 191), the University of Melbourne

Please register by emailing Wilfred Wang (Wilfred.wang@unimelb.edu.au)

Title: A Feminist Reading of China’s Digital Manosphere / Sports Fandom through Critical Discourse
Studies

Abstract
Oftentimes misinterpreted as a singular research method, Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) encompasses a wide
range of interdisciplinary approaches, primarily aimed at informing critical inquiries into structural inequalities.
The cultural and linguistic landscape of China’s digital sports fandom, in particular, offers one such terrain on
which structural inequalities unfold along gender lines, shaped by the broader male takeover that has turned it
into a digital manosphere. This talk provides a systematic overview of the classic approaches and recent
developments within CDS that underpin feminist sociolinguistic interventions and uses up-to-date case studies
drawn from Chinese feminist media scholarship to illustrate how these frameworks can be applied to the
analysis of digital manosphere culture and its adjacent manifestations within China’s digital sports fandom. By
foregrounding such applications of CDS, the talk underscores their relevance for advancing a feminist
understanding of gendered, platform-mediated interactions within China’s sports fandom and elucidates their
implications for the broader field of Chinese feminist media studies.

Presenter’s bio
Altman Yuzhu Peng, PhD, FHEA, is Associate Professor of Intercultural Communication, Programme Director
of the MSc in Intercultural Communication for Business and the Professions (ICBP), and Transnational
Education Lead in the School of Education, Learning and Communication Sciences (SELCS) at the University
of Warwick, UK. His research interests lie at the intersections of critical discourse studies, feminist media
studies, and media and cultural studies. He has authored one monograph, co-edited two anthologies, and
published over forty scholarly articles in respected peer-reviewed outlets. He is a member of the UK Research
and Innovation Talent Peer Review College, an external referee for the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong,
and an external examiner for the Doctoral Training Programme offered by the School of Humanities and Social
Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. He also sits on the editorial board of such noted academic journals as
Feminist Media Studies.