People

Faculty
Teaching Faculty

Adheesh Sathaye

Adheesh Sathaye

Associate Professor | Sanskrit Literature and Folklore

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

Ai Yamamoto

Ai Yamamoto

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate

Research Area

Asian Studies | Japanese
Ai Yamamoto is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. Her research is on modern and contemporary Japanese literature and culture. She is interested in relationships between girls' culture, war, and the subject formation of women writers.

Research Area

Asian Studies | Japanese

Alexandra Hoffmann

Alexandra Hoffmann

Assistant Professor | Classical Persian Literature

Research Area

Persian
I am a scholar of Classical Persian Literature interested in gender & sexuality, embodiment, the history of emotions, and race/ethnicity in premodern Persianate literature and Perso-Islamicate culture. My first book project examines the construction of masculinities in long narrative poems (masn...Read more

Research Area

Persian

Alison Bailey

Alison Bailey

Assistant Professor | Chinese

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

Associate Professor of Teaching | Associate Graduate Advisor

location_onC.K. Choi Building 180
Ayaka Yoshimizu is an Associate 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 media, audiovisual translation, transpacific histories and cultures, Indigeneities in A...Read more
ON LEAVE
November 26, 2023 – May 24, 2025

Aynur Kadir

Aynur Kadir

ON LEAVE
November 26, 2023 – May 24, 2025

Assistant Professor | Lifeways in Indigenous Asia

location_onC.K. Choi Building 178
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
ON LEAVE
September 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024

Bin Zheng

Bin Zheng

ON LEAVE
September 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024

Lecturer | Chinese Language and Literature

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
ON LEAVE
September 1, 2024 – August 31, 2025

Bruce Fulton

Bruce Fulton

ON LEAVE
September 1, 2024 – August 31, 2025

Associate Professor | Korean Literature and Literary Translation

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

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

Casey Collins

Casey Collins

Sessional Lecturer | Modern Japanese Religions

Casey Collins completed his doctoral dissertation, entitled "Walking in the Founders' Footsteps: Hagiography and Devotion in Shinnyo-en, a Japanese New Religion," in April 2023 at the University of British Columbia. His work examines sociological and phenomenological approaches to religious studies,...Read more

Chien-Ju Lin

Chien-Ju Lin

Lecturer | Chinese Language

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

Christina Laffin

Christina Laffin

Associate Professor | Classical Japanese

phone604 822 4990
location_onAsian Centre 210

Research Area

Japanese
Associate Professor 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 autobiography; noh theatre; and comparative approaches to medieval literature...Read more

Research Area

Japanese
ON LEAVE
September 1, 2024 – August 31, 2025

Christina Yi

Christina Yi

ON LEAVE
September 1, 2024 – August 31, 2025

Associate Professor | Modern Japanese Literature

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

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, cinema, comedy, celebrities, swindlers, cultural entrepreneurs, and the scholar-writers Qian Zhongshu and Yang Jiang. I am also ...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Chunping Huang

Chunping Huang

Sessional Lecturer

Research Area

Asian Studies

Research Area

Asian Studies
ON LEAVE
September 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024

Clayton Ashton

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

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
September 1, 2024 – February 28, 2025

Colleen Laird

Colleen Laird

ON LEAVE
September 1, 2024 – February 28, 2025

Assistant Professor | Japanese Popular Culture

Research Area

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

Research Area

Japanese

Donald Baker

Donald Baker

Professor | Korean

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

Elijah Greenstein

Elijah Greenstein

Sessional Lecturer | Japanese

Elijah Greenstein is a historian of modern Japan and East Asia, with interests in maritime, spatial, and transportation history. His current research project explores the evolving place of Japanese ships in the global shipping industry from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. He receiv...Read more

Eurie Shin

Eurie Shin

Lecturer | Korean Language and Culture

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

phone604 827 2707
location_onMuseum of Anthropology 245G
Fuyubi Nakamura (中村冬日) is a socio-cultural anthropologist trained at Oxford. She holds a joint position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian Studies and Curator, Asia at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. Fuyubi specializes in the anthropology of art, museum studies, and materia...Read more

Gurinder Mann

Gurinder Mann

Lecturer | Punjabi Language and Culture

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

Haley Blum

Haley Blum

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate

phone604 822 5189
location_onJack Bell Building 136

Research Area

Asian Studies | Japanese
Haley Blum is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia.

