Jiaying Tu is currently a PhD student at the Media Studies Department, University of Amsterdam, also affiliated with the China Africa Fashion Power project. Her research studies the cultural economy of second-hand clothing (SHC) consumption in two African countries (Ghana & Rwanda) and how their SHC markets are implicated in the global production networks led by China. Specifically, the project seeks to examine how SHC consumption unfold and evolve in the Ghanian and Rwandan contexts and their respective developments intervened by “Made in/with China”,  initiating discussions on the global circular economies and the sustainable development of Africa's local industries.

 

Prior to this, Jiaying has studied Media and Communications (MSc) at the London School of Economics and Archaeology and Anthropology (BA) at the University of Oxford. Before commencing her PhD project, she spent a semester abroad at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town. She is also an alumna of Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa in eSwatini. Outside of school, she is a part-time consultant at Development Reimagined. Her publications have appeared in the Journal of African Cultural Studies (JACS) and Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Global.