Papers by Veronica Sau Wa Mak
The phenomenal popularity of the #MilkTeaAlliance-a loose, largely online coalition of activists ... more The phenomenal popularity of the #MilkTeaAlliance-a loose, largely online coalition of activists who have rallied together since 2020 in solidarity over their political struggles-is something to behold. Initially comprising netizens primarily from Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, the movement has since expanded to include members from Myanmar, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia. When Hong Kong actor Gregory Wong, a #MilkTeaAlliance supporter, left a courtroom in August 2020, and when the young political activist Joshua Wong protested outside the Royal Thai Consulate-General in October 2020, both raised a three-finger salute in support of young protestors in Thailand. The salute is not a popular sign of resistance in Hong Kong (McLaughlin 2020), but rather among Thai students and youths, who co-opted it from the Hunger Games movie series. Subsequently, to support protestors in Hong Kong, thousands across Asia have taken to social media platforms such as Instagram to share their photos or drawings of milk tea and national flags, accompanied by emotional political messages such as "none of us are free, until all of us are free." This research analyses the intersection of intangible cultural heritage, emotions, and Asian youth politics. A beverage mixing tea with milk, milk tea is celebrated as an intangible cultural heritage by local people in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and many parts of Southeast Asia. Since 2019, milk tea has become a symbol that pro-democratic movements in these territories use both online and offline; the #MilkTeaAlliance hashtag was established on Instagram that same year. Although the virtual space of the #MilkTeaAlliance can hardly be compared to visiting a museum, it nevertheless offers a digital platform where collective memories of intangible cultural heritage can be publicly shared, displayed, negotiated, and discussed (McGowan 2016). People participating in this transnational democratic movement generate content about milk tea under the #MilkTeaAlliance hashtag in the form of photos, cartoons, memes, 1 and text posts across social media platforms such as Instagram (IG), Facebook (FB), and Twitter. Burgeoning pro-democratic events and organisations
This thesis is an ethnographic study of the change in the production and consumption of indigenou... more This thesis is an ethnographic study of the change in the production and consumption of indigenous and imported cow milk in South China, particularly Shunde and Hong Kong, during the post-Mao period. Contrary to the popular view that cow milk consumption in China is a result of Western influence, the milk production and consumption in South China is actually a continuation of the Chinese tradition. This thesis shows that the popularity of milk consumption in Shunde and Hong Kong is driven by the forces of colonialism, globalization, capitalism, and modern state-building. Milk consumption in these two places is mainly promoted through three kinds of agents - the market (global and local milk companies, financial investors, food-packaging companies), medical professionals and the State. I illustrate how these forces and agents affect the classification, meanings and values of health and culinary heritage, and how this results in a reinvention of tradition and a change in the concept of morality, amidst concerns over food safety. By examining the transformation of the values associated with milk in the process of production and consumption, I show how health and culinary heritage become the contested ground in the reconfiguration of modern identity and social relationship, while complying with the vision of the government in the building of national pride.
Health Risk & Society, Dec 23, 2015
In 2013, the ‘right to baby formula’ movement supported by educated, middle-class Chinese familie... more In 2013, the ‘right to baby formula’ movement supported by educated, middle-class Chinese families in Hong Kong was launched online challenging the dominant message that ‘breast is best’. In this article, I focus on links between mediatisation, globalisation of formula milk and motherhood in post-colonial Hong Kong. Although previous research has examined ideologies of motherhood and mothers’ infant feeding decisions, little research has focused on the impact of digital media within post-colonial societies undergoing rapid social change. Drawing on data from a study of mothers living in Hong Kong that I conducted during 2010–2011 and 2013–2014, I show how digital media contribute to changes in individuals’ experiences with breastfeeding, perceptions of risk and health, as well as social relations, norms, values and identities in contemporary Hong Kong. I explore how and with what consequences the family, especially as it relates to motherhood and childhood, and the practices of infant feeding are intertwined with digital media and the body politic in neoliberal, post-colonial Hong Kong. I argue that although digital media have globalised the biomedical discourse that ‘breast is best’, mothers in Hong Kong have, through digital storytelling and virtual interaction, generated alternative interpretations of science, health and their embodied illness experience that serve to counterbalance the cultural contradictions of motherhood. I show that through social networking, parents have not only gained sufficient political power to secure formula milk, they are also simultaneously subsumed to consumer desire created by the marketing of international pharmaceutical companies.
