People

Faculty
Teaching Faculty
ON LEAVE
July 1, 2023—June 30, 2024

Adheesh Sathaye

Adheesh Sathaye

ON LEAVE
July 1, 2023—June 30, 2024

Associate Professor | Sanskrit Literature and Folklore

adheesh.sathaye@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5188
location_onAsian Centre 408

Research Area

Sanskrit
Major research interests: Currently researching early medieval Sanskrit drama, aesthetics, and narrative literature. Doctoral research involved the Sanskrit epics, Marathi devotional performance traditions, and theories of textual production, performance, and folkloristics. Other interests include ...Read more

Research Area

Sanskrit
ON LEAVE
July 2022—June 2023

Alison Bailey

Alison Bailey

ON LEAVE
July 2022—June 2023

Assistant Professor | Chinese

alison.bailey@ubc.ca
location_onAsian Centre 211

Research Area

Chinese
I am an assistant professor in pre-modern Chinese literature in the Department of Asian Studies, UBC.  I received a BA (School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London), MA (University of British Columbia) and a PhD (University of Toronto), all in Chinese literature (modern an...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Ayaka Yoshimizu

Ayaka Yoshimizu

Assistant Professor of Teaching

ayaka.yoshimizu@ubc.ca
location_onC.K. Choi Building 180

Research Area

Asian Diaspora Studies
Ayaka Yoshimizu is Assistant Professor of Teaching at the Department of Asian Studies. She also teaches and coordinates Arts courses for the UBC-Ritsumeikan Exchange Programs. Ayaka teaches courses on Japanese literature, films, media, audiovisual translation, and transpacific histories and cultures...Read more

Research Area

Asian Diaspora Studies

Aynur Kadir

Aynur Kadir

Assistant Professor | Lifeways in Indigenous Asia

aynur.kadir@ubc.ca
location_onC.K. Choi Building 178

Research Area

Lifeways in Indigenous Asia
Aynur Kadir is an Indigenous Uyghur scholar, filmmaker and curator with a research focus on the documentation, conservation and revitalization of Indigenous cultures and languages. Her work bridges the gap between Indigenous studies in Canada and in Asia. Her research interests are in global indigen...Read more

Research Area

Lifeways in Indigenous Asia

Bin Zheng

Bin Zheng

Lecturer | Chinese Language and Literature

bin.zheng@ubc.ca
phone604 822 8574
location_onAuditorium Annex B 217

Research Area

Chinese
Bin Zheng first started teaching Chinese at UBC as a lecturer in 2017. She has since taught both Chinese language courses and literature courses. In the 1990s, she received her B.A. and M.A. Degree in Chinese Language and Literature at Shaanxi Normal University in China. After moving to Canada, she ...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Binod Shrestha

Binod Shrestha

Lecturer | Nepali Language

binod.shrestha@ubc.ca

Research Area

Nepali
Binod was born and raised in Nepal. Binod has been involved with Nepali Language instruction since 1990 as an instructor, interpreter and translator of various Nepali language initiatives in Nepal and Canada. He has taught English in various schools and colleges in Nepal, is a British Columbia certi...Read more

Research Area

Nepali

Bruce Fulton

Bruce Fulton

Associate Professor | Korean Literature and Literary Translation

fultonb@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 6145
location_onAsian Centre 216

Research Area

Korean
Associate Professor Young-Bin Min Chair in Korean Literature and Literary Translation I feel privileged to be part of the vibrant, welcoming community of scholars that is Asian Studies at UBC. As the inaugural holder of the Young-Bin Min Chair in Korean Literature and Literary Translation I offer...Read more

Research Area

Korean

Bruce Rusk

Bruce Rusk

Associate Professor | Pre-Modern and Early Modern China | Graduate Advisor

bruce.rusk@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5183
location_onAsian Centre 404

Research Area

Chinese
My main areas of research and teaching are the cultural history of China, especially the Ming (1368–1644) through mid-Qing (1644–1911) periods. I have worked on the history of textual studies, literary culture, writing systems, and connoisseurship. Most recently, I co-edited a history of Chin...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Chien-Ju Lin

Chien-Ju Lin

Lecturer | Chinese Language

chienju.lin@ubc.ca
phone604 822 6245
location_onAuditorium Annex B 212

Research Area

Chinese
Chien-ju Lin first started teaching Chinese at UBC as a visiting lecturer in 2012, and she is now a lecturer as of 2016, teaching a variety of advanced heritage Chinese courses. Before teaching Chinese at UBC , she taught Chinese at Tamkang University’s Chinese Language Learning Center in Taiwan f...Read more

Research Area

Chinese
ON LEAVE
July 1, 2023—June 30, 2024

Christina Laffin

Christina Laffin

ON LEAVE
July 1, 2023—June 30, 2024

Associate Professor | Classical Japanese

christina.laffin@ubc.ca
phone604 822 4990
location_onAsian Centre 210

Research Area

Japanese
Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Premodern Japanese Literature and Culture Japanese CV (PDF) English CV (PDF) Research Interests Medieval travel diaries; women’s education and socialization before 1600; poetic practices and waka culture; theories of travel, gender, and autobi...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Christina Yi

