FengYi Yin, Ph.D. Candidate in Media & Communication and a 2025–2026 CHAT Fellow, presented “Boundary Spanning, Conforming, and Negotiation: Entanglements of Transnational Media Business and Soft Power" on January 15, 2026.

Drawing on extensive on-site and ethnographic research, Yin examined how a Chinese media conglomerate develops programming to expand into Sub-Saharan Africa. Framing soft power as influence exercised through cultural production rather than formal political authority, she showed how African languages, narratives, and settings are strategically mobilized to reach global audiences. Yin also introduced her analytical framework of boundary spanning, conforming and negotiation to illuminate how media relationships shift in response to competing national interests and evolving forms of soft power. Throughout the talk, she reflected on her broader scholarly trajectory, noting formative research experiences in Italy, Egypt, and Zimbabwe, as well as her work with UNESCO. These firsthand encounters with media consumption across cultural contexts ultimately inspired the focus and direction of her dissertation research.

For nearly 25 years, the Center for the Humanities at Temple has supported cross-disciplinary collaboration, cultivating a shared intellectual space for rigorous scholarship and collective inquiry. The CHAT Fellowship program is a prime example of this work, and the 2025–2026 cohort brings together faculty and advanced graduate students from GENUS, English, History, Sociology, and Media & Communication. The call for faculty participation for 2026–2027 has passed, but the call for graduate students will be released later this Spring.