The essential adaptive food selection behavior of young children
has become increasingly medicali... more The essential adaptive food selection behavior of young children
has become increasingly medicalized as a kind of disease—the
“picky-eating” syndrome in Hong Kong. The researcher used the
multiple case studies approach with data collected from in-depth
interviews and advertisements to examine the process of the
medicalization of picky-eating disorder, which demonstrates
how an essential adaptive human behavior can be redefined by
the market and medical system as a deviant, abnormal behavior
that needs to be eliminated and how the resulting health risks
can be resolved by modern medicine produced by this pharmaceutical
nexus.
This thesis is an ethnographic study of the change in the production and consumption of indigenou... more This thesis is an ethnographic study of the change in the production and consumption of indigenous and imported cow milk in South China, particularly Shunde and Hong Kong, during the post-Mao period. Contrary to the popular view that cow milk consumption in China is a result of Western influence, the milk production and consumption in South China is actually a continuation of the Chinese tradition. This thesis shows that the popularity of milk consumption in Shunde and Hong Kong is driven by the forces of colonialism, globalization, capitalism, and modern state-building. Milk consumption in these two places is mainly promoted through three kinds of agents - the market (global and local milk companies, financial investors, food-packaging companies), medical professionals and the State. I illustrate how these forces and agents affect the classification, meanings and values of health and culinary heritage, and how this results in a reinvention of tradition and a change in the concept of morality, amidst concerns over food safety. By examining the transformation of the values associated with milk in the process of production and consumption, I show how health and culinary heritage become the contested ground in the reconfiguration of modern identity and social relationship, while complying with the vision of the government in the building of national pride.
In 2013, the ‘right to baby formula’ movement supported by educated, middle-class
Chinese familie... more In 2013, the ‘right to baby formula’ movement supported by educated, middle-class
Chinese families in Hong Kong was launched online challenging the dominant message
that ‘breast is best’. In this article, I focus on links between mediatisation,
globalisation of formula milk and motherhood in post-colonial Hong Kong.
Although previous research has examined ideologies of motherhood and mothers’
infant feeding decisions, little research has focused on the impact of digital media
within post-colonial societies undergoing rapid social change. Drawing on data from a
study of mothers living in Hong Kong that I conducted during 2010–2011 and 2013–
2014, I show how digital media contribute to changes in individuals’ experiences with
breastfeeding, perceptions of risk and health, as well as social relations, norms, values
and identities in contemporary Hong Kong. I explore how and with what consequences
the family, especially as it relates to motherhood and childhood, and the practices of
infant feeding are intertwined with digital media and the body politic in neoliberal,
post-colonial Hong Kong. I argue that although digital media have globalised the
biomedical discourse that ‘breast is best’, mothers in Hong Kong have, through digital
storytelling and virtual interaction, generated alternative interpretations of science,
health and their embodied illness experience that serve to counterbalance the cultural
contradictions of motherhood. I show that through social networking, parents have not
only gained sufficient political power to secure formula milk, they are also simultaneously
subsumed to consumer desire created by the marketing of international
pharmaceutical companies.
Food and Foodways: Explorations in the History and Culture of Human Nourishment, 2014
This article provides an ethnography and analysis of the revival of
the tradition of indigenous ... more This article provides an ethnography and analysis of the revival of
the tradition of indigenous water buffalo cheese and milk product
consumption in Shunde, Guangdong. Contrary to the widely held
belief that dairy products are not part of the traditional Chinese
diet, water buffalo cheese and milk products have been part of the
food systems of Guangdong for centuries. But in the past 30 years,
these indigenous milk products have been reinvented as a kind of
culinary heritage, supplemented by new forms and practices. The
popularity of water buffalo milk products in Shunde today has come
about as a result of marketing by various agents, including cheese
makers, milk merchants, chefs and the government in post-Mao
China. Furthermore, the culture of milk consumption in Shunde
today has been shaped by both the forces of post-reform economic
development, international cultural institutions, the changing perceptions
of members of different social classes, and modernity. The
reinvented tradition of milk products provides people of different
social classes with new ways of consuming milk products and of
conducting social interactions.
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Papers by Veronica Sau Wa Mak
has become increasingly medicalized as a kind of disease—the
“picky-eating” syndrome in Hong Kong. The researcher used the
multiple case studies approach with data collected from in-depth
interviews and advertisements to examine the process of the
medicalization of picky-eating disorder, which demonstrates
how an essential adaptive human behavior can be redefined by
the market and medical system as a deviant, abnormal behavior
that needs to be eliminated and how the resulting health risks
can be resolved by modern medicine produced by this pharmaceutical
nexus.
Chinese families in Hong Kong was launched online challenging the dominant message
that ‘breast is best’. In this article, I focus on links between mediatisation,
globalisation of formula milk and motherhood in post-colonial Hong Kong.
