Hongli (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Department of War Studies. Her research interests lie in the interdisciplinary field of feminist/queer International Relations (IR), discourse analysis, Orientalism, state sovereignty, and diplomacy. She holds an MSc in International Relations Research from LSE (UK), an MA in International Relations from the University of Melbourne (Australia), and a BA in Economics from the University of Queensland (Australia).

Prior to her doctoral research, she was an active member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in Melbourne, Australia. She participated in policy discussions on nuclear disarmament through the Hiroshima-ICAN Academy in 2021. She has also gained extensive administrative experience through her previous role as the British Conference of Undergraduate Research Administrator at LSE’s Eden Centre in 2024 and her ongoing position as the Executive MSc Programme Assistant at LSE IDEAS.

 

Research Interests

• Gendered and Queer International Politics
• Critical International Relations Theories
• Foucauldian Discourse Analysis and power-knowledge relations
• Statecraft and diplomacy, particularly in relation to China and India
• Digital Diplomacy and the use of AI tools in diplomatic work

 

Thesis title and abstract

Title: Gendered, Sexualised, and Racialised Representation and (Re)Production of State Sovereignty through Diplomatic Discourses and Practices: The Case of China and India

Abstract: State sovereignty is generally understood as fixed, pre-discursive, and ahistorical, thus capable of being represented by diplomats. However, this project argues that sovereignty should be viewed as a cultural and discursive product, with its ontology constantly produced and reproduced by the disciplinary power embodied in individuals, institutions, and discourses. Therefore, this project aims to apply a queer logic of and/neither to explore the sexualised, gendered, and racialised performances of sovereignty. It seeks to understand the mechanisms of power involved in the production of statecraft as mancraft—a fixed masculine, heterosexual, and white subjectivity—through diplomatic discourses and practices.

The main argument of this project is that state sovereignty can be viewed as a drag performance, wherein moments of securing a heterosexual, masculine, and white sovereign subjectivity coexist with moments of allowing homosexual, feminine, and non-white representations of state sovereignty.

Supervisors

• Dr Kiran Phull (Primary Supervisor)
• Dr Stephan Engelkamp (Secondary Supervisor)

 

Research centres or groups

• Research Centre in International Relations