From Making Zines to Community-Building: Self-Publishing as a Chinese Émigré

This research delves into a question: what can self-publishing as a practice offer to the Chinese émigré community? As a Chinese émigré who has self-exiled to a Western country, I have struggled with my diasporic identity and grappled with the polarized environment within the Chinese diaspora. Many other newcomers from China have to deal with similar struggles and hardships. Against this backdrop, I explore ways to examine and realize my diasporic identity as well as ways to give care to the Chinese émigré community. Since Max Schumann and AA Bronson established the New York Art Book Fair in 2005, the global art publishing community has established a network of art book fairs, independent publishers and artist communities across the globe. A practice-based design research methodology is integrated in this research through a studio practice in which I create, design, print and distribute zines. The following thesis document takes you through a systems thinking lens and examines self-publishing as a complex system. By understanding and locating existing feedback loops in the system (Meadows, 2008 p. 187), I investigate possible paths to build a community for Chinese émigrés through a self-publishing practice.