Research Area

Asian Studies | Japanese

Harjot Oberoi

Harjot Oberoi

Professor | South Asian Social & Religious History

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

Hasan Siddiqui

Hasan Siddiqui

Assistant Professor | South Asian History

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 encyclopedias, the history of political thought, and the history of the book. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Chicago. Associate Editor, ...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

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

Hessam Dehghani

Hessam Dehghani

Assistant Professor of Teaching | Persian Language and Culture

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

Hiromi Aoki

Hiromi Aoki

Assistant Professor of Teaching | Japanese Language Pedagogy

Research Area

Japanese
Hiromi Aoki (青木裕美) is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. She specializes in Japanese language pedagogy and is currently interested in how AI can help with language learning. Professor Aoki has taught Japanese at sev...Read more

Research Area

Japanese

Hongyang Tao

Hongyang Tao

Sessional Lecturer | Chinese Language

Research Area

Chinese
Hongyang Tao started teaching Chinese at UBC as a sessional lecturer in 2022. Before joining UBC, Tao was involved in Chinese teaching at various institutions globally, such as Beijing Language and Culture University and Capital Normal University in China; Universita de Ca’Forscari in Italy; Nanya...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Hsiang-ning Wang

Hsiang-ning Wang

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

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

Hyejin Jo

Hyejin Jo

Sessional Lecturer of Korean Popular Music In Context

Research Area

Korean
Hyejin Jo is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. Her research focuses on the intersections of Korean popular culture, digital platforms, and gender. She is currently working on her doctoral thesis about how human feelings and labour are platformized in the K-...Read more

Research Area

Korean

Hyung-Gu Lynn

Hyung-Gu Lynn

AECL/KEPCO Chair in Korean Research

phone604 822 1277
location_onInstitute of Asian Research 264

Research Area

Korean
Hyung-Gu Lynn is the AECL/KEPCO Chair in Korean Research. Dr. Lynn’s research focuses on Korea and Japan, ranging in chronological coverage from the late-19th century to the present. Research areas include: (1) popular culture; (2) migration; (3) international relations; (4) political history; ...Read more

Research Area

Korean

Ihhwa Kim

Ihhwa Kim

Lecturer | Japanese Language

phone604 827 4035
location_onAuditorium Annex B 207

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Janet Um

Janet Um

Lecturer | Sanskrit Language and Literature

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

Research Area

Asian Studies | East Asia | Korean

Research Area

Asian Studies | East Asia | Korean

Jeonghye Son

Jeonghye Son

Lecturer | Korean Language and Culture

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

phone604 822 9305
location_onC. K. Choi 283
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

Ji-yoon An

Ji-yoon An

Assistant Professor | Modern Korean Popular Culture

Research Area

Korean
My research, broadly speaking, explores trends and patterns in Korean visual culture as a means of examining the symbiotic relationship between society and culture. My overarching approach can be encapsulated in the question: how does Korean culture document, fictionalize, or influence the micro-lev...Read more

Research Area

Korean
ON LEAVE
September 1, 2024 – August 31, 2025

Jinhua Chen

Jinhua Chen

ON LEAVE
September 1, 2024 – August 31, 2025

Professor | East Asian Buddhism

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

Jinsung Kim

Jinsung Kim

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate

Research Area

Asian Studies | Korean
Jinsung Kim is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. Prior to embarking on his Ph.D. journey, Jinsung successfully completed his MA degree at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, specializing in History. During his time there, he foc...Read more

Research Area

Asian Studies | Korean

Josephine Chiu-Duke

Josephine Chiu-Duke

Professor | Chinese Intellectual History

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

Joshua Mostow

Joshua Mostow

Professor | Pre-Modern Japanese Literature and Art | Acting Language Programs Director

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

Jungeun Hong

Jungeun Hong

Visiting Lecturer

Research Area

Korean

Research Area

Korean

Jvala Singh

Jvala Singh

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate

Research Area

Asian Studies
Jvala (Sukh Sembi) is a PhD student studying under the supervision of Professor Anne Murphy in the Asian Studies Department at the University of British Columbia. He is primarily examining 18th and 19th century Brajbhasha literature in the Sikh context. Prior to arriving at UBC, he studied under Pro...Read more

Research Area

Asian Studies

Kaori Tanaka

Kaori Tanaka

Lecturer | Japanese Language

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
ON LEAVE
January 1, 2025 - June 30, 2025

Kay Duffy

Kay Duffy

ON LEAVE
January 1, 2025 - June 30, 2025

Assistant Professor | Premodern Sinitic Poetry

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

Kiran Sunar

Kiran Sunar

Acting Assistant Professor | Punjabi Language, Literature, and Culture

Research Area

Punjabi
Kiran K. Sunar is the new Assistant Professor in Punjabi Language, Literature, and Culture. Kiran’s research and teaching coagulate around literature, religion, and culture in Punjab across its borders and into its diasporas, exploring questions of gender, sexuality, religion, and ecology. Their m...Read more

