Svetlana Kharchenkova
University lecturer
- Name
- Dr. S.S. Kharchenkova
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 1180
- s.s.kharchenkova@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-5432-6925
Svetlana Kharchenkova is Assistant Professor at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies.
Research
Svetlana Kharchenkova’s research is at the intersection of cultural, economic sociology and contemporary China. She is the principal investigator of the project “Foreign Books in China, Cultural Control and Technology” funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). It focuses on the book publishing industry in contemporary China. To understand how foreign books become available in China, it studies everyday practices and perceptions of editors who select and prepare foreign books for publication. Paying special attention to state control, this project investigates the fate of foreign books in contemporary China.
Another line of research concerns the development of the market for contemporary art in China. The project approaches the art market from the perspectives of cultural and economic sociology and relies on ethnographic and archival data collected primarily in Beijing. It studies market development from a global perspective, and focuses on various aspects of market emergence, such as institution-building and valuation.
Teaching activities and supervision
Courses taught:
• Sociology and anthropology of modern China (BA)
• Contemporary Chinese society and globalization (BA)
• Culture: East Asia (BA)
• Research methods: art and society (BA)
• Thesis seminar (BA)
• Introduction to Asian studies (MA)
• Creativity and culture in contemporary China (MA and ResMA)
• Thesis seminar (MA and ResMA)
• Methodologies in the social sciences and humanities (ResMA and PhD)
Supervision:
I supervise BA, MA, ResMA and PhD theses on topics at the intersection of sociology and contemporary China. For MA, ResMA and PhD supervision I am particularly interested in cultural sociology approaches to China. Projects on various art worlds and markets, including book publishing, that focus on valuation, censorship, and cultural globalization are especially welcome.
Education
2017: PhD in Sociology. Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), University of Amsterdam
2011: Research MA in Area Studies, specialization Chinese Studies (cum laude). Leiden University (minor in Dutch Studies)
2006: Specialist (Russian five-year degree) in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, specialization Mandarin Chinese. Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow
2005: One-year exchange program (2004-2005) in Chinese language and culture, advanced level. Peking University, International College for Chinese Language Studies, Beijing
Grants and awards
(selection)
2022-2025: VENI grant of the Dutch Research Council (NWO)
2019-2020: A ten-month full-time research fellowship at the International Institute for Asian Studies (the Netherlands). [declined]
2018-2019: Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Research Grant, administered by the Asia Art Archive (Hong Kong and New York).
2017: Best PhD paper Research Award, European Sociological Association, the Sociology of the Arts Research Network.
University lecturer
- Faculty of Humanities
- Leiden Institute for Area Studies
- SAS China
- Kharchenkova S.S. & Merkus L. (2024), Who is on show? Globalization of private contemporary art museums in China, Cultural Sociology : .
- Kharchenkova S. (2023), Review of: Archer A. (2022), Chinese contemporary art in the global auction market. Studies in the History of Collecting & Art Markets no. 13. Leiden/Boston: Brill. Sehepunkte: Rezensionsjournal für Geschichtswissenschaften 23(5).
- Kharchenkova S. (2023), High art on a mug: art merchandise in China’s contemporary art market, European Journal of Cultural Studies : .
- Kharchenkova S.S. (2020), Review of: Valjakka M. & Wang M. (2018), Visual arts, representations and interventions in contemporary China: urbanized interface. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. The China Journal 84: 173-174.
- Kharchenkova S.S. (2019), Bringing Art Market Organizations to China: Cross-Border Isomorphism, Institutional Work and its Unintended Consequences, The China Quarterly 240: 1087-1107.
- Kharchenkova S.S. (2018), The market metaphors: Making sense of the emerging market for contemporary art in China, Poetics: Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, the Media and the Arts 71: 71-82.
- Kharchenkova S.S. (2018), Sketching the Art Scene: The Chinese Contemporary Art World and How It Has Been Created. In: Kharchenkova S.S. (Ed.), A Chinese Journey. The Sigg Collection. Zwolle: WBOOKS.
- Kharchenkova S.S. & Velthuis O. (2018), How to become a judgment device: valuation practices and the role of auctions in the emerging Chinese art market, Socio-Economic Review 16(3): 459-477.
- Kharchenkova S.S. (15 December 2017), White Cubes in China: A Sociological Study of China’s Emerging Market for Contemporary Art (Dissertatie. Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG), University of Amsterdam). Supervisor(s): Kuipers G. & Velthuis O.
- Kharchenkova S., Komarova N. & Velthuis O. (2015), Official Art Organizations in the Emerging Markets of China and Russia. In: Velthuis O. & Baia Curioni S. (Eds.), Cosmopolitan Canvases: The Globalization of Markets for Contemporary Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 78-101.
- Kharchenkova S.S. (2015), Review of: DeBevoise J., Between State and Market: Chinese Contemporary Art in the Post-Mao Era. The China Quarterly 221: 277-278.
- Kharchenkova S. & Velthuis O. (2015), Evaluative Biography of Cynical Realism and Political Pop. In: Berthoin Antal A., Hutter M. & Stark D. (Eds.), Moments of Valuation: Exploring Sites of Dissonance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 108-130.