Christina Yi

Associate Professor | Modern Japanese Literature | Associate Graduate Advisor

christina.yi@ubc.ca
phone604 827 2093
location_onAsian Centre 403B

Research Area

Japanese
My research field is modern and contemporary Japanese literature, with a particular focus on issues of postcoloniality, language politics, genre, and cultural studies. My first monograph, Colonizing Language: Cultural Production and Language Politics in Modern Japan and Korea, was published by Colum...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Christopher Rea

Christopher Rea

Professor | Modern Chinese Literature

chris.rea@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5428
location_onAsian Centre 218

Research Area

Chinese
Christopher Rea is a literary and cultural historian whose research focuses on the modern Chinese-speaking world. My most recent publications concern research methodology, early cinema, comedy, celebrities, swindlers, cultural entrepreneurs, and the scholar-writers Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang. I am...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Clayton Ashton

Clayton Ashton

Lecturer | Chinese Thought

clayton.ashton@ubc.ca
location_onJack Bell Building 137

Research Area

Chinese
Clayton Ashton is researching the concept of ritual in early Chinese ethics, religion and political thought. Focusing on the writings of pre-Qin and Early Imperial China, he is currently exploring how the idea of ritual was combined with developing ideas about the body, emotions and human nature to ...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Clement Tong

Clement Tong

Seasonal Lecturer | China, Hong Kong, and Cantonese Worlds

clement.tong@ubc.ca

Research Area

Cantonese | East Asia
Dr. Clement Tong is an assistant professor of biblical studies and the coordinator of the Global Mandarin Program at the ACTS Seminaries (TWU). He is also a History and Asian Studies lecturer at the Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and a sessional lecturer at the University of British Columbia. Havi...Read more

Research Area

Cantonese | East Asia
ON LEAVE
July 01, 2023—June 30, 2024

Colleen Laird

Colleen Laird

ON LEAVE
July 01, 2023—June 30, 2024

Assistant Professor | Japanese Popular Culture

colleen.laird@ubc.ca

Research Area

Japanese
Research Interests Japanese media and gender studies—female directors, film stars, and spectators. Cinema, video games, and streaming media. Film theory, genre theory, transnational cinemas and star texts, and feminist and queer theory.   Japanese Women Directors Project: Digital Dialogu...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Donald Baker

Donald Baker

Professor | Korean

don.baker@ubc.ca
phone604 822 4478
location_onAsian Centre 223

Research Area

Korean
Professor in Korean History and Civilization He received his Ph.D. in Korean history from the University of Washington and has taught at UBC since 1987. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Korean history and thought (religion, philosophy, and pre-modern science). In addition, he teac...Read more

Research Area

Korean

Eurie Shin

Eurie Shin

Lecturer | Korean Language

eurie.shin@ubc.ca
phone604 822 4052
location_onAuditorium Annex B 214

Research Area

Korean
Eurie received MA's from Yonsei University in Korea and University of California at Berkeley, and she has been teaching Korean at UBC since 2008. She is in charge of placement interviews, and she is the contact person if you are interested in taking any Korean language courses at UBC. https://kor...Read more

Research Area

Korean

Fuyubi Nakamura

Fuyubi Nakamura

Assistant Professor | Visual and Material Cultures of Asia | MOA Curator, Asia

fuyubi.nakamura@ubc.ca
phone604 827 2707
location_onMuseum of Anthropology 245G

Research Area

Anthropology of Art | Museum Studies | Visual and Material Culture Studies | Asian Studies | Japanese
Fuyubi Nakamura (中村冬日) is a socio-cultural anthropologist trained at Oxford. She is cross appointed with the Department of Asian Studies as Assistant Professor and with the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) where she works as Curator, Asia. She is also Associate Member in the Department of Anthro...Read more

Research Area

Anthropology of Art | Museum Studies | Visual and Material Culture Studies | Asian Studies | Japanese

Gurinder Mann

Gurinder Mann

Lecturer | Punjabi Language and Culture

gurinder.mann@ubc.ca
phone604 710 9106
location_onAuditorium Annex B101

Research Area

Punjabi
Born and raised in England, Gurinder grew up surrounded by UK Bhangra Bands, many of whom further fueled his innate passion for Punjabi culture. He completed his Bachelor’s degree at UBC, where he later returned to earn a Master’s degree in Asian Studies. He has a vast interest in romantic folkt...Read more

Research Area

Punjabi

Hannah Amaris Roh

Hannah Amaris Roh

Sessional Lecturer | Korean Culture

hannah.roh@ubc.ca

Research Area

Korean
Hannah Roh is a Sessional Lecturer at the Department of Asian Studies. She is the author of Christianity, the Sovereign Subject, and Ethnic Nationalism in Colonial Korea: Specters of Western Metaphysics (Routledge, 2022). After completing her PhD in Philosophy of Religions at The University of Chica...Read more