Research Area

Punjabi

Kurtis Hanlon

Kurtis Hanlon

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Kyoko Hillman

Kyoko Hillman

Lecturer | Second Language Acquisition/Applied Linguistics

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

Leo Shin

Leo Shin

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

phone604 822 5167
location_onBuchanan Tower 1223

Research Area

Chinese | Hong Kong
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 | Hong Kong

Li Yang

Li Yang

Lecturer | Chinese language

Research Area

Chinese
Li Yang received her B.A. in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language from Zhejiang University, China and her M.A. in East Asian Studies and M.Ed in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Alberta. Before joining UBC, she had taught Chinese language courses for 15 years at the University of A...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Li-jung Lee

Li-jung Lee

Lecturer | Chinese Language

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

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

Mahtab Sirdani

Mahtab Sirdani

Sessional Lecturer | Modern Persian Language and Culture

Research Area

Persian
Mahtab Sirdani is a PhD candidate in sociocultural anthropology at Boston University. Her research focuses on Iranian communities in North America, especially Muslim residents of Massachusetts in the United States and Vancouver, BC in Canada. Mahtab received an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School in...Read more

Research Area

Persian

Maorong Cheng

Maorong Cheng

Sessional Lecturer | Chinese Language

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
ON LEAVE
January 1, 2025 – April 30, 2025

Masumi Abe

Masumi Abe

ON LEAVE
January 1, 2025 – April 30, 2025

Lecturer | Japanese Language

phone604 827 4075
location_onAuditorium Annex B205

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Meng Wu

Meng Wu

Sessional Lecturer | Chinese Literature

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

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

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Minoru Takano

Minoru Takano

Sessional Lecturer | Graduated 2023 - PhD

Research Area

Chinese
Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia Supervisor: Dr. Bruce Rusk I study the cultural history of late imperial China (1368-1911), focusing on topics such as migration, place identity, and commemoration. My dissertation deals with the case of Li Don...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Misuzu Kazama

Misuzu Kazama

Lecturer | Japanese Language

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

phone604 822 4710
location_onC.K. Choi 172

Research Area

Iranian Studies | Persian
Dr. Mostafa Abedinifard is an Assistant Professor of Modern Persian Literature and Culture in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. He holds a PhD in Comparative Literature, an MA in English Language and Literature, and a BA in English Literature. Mostafa’s researc...Read more

Research Area

Iranian Studies | Persian

Nam-lin Hur

Nam-lin Hur

Professor | History of Japan and Religious Culture

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

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

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

phone604 827 4075
location_onAuditorium Annex B205

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Noriyuki Kawada

Noriyuki Kawada

Lecturer | Japanese Language

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

Parboti Roy

Parboti Roy is a PhD candidate, researcher and sessional lecturer in the Department of Asian Studies at UBC. She hails from the Chakma community, from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. Parboti attained her second Master's in Women's Studies from Flinders University, Australia. She completed ...Read more

Pasang Sherpa

Pasang Sherpa

Assistant Professor | Lifeways in Indigenous Asia

Tashi Delek! I am a Sharwa anthropologist from Pharak, southern part of Mt. Everest region in northeastern Nepal. My research, writing and pedagogy focus on climate change and Indigeneity among Himalayan communities, guided by the question: How do we live in the midst of dying? I am currently...Read more

Patrick Dowd

Patrick Dowd

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Student

Building more than a decade of field experience in the Himalayas and in-depth interviews and group discussions with nearly 50 Tibetan Buddhist scholars, my dissertation offers an ethnographic portrait of the contemporary Buddhist life of the Tibetan language.   Supervisor: Dr. Mark Turin ...Read more
ON LEAVE
January 1, 2025 – April 30, 2025

Pihua Lin

Pihua Lin

ON LEAVE
January 1, 2025 – April 30, 2025

Lecturer | Chinese Language

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

Qian Wang

Qian Wang

Chinese Language Program Director | Professor of Teaching | Chinese Linguistics

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

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

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

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

Ross King

Ross King

Professor | Korean Language and Literature

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

phone604 822 3696
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

Saeko Suzuki

Saeko Suzuki

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate

Research Area

Asian Studies | Japanese
Saeko Suzuki is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in literature, publishing and print culture in early modern Japan under the guidance of Dr. Joshua S. Mostow. Her doctoral project is funded by a SSHRC award and examines the publishing system of illustrated encyclopedias for women between the 18th to 1...Read more

Research Area

Asian Studies | Japanese

Samily Kwok

Samily Kwok

Sessional Lecturer | Cantonese Language

Research Area

Cantonese

Research Area

Cantonese

Sebastian Prange

Sebastian Prange

Associate Professor | South Asian History

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

Sharalyn Orbaugh

Sharalyn Orbaugh

Department Head | Professor | Modern Japanese Literature and Popular Culture

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

Sheni (Hsueh-Ni) Chen

Sheni (Hsueh-Ni) Chen

Lecturer | Chinese

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 schools as the t...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Shota Iwasaki

