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Sara Sterling

Liberal arts professor

Education

  • Ph.D., sociocultural anthropology, KU Leuven
  • M.A. European studies, KU Leuven
  • B.A., history, Fordham University

Credentials

  • Professor of liberal arts, 2022–present, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
  • Assistant professor, 2020–21, Department of China Studies
    Lecturer, 2015–20, Department of Architecture and Design/Industrial Design, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU)
  • Program coordinator, 2014–15, Walworth-Seely Public Library, Walworth, NY
  • Visiting scholar, 2013, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, Immigration, Minorities and Migration Research Center (IMMRC)
  • Post-doctoral research fellow, 2011–13, Tsinghua University, Beijing Center for Chinese Entrepreneur Studies, Institute of Economics
  • Research assistant, 1999–2003, Fordham University, New York National Center for Schools and Communities

Awards, recognitions, and honors

  • Awarded, Research Development Fund (RDF) Grant, February 2017
  • Awarded, research grant, China Post-Doctoral Science Foundation, May 2011

Organizations

  • Fellow of UK Higher Education Academy, 2018

Publications and presentations

  • "Integrating Culture in Future Speculation: Speculating Chinese Wedding Futures," with Dong, F., Futures, submitted 2nd revision, September 2022.
  • "Design for the Speculative Future as Cultural Intermediary: Case Study on Chinese Weddings," with Dong, F., Shen, X., and Chow, K., Design and Culture, publication forthcoming, 2022.
  • "Design for the speculative future as a knowledge source," presented with Dong, F., Li, Y. and Li, X. in Cross-Cultural Design, Experience and Product Design Across Cultures, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Cross-Cultural Design, CCD 2021.
  • "The Emergence of a 21st Century Wedding Culture," panel on Chinese-ness and material culture in the transglobal landscape, Global Chinese and China: Local Belonging and Global Interconnectivity, Guangzhou, China, April 2021.
  • "Building the History of the Future: A Tool for Culture-Centered Design for the Speculative Future," with Dong, F., Schaefer, D. and Forbes, H. Design, published online, Cambridge University Press, June 11, 2020.
  • "Bridal Fashion and Suzhou: The Development of the Tiger Hill Wedding Market," in Suzhou in Transition: Social Change and Development in Contemporary China volume, eds. Tang and Cheung, Routledge, 2020.
  • Co-Organizer, ArcInTex Suzhou, Design in China-Heritage and Crafts Meets Advanced Manufacturing, 2019.
  • "Audience Matters: Participatory Exploration of Speculative Design and Chinese Wedding Culture Interaction," presented with Fangzhou Dong at IASDR, 3rd September, Manchester, 2019.
  • "Chinese brides wear as many as five dresses – yet provide inspiration for a sustainable fashion future," The Conversation, June 5, 2019.
  • "Chinese Sociocultural perspectives and Creativity: Design Practices in the Public Transport sector," presented with Bingjian Liu as part of conference proceedings, HCII2018, Parallel session on Cross-Cultural Design, Las Vegas, NV, accepted for publication March 2018, conference July 2018.
  • "Performing Creativity: Design-Thinking amongst Chinese Industry Employees," with Bingjian Liu, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, Special Issue on Creativity, published online May 14, 2018.
  • "Suzhou's Tiger Hill Wedding Market: Modernity, Material Culture and Bridal Fashion," invited keynote speech, Contemporary Aesthetics and Anthropology: Fashion Study (International Symposium), September 2017.
  • "'Mei nu, Mei nu, Tai gui le!': (Un) Using Chinese Language in Beijing's Silk Market," with Ching Lin Pang, Language and Intercultural Communication, published online January 14, 2015.
  • "Cosmopolitanism, Mobility and Transformation: Internal Migrant Women in Beijing's Silk Street Market,"with Ching Ling Pang And Denggao Long, Asian Anthropology, vol. 13, issue 2, 2014.
  • "From a Fake Market to a Strong Brand: The Silk Street Market in Beijing," with Ching Lin Pang, Built Environment, vol 39, number 2, 2013.
  • "Managing Multi-mobility and Multi-layered Identity in China: How Ethnic Chinese-Venezuelan returnees cope with Chinese language, culture and identity," with Ching Lin Pang, Asian Ethnicity, vol. 14, issue 4, pp. 511-524, 2013.
  • "Transactions and Transformations: Internal Migrant Women in Beijing's Silk Street Market," presented as part of conference proceedings, RC21 Conference The struggle to belong, Dealing with diversity in 21st century urban settings, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, July 7–9, 2011.
  • "Ethnic Chinese-Venezuelan Return Migrants in China: Language and Culture at a Crossroads," presented as part of conference proceedings, 11th Annual Conference on Language and Culture, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, April 2008.
  • "Ethnic Chinese Return Migrants: Identities, Culture and Consumption," KOLOR, Journal on Moving Communities, Special issue on Chinese Youth, 2008.