Name Card
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Professor McDonald, Tom

Title:
Associate Professor

Contact Information
rp02060 picture

Professor McDonald, Tom

Title:
Associate Professor

Also Cited As:
McDonald, TN

Short Biography:

I am a media anthropologist dedicated to using ethnographic engagement to achieve a richer understanding of how digital technologies, media and material culture come to mediate ongoing transformations in the communicative practices, economic behaviours, social relationships and human subjectivities of people in China and beyond. I joined the HKU Department of Sociology in August 2015. Prior to this I was a Research Associate at the Department of Anthropology, University College London.

My research increasingly focuses on economic concerns, reflecting the rapid convergence between digital money and media in China and the wider world. I have recently completed two major projects in this area. The first concerns the adoption of digital payment and consumer finance platforms and their impact in shaping financial subjectivities. The second examines the potential of digital money in facilitating everyday cross-boundary money transactions.

I am currently in the early stages of a new project examining how NFTs are transforming processes of collection, exchange and production in the Hong Kong art market.

Professional Qualifications
YearAwarding InstitutionQualification
2013University College LondonPhD Anthropology
2009University College LondonMRes Anthropology
2007University College LondonBSc Anthropology
Honours, Awards & Prizes
AwardeesAward DateHonours / Awards / PrizesCategory
2019-11-01Early Career Teaching Award: The University of Hong Kong
Research Achievement
2018-09-01Outstanding Teaching Award: Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong
Research Achievement
Professional Societies
Term PeriodPositionProfessional Societies
09/2019 - presentFellowHigher Education Academy
Media Contact Directory
Area of Expertise:
Area of Expertise (EN)Area of Expertise (ZH)
Social anthropology, ethnography, material culture
Contemporary Chinese society
Consumption, domestic sphere
China Internet studies, social media
Spoken Languages:
Spoken Language(s) (EN)Spoken Language(s) (ZH)
English, Putonghua英語、普通話
Written Languages:
Written Language(s) (EN)Written Language(s) (ZH)
English, Chinese英文、中文
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