Saving the world one family at a time: screening and discussion of Gone South Village
With growing tensions between China and the United States, new "third spaces" are emerging beyond great-power competition. Gone South Village is a short documentary film that explores how overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia create social and global orders that are neither wholly Chinese nor Thai.
The film follows a Sino-Thai family as they travel from Bangkok to "Gone South Village", their late father's ancestral hometown in rural China. Through this journey, the documentary reflects on what it means to be "Chinese" in Thailand and "Thai" in China, and how transnational community ties are built through shared heritage. Rather than relying on elite or heroic solutions, the film offers an intimate account of how global interconnections are sustained one family at a time.
Meet your speakers and chair
William A. Callahan is Professor of Political Science at Singapore Management University and formerly Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research explores the intersection of theory, culture, and politics in China and Asia, with a focus on visual global politics. His books include Sensible Politics: Visualizing International Relations (2020), which won the ISA International Political Sociology Best Book Award.
Mia Chen Ma is a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Social History of Health & Healthcare at the University of Strathclyde and a former Wellcome Trust–funded Medical Humanities China-UK Early Career Fellow. She completed her PhD in Chinese and Inner Asian Studies at SOAS, University of London. Her research explores literary narratives in environmental and medical humanities, with a focus on Chinese science fiction and ecological thought.
Dr Charlotte Goodburn is Deputy Director of the Lau China Institute and Reader in Chinese Politics and Development at King’s College London. Her research focuses on migration, labour, and development in contemporary China. She previously held a postdoctoral position in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, where she also completed her PhD.
Dr Andrea Pia is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research examines the relationship between society, the environment, and governance in contemporary China, with a focus on water politics and climate change. He is the author of Cutting the Mass Line: Water, Politics, and Climate in Southwest China.
Dr Giulia Sciorati is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research examines how performative practices shape the construction, reception, and contestation of intersubjective meanings in international politics, with an empirical focus on Global China. Her work has appeared in the European Journal of International Relations, the International Journal of Cultural Policy, and The International Spectator.
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This event is part of the LSE Festival: How to save the planet running from Monday 15 to Saturday 20 June 2026. This year's Festival explores how existential threats including the climate crisis, conflict and AI are affecting all parts of the world, transforming the way and where we live, and how our societies function. With a series of events asking what can we be doing to save the Earth, its people and environment? Booking for all Festival events will open on Monday 18 May.
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