Research Area

Korean
ON LEAVE
July 2022—June 2023

Harjot Oberoi

Harjot Oberoi

ON LEAVE
July 2022—June 2023

Professor | South Asian Social & Religious History

oberoi@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 5189
location_onAsian Centre 410

Research Area

Asian Studies
Harjot Oberoi developed a life-long fascination with social history at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University.  On completing his BA (Honours) in history at  Delhi University he moved in 1976 to the Centre of Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.  He received two degrees from this i...Read more

Research Area

Asian Studies

Haruyo Takahashi

Haruyo Takahashi

Lecturer | Japanese Language

ha.ta.takahashi@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5362
location_onAuditorium Annex B 206

Research Area

Japanese
I have worked in the States, Japan, and Canada as a foreign/second language instructor in various educational settings. In addition, I served as a Japanese Language Education Advisor for the Japan Foundation,Toronto, where I conducted Japanese language teacher training seminars as well as several wo...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Hasan Siddiqui

Hasan Siddiqui

Assistant Professor | South Asian History

hasan.siddiqui@ubc.ca
location_onAsian Centre 403A

Research Area

Asian Studies
Hasan Siddiqui is a historian of South Asia specializing in early-modern intellectual history. His research interests include the history of political thought, the history of the book, and the social and cultural history of the Mughal empire. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Chicago....Read more

Research Area

Asian Studies

Helena Wu

Helena Wu

Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Hong Kong Studies | Convenor, UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative | Assistant Professor | Hong Kong Studies

Helena.Wu@ubc.ca

Research Area

Hong Kong
My primary area of research is Hong Kong cinema, literature and culture. With my comparative literature, cultural studies and sinological training from Hong Kong and Europe, I am keen on developing interdisciplinary approaches to textual and visual narratives, popular culture, creative industries, a...Read more

Research Area

Hong Kong

Hessam Dehghani

Hessam Dehghani

Assistant Professor of Teaching | Persian Language and Culture

hessam.dehghani@ubc.ca
phone604 822 4619

Research Area

Persian
Hessam Dehghani is an Assistant Professor of Teaching, Persian Language and Culture. Born and raised in Iran, he has always been fascinated with Iranian languages and Literature and their constitutive role in forming the Persianate identity. He conducted his master’s thesis on the study of some...Read more

Research Area

Persian
ON LEAVE
January 3, 2023—June 30, 2023 | September 1, 2023—August 31, 2024

Hsiang-ning Wang

Hsiang-ning Wang

ON LEAVE
January 3, 2023—June 30, 2023 | September 1, 2023—August 31, 2024

Chinese Language Program Coordinator | Associate Professor of Teaching | Chinese Applied Linguistics

sunnie.wang@ubc.ca
location_onAuditorium Annex B 218

Research Area

Chinese
I received my Ph.D. in Comparative and International Education and M.A. in both Chinese Pedagogy and Educational Psychology from Indiana University-Bloomington. Before joining the Department of Asian Studies at UBC, I taught courses in international and comparative education at Indiana University (2...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Hyung-Gu Lynn

Hyung-Gu Lynn

AECL/KEPCO Chair in Korean Research

hlynn@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 1277
location_onInstitute of Asian Research 264

Research Area

Korean
Hyung-Gu Lynn is the AECL/KEPCO Chair in Korean Research and the Editor of  Pacific Affairs, the leading academic journal in interdisciplinary studies of contemporary Asia and the Pacific. Dr. Lynn’s research focuses on Korea and Japan, ranging in chronological coverage from the late-19th ce...Read more

Research Area

Korean

Ihhwa Kim

Ihhwa Kim

Lecturer | Japanese Language

ihhwa@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 827 4035
location_onAuditorium Annex B 207

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Insun Lee

Insun Lee

Associate Professor of Teaching | Korean Language

insun@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 5187
location_onAsian Centre 214

Research Area

Korean
Major Research Interests Insun Lee’s major research interest focuses on understanding the difficulties and the process of acquiring the Korean language, faced by both “heritage” and “non-heritage” learners. Her research aim is to facilitate the design of appropriate language learning stra...Read more

Research Area

Korean

Janet Um

Janet Um

Lecturer | Sanskrit Language and Literature

janet.um@ubc.ca

Research Area

Asian Studies | Sanskrit
Janet Um is a scholar of Sanskrit literature and the literary histories of premodern South Asia. Her current work explores the relationship between narrative, literary genre, and conceptions of the author in Sanskrit prose literature. And her broader research interests include narrative traditions a...Read more

Research Area

Asian Studies | Sanskrit

Jee-Yeon Song

Jee-Yeon Song

Sessional Lecturer

sjeeyeon@mail.ubc.ca

Research Area

Asian Studies | East Asia | Korean

Research Area

Asian Studies | East Asia | Korean

Jeonghye Son

Jeonghye Son

Lecturer | Korean Language and Culture

jhson39@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 4052
location_onAuditorium Annex B 214

Research Area

Korean
Jeonghye Son specializes in Korean sociolinguistics with a specific focus on minority language maintenance/shift, language ideologies and identities. She completed her dissertation on language socialization processes through which languages ideologies and identities are constructed, transmitted and ...Read more

