JING LIN

Drawing on archival research and ethnographic fieldwork methods, Jing Lin's work investigates the ways in which religious symbols and ritual practices mediate everyday life in China. Lin has published papers on the linguistic and pragmatic features of Taoist talismans and incantations in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE), on Christian soundscapes in contemporary China, and she has worked on the audio dimensions of a documentary project concerning vehicular worlds in China. Lin's current work examines key thresholds of risk and uncertainty in Chinese social life, examining the contemporary efficacies of Taoist practices and the relevance of material culture in the ways people negotiate rites of passage.

Lin is an associate professor at Fujian Normal University and a visiting scholar in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago.