Ruishi Zhen
Biografie
I am a doctoral researcher at the Unit of Social Anthropology at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. My thesis research is part of the SNSF research project ‘Digital agriculture: Sino-European contrasts, correspondences and collaborations’ led by Dr. Lena Kaufmann. My thesis research examines how ecological farmers in rural China use and adapt drone technologies as part of everyday practices of soil care, ecological maintenance, and livelihood reproduction. While agricultural drones in China are associated with state-led modernisation, efficiency, and smart agriculture, my research contrasts these dominant narratives with a case study of drone tinkering for ecological farming practices. Drawing on the anthropology of technology and science and technology studies (STS), my research approaches drones as part of socio-technical assemblages involving human labour, plants, microbial life, and market relations. Farmers' practices are analysed as forms of care that seek to maintain and repair damaged ecological relations, while remaining entangled in capitalist food markets.
Before coming to Fribourg, I completed an MA in Asian Studies at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies at Lund University. I also hold an MSc in Research for International Development from SOAS, University of London. My broader research interest concerns China’s agricultural development and alternative agri-food systems.