Opening up mediation opportunities by engaging grassroots data: Adaptive and resilient feminist data activism in China

Abstract

This article explores the dynamics and practices of feminist data activism that engages with grassroots data to archive cases of sexual violence in China. Drawing on Cammaert’s notion of the mediation opportunity structure, we investigate the mediation process of a feminist data campaign and activists’ communicative practices in contemporary China. By practicing data-activist research, our study shows that the data-based action repertoire opens up hybrid and contingent mediation opportunities for an anti-sexual violence campaign under the current political opportunity structure. We find the paradox of seeking visibility while refusing mainstream media coverage in activist tactics, which embodies a form of adaptive and resilient feminist data activism in the authoritarian context of China. This case study suggests that the dynamics of feminist data activism in China are configured by the tripartite interaction among the disruptive action repertoire, mediation opportunity structure, and political conditions.