Although previous research has examined ideologies of motherhood and mothers’
infant feeding decisions, little research has focused on the impact of digital media
within post-colonial societies undergoing rapid social change. Drawing on data from a
study of mothers living in Hong Kong that I conducted during 2010–2011 and 2013–
2014, I show how digital media contribute to changes in individuals’ experiences with
breastfeeding, perceptions of risk and health, as well as social relations, norms, values
and identities in contemporary Hong Kong. I explore how and with what consequences
the family, especially as it relates to motherhood and childhood, and the practices of
infant feeding are intertwined with digital media and the body politic in neoliberal,
post-colonial Hong Kong. I argue that although digital media have globalised the
biomedical discourse that ‘breast is best’, mothers in Hong Kong have, through digital
storytelling and virtual interaction, generated alternative interpretations of science,
health and their embodied illness experience that serve to counterbalance the cultural
contradictions of motherhood. I show that through social networking, parents have not
only gained sufficient political power to secure formula milk, they are also simultaneously
subsumed to consumer desire created by the marketing of international
pharmaceutical companies.
the tradition of indigenous water buffalo cheese and milk product
consumption in Shunde, Guangdong. Contrary to the widely held
belief that dairy products are not part of the traditional Chinese
diet, water buffalo cheese and milk products have been part of the
food systems of Guangdong for centuries. But in the past 30 years,
these indigenous milk products have been reinvented as a kind of
culinary heritage, supplemented by new forms and practices. The
popularity of water buffalo milk products in Shunde today has come
about as a result of marketing by various agents, including cheese
makers, milk merchants, chefs and the government in post-Mao
China. Furthermore, the culture of milk consumption in Shunde
today has been shaped by both the forces of post-reform economic
development, international cultural institutions, the changing perceptions
of members of different social classes, and modernity. The
reinvented tradition of milk products provides people of different
social classes with new ways of consuming milk products and of
conducting social interactions.
has become increasingly medicalized as a kind of disease—the
“picky-eating” syndrome in Hong Kong. The researcher used the
multiple case studies approach with data collected from in-depth
interviews and advertisements to examine the process of the
medicalization of picky-eating disorder, which demonstrates
how an essential adaptive human behavior can be redefined by
the market and medical system as a deviant, abnormal behavior
that needs to be eliminated and how the resulting health risks
can be resolved by modern medicine produced by this pharmaceutical
nexus.
Chinese families in Hong Kong was launched online challenging the dominant message
that ‘breast is best’. In this article, I focus on links between mediatisation,
globalisation of formula milk and motherhood in post-colonial Hong Kong.
Although previous research has examined ideologies of motherhood and mothers’
infant feeding decisions, little research has focused on the impact of digital media
within post-colonial societies undergoing rapid social change. Drawing on data from a
study of mothers living in Hong Kong that I conducted during 2010–2011 and 2013–
2014, I show how digital media contribute to changes in individuals’ experiences with
breastfeeding, perceptions of risk and health, as well as social relations, norms, values
and identities in contemporary Hong Kong. I explore how and with what consequences
the family, especially as it relates to motherhood and childhood, and the practices of
infant feeding are intertwined with digital media and the body politic in neoliberal,
post-colonial Hong Kong. I argue that although digital media have globalised the
biomedical discourse that ‘breast is best’, mothers in Hong Kong have, through digital
storytelling and virtual interaction, generated alternative interpretations of science,
health and their embodied illness experience that serve to counterbalance the cultural
contradictions of motherhood. I show that through social networking, parents have not
only gained sufficient political power to secure formula milk, they are also simultaneously
subsumed to consumer desire created by the marketing of international
pharmaceutical companies.
the tradition of indigenous water buffalo cheese and milk product
consumption in Shunde, Guangdong. Contrary to the widely held
belief that dairy products are not part of the traditional Chinese
diet, water buffalo cheese and milk products have been part of the
food systems of Guangdong for centuries. But in the past 30 years,
these indigenous milk products have been reinvented as a kind of
culinary heritage, supplemented by new forms and practices. The
popularity of water buffalo milk products in Shunde today has come
about as a result of marketing by various agents, including cheese
makers, milk merchants, chefs and the government in post-Mao
China. Furthermore, the culture of milk consumption in Shunde
today has been shaped by both the forces of post-reform economic
development, international cultural institutions, the changing perceptions
of members of different social classes, and modernity. The
reinvented tradition of milk products provides people of different
social classes with new ways of consuming milk products and of
conducting social interactions.