Research Area

Korean

Jessica Main

Jessica Main

Associate Head, Internal | Chair and Director, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhism | Associate Professor | Contemporary Society

jessica.main@ubc.ca
phone604 822 9305
location_onC. K. Choi 283

Research Area

Asian Studies | Buddhist Studies | Japanese
Office: Enter the Choi Building and proceed up the stairs to second floor. At the top of the stairs, you will be facing the IAR main office in Room 251. Turn left and go to the very end of the hallway. My office is in the last cluster on the right. Office hours are by appointment here Jessica beg...Read more

Research Area

Asian Studies | Buddhist Studies | Japanese

Jinhua Chen

Jinhua Chen

Professor | East Asian Buddhism

jinhua.chen@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5196
location_onAsian Centre 612

Research Area

Asian Studies | Chinese
After receiving my PhD from McMaster University in 1997, where I was trained as an historian of religions with a focus on East Asian Buddhism, under the guidance of Professors Koichi Shinohara, Phyllis Granoff and Robert Sharf, I held a postdoctoral research fellowship at Kyoto University, in Japan....Read more

Research Area

Asian Studies | Chinese
ON LEAVE
January 1, 2024—June 30, 2024

Josephine Chiu-Duke

Josephine Chiu-Duke

ON LEAVE
January 1, 2024—June 30, 2024

Professor | Chinese Intellectual History

chiuduke@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 5732
location_onAsian Centre 406

Research Area

Chinese
Degrees: M.A., History: Modern Chinese Intellectual History, History Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1982. Ph.D. (U.B.C.) — Chinese Intellectual History Email: chiuduke(at)mail.ubc.ca Special research interest: (l) Traditional Chinese social, intellectual and cultural history...Read more

Research Area

Chinese
ON LEAVE
July 1, 2023—June 30, 2024

Joshua Mostow

Joshua Mostow

ON LEAVE
July 1, 2023—June 30, 2024

Professor | Pre-Modern Japanese Literature and Art

jmostow@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 5131
location_onAsian Centre 217

Research Area

Japanese
Professor Joshua S. Mostow received his doctorate in the Comparative Literature and Literary Theory Program of the University of Pennsylvania. He has studied at International Christian University (Mitaka, Japan), Université de Paris (III, VII, and Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes), and Gakushūin U...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Kaori Tanaka

Kaori Tanaka

Lecturer | Japanese Language

kaori.tanaka@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5511
location_onAuditorium Annex B 200

Research Area

Japanese
Kaori Tanaka has taught Japanese as a second language to learners from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds in Taiwan, Japan, Poland and Canada. She used to work as a Japanese language education consultant in Canada and conducted numerous teaching seminars. She studied general linguistics...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Kay Duffy

Kay Duffy

Assistant Professor | Premodern Sinitic Poetry

kay.duffy@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5180
location_onAsian Centre 405

Research Area

Asian Studies
Kay Duffy is a scholar of premodern sinitic literatures whose research interests include the poetics, historiographies, and court cultures of the premodern sinographic sphere. Her current research project examines the composition and presentation of literary texts at court banquets held in observanc...Read more

Research Area

Asian Studies

Kurtis Hanlon

Kurtis Hanlon

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate

khanlon@mail.ubc.ca

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Kyoko Hillman

Kyoko Hillman

Lecturer | Second Language Acquisition/Applied Linguistics

kyoko.kh@ubc.ca
location_onAuditorium Annex B-208

Research Area

Japanese
Kyoko joined the department after teaching Japanese language at all levels in the U.S., Japan, China, Canada, and Nigeria.  

Research Area

Japanese
ON LEAVE
July 2022—June 2023

Leo Shin

Leo Shin

ON LEAVE
July 2022—June 2023

Associate Professor | Chinese History (with the Department of History)

lkshin@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 5167
location_onBuchanan Tower 1223

Research Area

Chinese
I am a cultural historian of China. I am interested in how the ideas of “China” and “Chineseness” have evolved over time, and I am intrigued by how the sociology of culture—the production, transmission, and consumption of beliefs and practices—has shaped not only how the boundaries ...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Li-jung Lee

Li-jung Lee

Lecturer | Chinese Language

lijung.lee@ubc.ca
phone604 822 6245
location_onAuditorium Annex B 212

Research Area

Chinese
Li-Jung Lee first started teaching at UBC as a visiting lecturer of Chinese, and she is now a lecturer. She teaches non-heritage Chinese and heritage Chinese courses. Before joining the Department of Asian Studies at UBC, she taught Chinese at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, USA, and devel...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Liam Doherty

Liam Doherty

Sessional Lecturer | Cantonese Language

liam.doherty@ubc.ca
location_onAsian Centre 407

Research Area

Cantonese
Dr. Liam Doherty is a sessional lecturer teaching in the Cantonese Language Program, with a background in Chinese as an Additional Language Education and a particular interest in digital literacy and multilingualism, translation, corpus linguistics, and the use of open data-driven digital tools to h...Read more

