Dr Huiyan Fu
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Email
h.fu@essex.ac.uk -
Location
EBS.3.16, Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
Trained as a social anthropologist at the University of Oxford, I conduct interdisciplinary and cross-national comparative research on precarious work, gender, and social stratification in Japan, China, and beyond. My research is characterised by a sustained commitment to theoretically informed, empirically grounded, and internationally comparative scholarship oriented towards social progress and sustainability. My work is internationally recognised and has been widely published in leading peer-reviewed journals, as well as in monographs, edited volumes, and book chapters with major academic presses. My recent publication includes the edited volume Temporary and Gig Economy Workers in China and Japan (Oxford University Press, 2023). This volume offers a systematic comparative analysis of how cultural values and institutional configurations shape patterns of precarious work across East Asia. By integrating cultural and institutional perspectives and combining macro-level structural analysis with micro-level empirical accounts of worker agency, the book develops a nuanced account of contemporary labour market transformations and their implications for organisations, individuals, and society. I have secured competitive research funding from the British Academy/Leverhulme and the Japan Foundation. I am currently leading a funded project examining the interrelations between gender, mental health, health economics, and social stratification, as well as the impacts of neoliberal restructuring and digital transformation. I have extensive experience in research leadership and supervision, and I welcome applications from prospective PhD students in the following areas: - Anthropology and sociology of Japan and China - Precarious work, digital labour markets, and the gig economy - Gender, intersectionality, and social and health inequalities - Culture, language, and power in comparative perspective
Qualifications
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PhD (DPhil), MPhil, Social Anthropology, University of Oxford,
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Managing Across Cultures (BE469)
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Strategic Human Resource Management (BE733)
Publications
Journal articles (7)
Fu, H., (2021). Social action as ‘a total social phenomenon’: Comparing leadership challenges facing community-based labour organisations in China and Japan. Human Relations. Online (9), 1396-1420
Fu, H., Su, Y. and Ni, A., (2018). Selling motherhood: Gendered emotional labour, citizenly discounting, and alienation among China’s migrant domestic workers. Gender and Society. 32 (6), 814-836
Fu, H., (2016). From ‘Entering into a Firm’ to ‘Entering into a Profession’: An Anthropological Approach to Changing Personhood in Japan. British Journal of Industrial Relations. 54 (3), 552-573
Fu, H., (2013). Flexibility or inequality: The political debate on dispatched workers in Japan. Critical Discourse Studies. 10 (3), 312-326
Fu, H., (2013). Fragmented Work in Post‐Bubble
Fu, H., (2011). Anthropologising the complexity of leadership: a holistic understanding of cross-cultural context. International Journal of Complexity in Leadership and Management. 1 (4), 395-395
Fu, H., (2011). The bumpy road to socialise nature: sex education in Japan. Culture, Health & Sexuality. 13 (8), 903-915
Books (3)
Fu, H., (2023). Temporary and Gig Economy Workers in China and Japan: The Culture of Unequal Work. Oxford University Press. 0192849697. 9780192849694
Fu, H., (2016). Temporary Agency Work and Globalisation Beyond Flexibility and Inequality. Routledge. 1317046269. 9781317046264
Fu, H., (2011). An Emerging Non-regular Labour Force in Japan The Dignity of Dispatched Workers. Routledge. 0203806867. 9780203806869
Book chapters (7)
Fu, H., (2024). Unveiling the enigma of culture: Reflections on gendered precarious work in China and Japan. In: Routledge Handbook on Feminist Anthropology. Editors: Geller, PL., . Routlledge. 214- 228. 9781003366133
Fu, H., (2023). Introduction: The culture of unequal work: Temps and giggers in China and Japan. In: Temporary and Gig Economy Workers in China and Japan: The Culture of Unequal Work. Editors: Fu, H., . Oxford University Press. 1- 23. 0192849697
Fu, H., (2023). Old and new inequalities: Citizenly discounting and precarious work in a changing China. In: Temporary and Gig Economy Workers in China and Japan: The Culture of Unequal Work. Editors: Fu, H., . Oxford University Press. 24- 47. 0192849697. 9780192849694
Fu, H., (2020). Employment regulation and practices: The production and consumption of non-regular work. In: Routledge Handbook on Contemporary Japan. Editors: Takeda., H. and Williams, M., . Routledge. 266- 277. 9781138668614
Fu, H. and et al., (2018). The Future of Work – Good Jobs for All. In: Rethinking Society for the 21st Century: Volume 1, Socio-Economic Transformations Report of the International Panel on Social Progress. Editors: IPSP, . Cambridge University Press. 255- 312
Fu, H., (2016). Introduction: Temporary Agency Work and Globalisation. In: Temporary Agency Work and Globalisation: Beyond Flexibility and Inequality.. Routledge. 1- 15
Fu, H., (2016). Conclusion: Beyond Flexibility and Inequality.. In: Temporary Agency Work and Globalisation: Beyond Flexibility and Inequality. Editors: Fu, H., . Routledge. 205- 209