Lukas Adel Riad
Title: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW OF SHANZHAI: AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO WESTERN-CENTRIC CONCEPTIONS OF INNOVATION AND MAKING?
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Vasileios Kostakis, Dr. Alexandros Pazaitis
Opponent: Dr. Christina Priavolou
Defense: 4 June 2021
Abstract: Shanzhai refers to pirated products and imitations of brand name consumer electronics. Originating in a folk story, the term translates as “mountain stronghold,” and refers to bandits who evaded the authorities. More recently, shanzhai has been appropriated by a community of small-scale consumer electronics manufacturers in Shenzhen, China. By building on pirated and open-source designs, these manufacturers are able to swiftly innovate their production processes. In this sense, shanzhai resembles the open-source hardware and maker movement which exists in the global North. In this thesis, I examine the literature that approaches shanzhai as an alternative innovation phenomenon. More specifically, my investigation leads me to examine the intersections between shanzhai and the predominantly Western maker movement, considering their commonalities and differences. Therefore, I ask: In what ways does shanzhai challenge the Western-centric conception of innovation and to what extent can it enrich our understandings of making? In response, I show how shanzhai is a unique innovation phenomenon which emerged from below and was subtly co-opted and then promoted by the state. Then I depict how shanzhai contributes to the plurality of understandings that constitute making. My argument follows two key lines: firstly, that shanzhai challenges the Western-centric concept of innovation and secondly, that it evolved from a user-driven form of innovation to a state-led form of innovation.
Keywords: Shanzhai, innovation, maker culture, postcolonialism, intellectual property, China