Research Area

Cantonese

Maorong Cheng

Maorong Cheng

Sessional Lecturer | Chinese Language

maorong@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 4763

Research Area

Chinese
Special Research Interest: 1) Modern Chinese literature, Chinese literary modernity 2) Translation (Chinese-English/English-Chinese)

Research Area

Chinese

Masumi Abe

Masumi Abe

Lecturer | Japanese Language

masumi.abe@ubc.ca
phone604 827 4075
location_onAuditorium Annex B205

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Meng Wu

Meng Wu

Sessional Lecturer | Chinese Literature

wu.meng@ubc.ca
location_onAuditorium Annex A 244A

Research Area

Chinese
Wu Meng is a sessional lecturer in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. A specialist in modern Chinese literature, she is a published literary critic and translator. Her doctoral dissertation, “Time Self-Consciousness in Contemporary Chinese Fiction,” explores h...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Michiko Suzuki

Michiko Suzuki

Lecturer | Japanese Language

michiko.suzuki@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5511
location_onAuditorium Annex B 200

Research Area

Japanese
Major Research Interests: Japanese linguistics, Japanese pedagogy

Research Area

Japanese

Minami Orihara

Minami Orihara

Sessional Lecturer | Early Modern Japanese History

minami.orihara@ubc.ca

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Mingzhu Lu

Mingzhu Lu

Lecturer | Chinese Language

mingzhu.lu@ubc.ca
phone604 822 6583
location_onAuditorium Annex B 215

Research Area

Chinese
Working years at UBC: 1999 - present   Courses taught: Basic Chinese language courses (for both non-heritage and heritage students) Business Chinese (for heritage students - advanced level) Advanced Speaking and Writing (for heritage students - advanced level)   Wor...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Misuzu Kazama

Misuzu Kazama

Lecturer | Japanese Language

misuzu.kazama@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5362
location_onAuditorium Annex B 206

Research Area

Japanese
Major Research Interests: Second language acquisition, Japanese phonetics, and critical literature analysis on Japanese modern literatures

Research Area

Japanese

Mostafa Abedinifard

Mostafa Abedinifard

Assistant Professor | Modern Persian Literature and Culture

mostafa.abedinifard@ubc.ca
phone604 822 4710
location_onC.K. Choi 172

Research Area

Persian
Dr. Mostafa Abedinifard is Assistant Professor of Modern Persian Literature and Culture in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, where he has been organizing the Alireza Ahmadian Lectures in Iranian and Persianate Studies since 2018. Dr. Abedinifard holds a PhD in Co...Read more

Research Area

Persian

Nam-lin Hur

Nam-lin Hur

Professor | History of Japan and Religious Culture

namlin.hur@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5191
location_onAsian Centre 213

Research Area

Japanese
Professor Professor Nam-lin Hur teaches premodern Japanese history, Korean-Japanese relations, and Chosŏn Korea in the Department of Asian Studies and conducts research on foreign relations, religion, and society in premodern Japan and Korea. His current monograph projects involve “Jap...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Naveena Naqvi

Naveena Naqvi

Assistant Professor | Persianate Islamic Cultures of South Asia

naveena.naqvi@ubc.ca
location_onAsian Centre 409
I am a historian of early modern and modern South Asia. My research interests include the Persianate world (ca. 13th-19th centuries), with a focus on non-courtly writers in regional contexts under early colonial rule. My broader fields of interest span the history of political Islam, gender and sexu...Read more

Nesrine Basheer

Nesrine Basheer

Assistant Professor of Teaching | Arabic

nesrine.basheer@ubc.ca

Research Area

Arabic
Nesrine Basheer is an applied linguist and a specialist in teaching Arabic as a foreign language (TAFL). Her research interests include the teaching and assessment of writing and the multidialectal approach to teaching Arabic. Nesrine has taught Arabic at the American University in Cairo, the United...Read more

Research Area

Arabic

Nick Hall

Nick Hall

Lecturer | Japanese Language

nick.hall@ubc.ca
phone604 827 4075
location_onAuditorium Annex B205

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Noriyuki Kawada

Noriyuki Kawada

Lecturer | Japanese Language

noriyuki.kawada@ubc.ca
phone604 822 8495
location_onAuditorium Annex B 202

Research Area

Japanese
Office hours: Mondays   12:00-13:50 Thursdays 11:00-12:00 I have been engaging in Japanese language education since 2012 and had taught in China and Hawai’i before UBC, teaching Japanese as a foreign/second language as well as Japanese business/academic skills. Also, I taught Japanese as a ...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Peter Nosco

Peter Nosco

Professor | Japanese History and Culture

pnosco@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 5197
location_onAsian Centre 610

Research Area

Japanese
Current Activities Individuality in Early Modern Japan Thinking for Oneself From Renaissance Quarterly 72:2 (Summer 2019), pp. 644-45. In this welcome addition to the revisionist scholarship on the history of premodern Japan, Nosco analyzes the development of individuality in early modern...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Pihua Lin

Pihua Lin

Lecturer | Chinese Language

pihua.lin@ubc.ca
phone604 827 3268
location_onAuditorium Annex B 213

Research Area

Chinese
Pihua Lin first started teaching Chinese at UBC as a visiting lecturer in 2016, and she is now a lecturer as of 2018. Before teaching Chinese at UBC, she received a M.A. Degree in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University. Then, she became a full-time Mandarin instru...Read more

Research Area

Chinese
ON LEAVE
January 1, 2024—June 30, 2024

Qian Wang

Qian Wang

ON LEAVE
January 1, 2024—June 30, 2024

Chinese Language Program Director | Associate Professor of Teaching | Chinese Linguistics

qian.wang@ubc.ca
phone604 827 3450
location_onAsian Centre 219

Research Area

Chinese
Dr. Wang, the Director of the Chinese Language Program at Asian Studies, teaches Mandarin Chinese language courses at UBC. Her Chinese name is 王蒨, which has two parts: WANG, which is her family name meaning king, and Qian, her given name, representing a type of grass that can survive a cold wint...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Raymond Pai

Raymond Pai

Lecturer | Cantonese Language

raymond.pai@ubc.ca
phone604 822 4131
location_onAuditorium Annex B 211

Research Area

Cantonese
Raymond Pai is a Lecturer and the Director of the Cantonese Language Program at the University of British Columbia. He is also a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada-funded PhD candidate in the UBC Department of Language and Literacy Education. He teaches all levels of Cant...Read more

Research Area

Cantonese

Rebecca Chau

Rebecca Chau

Associate Professor of Teaching | Japanese Language Program Director | Japanese Linguistics

rchau@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 9029
location_onAsian Centre 215

Research Area

Japanese
Associate Professor of Teaching and Director of Japanese Language Program Educational Background Ph.D. (University of Tsukuba) – Linguistics M.A. (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) – Japanese linguistics Courses taught Japanese language courses at all levels. Research Interests Jap...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Renren Yang

Renren Yang

Assistant Professor | Modern Chinese Popular Culture

renren.yang@ubc.ca
location_onC.K. Choi #179 1855 West Mall

Research Area

Chinese
Renren Yang’s research and teaching span twentieth-and twenty-first-century Chinese literature, cinema, and popular culture, with a focus on issues of authorship, mediation, and hybrid genres in Chinese literary and media scenes. His current book project, "A Media Genealogy of Literary Fame in Mod...Read more

Research Area

Chinese
ON LEAVE
July 2022—June 2023

Ross King

Ross King

ON LEAVE
July 2022—June 2023

Professor | Korean Language and Literature

ross.king@ubc.ca
phone604 822 2835
location_onAsian Centre 411

Research Area

Korean
Major Research Interests: 1) History of language, writing and literary culture in the Sinographic cultural sphere, with a specific focus on medieval Korea and the interplay of cosmopolitan and vernacular in other regions of the Sinographic cosmopolis. 2) Korean historical linguistics (esp. K...Read more

Research Area

Korean

Rumee Ahmed

Rumee Ahmed

Canada Research Chair in Theology and Ethics | Professor of Islamic Law

rumee.ahmed@ubc.ca
phone604 822 6701
location_onC.K. Choi #173
Rumee Ahmed (PhD, University of Virginia) is the Canada Research Chair in Theology and Ethics and Professor of Islamic Law at the University of British Columbia.  His writing and research span religion, law, theology, philosophy, and public policy. He is the author of Sharia Compliant: A User’s ...Read more

Saori Hoshi

Saori Hoshi

Assistant Professor of Teaching | Japanese Applied Linguistics

saori.hoshi@ubc.ca
phone604 822 6202
location_onC.K. Choi 174

Research Area

Japanese
Research Interests L2 learners’ use of sentence-final particles such as ne, yo, and yone, and incomplete sentences as interactional resources in conversation. Other research interests include socioculturally informed investigations of the role of classroom instruction in L2 learning and develop...Read more

Research Area

Japanese
ON LEAVE
July 2022—June 2023

Sebastian Prange

Sebastian Prange

ON LEAVE
July 2022—June 2023

Associate Professor | South Asian History

s.prange@ubc.ca
Sebastian Prange (PhD, University of London) is an economic historian of the medieval Indian Ocean world, with a focus on South India. His research interests revolve around the history of Islam in monsoon Asia, the role of piracy and maritime violence, and the development of capitalism from a non-Eu...Read more
ON LEAVE
September 1, 2023—April 30, 2024

Sharalyn Orbaugh

Sharalyn Orbaugh

ON LEAVE
September 1, 2023—April 30, 2024

Department Head | Professor | Modern Japanese Literature and Popular Culture

sharalyn.orbaugh@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5132
location_onAsian Centre 401

Research Area

Japanese
Department Head, Professor of Modern Japanese Literature and Popular Culture Associate, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice   Education: PhD in Far Eastern Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan, 1989

Research Area

Japanese
ON LEAVE
May 1, 2023—May 28, 2023

Sheni (Hsueh-Ni) Chen

Sheni (Hsueh-Ni) Chen

ON LEAVE
May 1, 2023—May 28, 2023

Lecturer | Chinese

sheni@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 827 4038
location_onAuditorium Annex B 203, 1924 West Mall

Research Area

Chinese
  Sheni Chen received her Ph.D. from National Taiwan Normal University, majoring in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language. Her thesis topic was “A study on the Training of Volunteer Chinese Teachers for Overseas Chinese School.” This study of teacher training used overseas Chinese school...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Shota Iwasaki

Shota Iwasaki

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate

shota.iwasaki@ubc.ca

Research Area

Japanese
Shota Iwasaki is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia with a specialization in modern Japanese literature and visual culture. His dissertation examines representations of speech disabilities and disorders in the literature and visual arts of mode...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Shubham Arora

Shubham Arora

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate

sklalit@student.ubc.ca

Research Area

Sanskrit
Shubham has obtained his Master of Arts in Buddhist Studies, Philosophy, and Comparative Religions from Nālandā University. He is currently engaged in his Doctor of Philosophy studies at the University of British Columbia with a research focus on the intellectual history of Kāma (or pleasure) in ...Read more

Research Area

Sanskrit

Shuyu Li

Shuyu Li

Sessional Lecturer | Chinese Language

shuyu.li@ubc.ca

Research Area

Chinese
I graduated from the University of Hong Kong and the Education University of Hong Kong, where I received an MA degree in Teaching Chinese as an International Language. Before coming to Canada, I taught Mandarin at Hong Kong’s international schools and led a short-term Chinese program at the Fontys...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Sonam Chusang

Sonam Chusang

Adjunct Professor | Tibetan

sonam.chusang@ubc.ca
phone604 446 8705
location_onJack Bell Building 135

Research Area

Tibetan
Sonam Chusang is the lecturer in the Tibetan language at the University of British Columbia, and taught Intensive Tibetan language course with community engagement programs in the past 3 summers. In the summer of 2007, Sonam also taught Tibetan at the University of Virginia. Sonam has been teachi...Read more

Research Area

Tibetan

Stefania Burk

Stefania Burk

Associate Dean, Academic | Associate Professor of Teaching

stefania.burk@ubc.ca

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Su-Anne Yeo

Su-Anne Yeo

Sessional Lecturer

suanne.yeo@ubc.ca
location_onAuditorium Annex A 244D

Research Area

Chinese
Su-Anne Yeo researches and teaches in the areas of film studies, media studies, and cultural studies, with a specialization in Asian and Asian diasporic screen cultures. She completed a PhD in Media and Communications under the supervision of Professor Chris Berry at Goldsmiths, University of London...Read more

Research Area

Chinese
ON LEAVE
September 1, 2023—August 31, 2024

Sunera Thobani

Sunera Thobani

ON LEAVE
September 1, 2023—August 31, 2024

Professor | Department of Asian Studies

sunera.thobani@ubc.ca
location_onC.K. Choi 177

Research Area

Asian Studies
I am a Professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. My scholarship is located at the intersection of the Social Sciences and Humanities. I study and work on critical race, postcolonial, transnational and feminist theory; South Asian women's, gender and sexualit...Read more

Research Area

Asian Studies

Sunil Bhatt

Sunil Bhatt

Assistant Professor of Teaching | Hindi-Urdu

sunil.bhatt@ubc.ca
phone604 827 5950
location_onC.K. Choi 178

Research Area

Hindi-Urdu
I am a linguist who has experienced foreign/second language learning from both sides of the classroom. As a student I learnt Russian and Croatian, and as an educator I got the opportunity to teach Hindi and Hindi-Urdu. Learning foreign languages has given me opportunity to experience the process of ...Read more

Research Area

Hindi-Urdu

Tae Yeon Eom

Tae Yeon Eom

Sessional Lecturer | East Asian Culture

taeeom@mail.ubc.ca

Research Area

Asian Studies
Tae Yeon Eom is currently completing a Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia in Asian Studies. Through the lens of Western and non-Western diplomatic norms and practices in modern East Asia, his dissertation research triggers deeper considerations about the interweaving of words, acts and thin...Read more

Research Area

Asian Studies

Tsering Shakya

Tsering Shakya

Associate Professor | Religion and Contemporary Society in Asia

tshakya@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 2968
location_onInstitute of Asian Research, CK Choi 281

Research Area

Tibetan
Canada Research Chair in Religion and Contemporary Society in Asia Institute of Asian Research University of British Columbia 1855 West Mall, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1Z2 Office: Room 281, C.K. Choi Building Tel: 604-822-2968 E-mail: tshakya@exchange.ubc.ca     ...Read more

Research Area

Tibetan

Weiting Guo

Weiting Guo

Sessional Lecturer | Chinese History and Culture

Research Area

Chinese | East Asia
I am a historian of law, empire, and identity in China and East Asia. I am interested in how Chinese people and political regimes contended with social, legal, and political structures and traumatic events. I am also interested in how digital tools help us understand the structure and patterns of Ch...Read more

Research Area

Chinese | East Asia

Xiangjun (Sean) Feng

Xiangjun (Sean) Feng

SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow | Early Modern and Modern Chinese Literature

sean.feng@ubc.ca

Research Area

Chinese
Xiangjun “Sean” Feng 馮相郡 received his Ph.D. from the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, UC Berkeley, in 2021. His dissertation, Secret Scroll: The Production of Occult Knowledge in China’s Age of Print, untangles what he calls “the paradox of secrecy in the age of print...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Xiaoqiao Xu

Xiaoqiao Xu

Lecturer | Modern Chinese Literature and Cinema

xiaoqiao.xu@ubc.ca

Research Area

Asian American Studies | Chinese
Xiaoqiao Xu's research covers a wide range of topics, from late imperial China to modern China, with a particular focus on women's literary and theatrical productions. Her work explores the intersectionality of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity, challenging the neatness of the contrast between the ol...Read more

Research Area

Asian American Studies | Chinese

Xiaowen Xu

Xiaowen Xu

Assistant Professor of Teaching | Chinese Applied Linguistics

xiaowen.xu@ubc.ca
location_onAsian Centre Room 219

Research Area

Chinese
Ph.D., East Asian Studies, University of Toronto (2014) Ph.D., English, Beijing Foreign Studies University (1997) M.A., English, Shandong University (1994) B.A., English, Shandong University (1991)   RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS Dr. Xu teaches courses on Chinese language, literature, and...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Xinxin Wu

Xinxin Wu

Lecturer | Chinese Language and Literature

xinxin.wu@ubc.ca
phone604 822 6583
location_onAuditorium Annex B 215

Research Area

Chinese
Xinxin Wu is a lecturer of Chinese language and literature in the Department of Asian Studies at UBC. She is in charge of Chinese Placement Advising.   She has taught Chinese language and literature at universities in China, the United States, and Canada. She served as an associate professor an...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Xueshun Liu

Xueshun Liu

Lecturer | Chinese Language

xliu@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 827 3268
location_onAuditorium Annex B 213

Research Area

Chinese
Upon graduating from the Anyang Normal College Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Xueshun Liu pursued further studies at Zhengzhou University (M.A.) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Ph.D.) in Beijing. A Harvard-Yenching visiting fellow in 1996-7 and UC Berkeley Center for Chin...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Yasuko Matsumoto

Yasuko Matsumoto

Lecturer | Japanese Language

yasuko.matsumoto@ubc.ca

Research Area

Japanese
My teaching career started at Williams College as a language fellow. After that, I taught at several different institutions in the U.S. and Japan. Before coming to UBC, I taught at Stanford University for three years. I will be teaching first and second year Japanese language courses at UBC as of Se...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Yi Chen

Yi Chen

Visiting Lecturer | Chinese Language

norris.chen@ubc.ca

Research Area

Chinese
I am teaching Chinese at UBC as a visiting lecturer of Chinese as of September 1, 2021. I teach non-heritage Chinese and heritage Chinese courses. I went to Western Kentucky University in the United States to teach Chinese during the academic year of 2016-17 and headed for Thailand to teach Chinese ...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Yi-Yi Chen

Yi-Yi Chen

Visiting Lecturer | Chinese

yi-yi.chen@ubc.ca

Research Area

Chinese
Chen, Yi-Yi is a visiting lecturer in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. Her dissertation research focuses on Canadian Chinese literature works. Her master's thesis, “The Homeland Consciousness in Overseas Chinese Fictions of North America,” explores how works...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Yuchun Peng

Yuchun Peng

Visiting Lecturer | Chinese Language

yuchun.peng@ubc.ca

Research Area

Chinese
Instructor Peng Yu-Chun has a diverse background in teaching. Having taught in both the United States and Taiwan, instructor Peng has over 10 years of Mandarin teaching experience under her belt. She hopes that her students will gain a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction after taking her classe...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Yuki Ohsawa

Yuki Ohsawa

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow | Japanese Visual Culture and Modern Literature

yuki.ohsawa@ubc.ca
location_onJack Bell Building 136

Research Area

Japanese
Specialty: Japanese Visual Culture and Modern Literature Course: ASIA 326 Critical Approaches to Manga and Anime

Research Area

Japanese

Zheng Cai

Zheng Cai

Lecturer | Chinese Language and Literature

zheng.cai@ubc.ca
phone604 822 8574
location_onAuditorium Annex B 217

Research Area

Chinese
Zheng (Tim) Cai received his M.A. in East Asian Studies and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Alberta. His research interests include Chinese literature, literary theory, Chinese intellectual and cultural history, Chinese art history, comparative poetics, and world literature. B...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Zoe Lam

Zoe Lam

Lecturer | Cantonese Language

zoe.lam@ubc.ca
phone604 822 4131
location_onAuditorium Annex B 211

Research Area

Cantonese
Zoe Lam teaches Cantonese language courses at UBC Asian Studies. Please visit https://blogs.ubc.ca/zoelam/ to learn more about her work.

Research Area

Cantonese