Shota Iwasaki

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate

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

Shu-ting Hsu

Shu-ting Hsu

she/her/hers

Visiting Lecturer | Chinese Language

Research Area

Chinese
Shu-ting is a visiting lecturer at UBC. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Chinese Literature from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, where she began learning how to teach Mandarin to foreign students. She then pursued her Master’s degree in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at Natio...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Shubham Arora

Shubham Arora

Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate

Research Area

Sanskrit
Shubham Arora is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. 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 stu...Read more

Research Area

Sanskrit

Shuyu Li

Shuyu Li

Sessional Lecturer | Chinese Language

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

Sessional Instructor | Tibetan

phone604 446 8705

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

Research Area

Japanese

Research Area

Japanese

Su-Anne Yeo

Su-Anne Yeo

Sessional Lecturer

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

Sunera Thobani

Sunera Thobani

Professor | Department of Asian Studies

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

Associate Professor of Teaching | Hindi-Urdu

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

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

Ting-Hsuan Chang

Ting-Hsuan Chang

Visiting Lecturer | Chinese Language Program

Research Area

Chinese
Ting-Hsuan Chang earned her master’s degree in Chinese as a Second Language from National Taiwan Normal University in 2023, inspired by her mother's teaching career. She views education as a catalyst for societal progress, particularly through language acquisition fostering collaboration and commu...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Tsering Shakya

Tsering Shakya

Associate Professor | Religion and Contemporary Society in Asia

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 specializing in law, empire, and identity in China and East Asia. My research focuses on how Chinese people and political regimes navigated social, legal, and political structures, as well as traumatic events. I also explore law and violence in Taiwan within the broader context of E...Read more

Research Area

Chinese | East Asia

Wen-Hui Chen

Wen-Hui Chen

Visiting Lecturer | Chinese Language

Research Area

Chinese
Wen-Hui is a visiting lecturer of Chinese language. She received her M.A. Degree in Chinese Pedagogy from Indiana University Bloomington. Before joining the Department of Asian Studies at UBC, she taught Chinese courses at Colby College and Indiana University Bloomington in the U.S. and Chinese Lang...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Xiaoqiao Xu

Xiaoqiao Xu

Lecturer | Modern Chinese Literature and Cinema

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
ON LEAVE
July 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024

Xiaowen Xu

Xiaowen Xu

ON LEAVE
July 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024

Associate Professor of Teaching | Chinese Applied Linguistics

location_onAsian Centre Room 219

Research Area

Chinese
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS Dr. Xu teaches courses on Chinese language, literature, and English/Chinese translation. She holds two doctoral degrees: one in East Asian Studies from the University of Toronto (2014), and the other in English from the Beijing Foreign Studies University (1997). Her ...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Xiong Zhang

Xiong Zhang

Sessional Lecturer | Chinese Language and Literature

Research Area

Chinese
Xiong Zhang holds an MA in Asian Studies with a focus on Chinese Studies from the University of British Columbia. His academic interests encompass Chinese literature, Chinese popular culture, and non-fiction writing. Prior to his role at UBC, he earned a BA in Journalism from Renmin University of Ch...Read more

Research Area

Chinese

Xueshun Liu

Xueshun Liu

Lecturer | Chinese Language

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

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

Yuning Liu

Yuning Liu

Sessional Lecturer | Chinese Language and Literature

Yuning Liu is a Ph.D. candidate in Theatre Studies at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include the interplay between various xiqu (traditional Chinese theatre) genres in Taiwan and the interrelationship between xiqu, politics, national identity, and cultural policy. She als...Read more

Zheng Cai

Zheng Cai

Lecturer | Chinese Language and Literature

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

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
Visiting Researchers and Scholars

Eunjoo Cho

Eunjoo Cho

Visiting Associate Professor

Professor Eunjoo Cho received her Ph.D. in Korean modern poetry from Seoul National University. She is particularly focused on researching Korean poetry during the Japanese colonial period and is also interested in the relationship between poetry and other arts.

Giovanni Volpe

Giovanni Volpe

Postdoctoral Research Fellow | Korean History

Research Area

Korean
Giovanni Volpe is a Korea Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow. He received his Ph.D. in Civilizations of Asia and Africa at Sapienza University of Rome. His research interests include the history of writing and reading practices in premodern Korea. His ongoing research delves into the use of ...Read more

Research Area

Korean

Jaehwa Kim

Jaehwa Kim

Visiting Associate Professor | Confucianism

Research Area

Asian Studies

Research Area

Asian Studies

Junhyung Park

Junhyung Park

Visiting Associate Professor l Modern Korean History

Research Area

Asian Studies | Korean
Professor Junhyung Park received his Ph.D. in Korean modern history from Waseda University. He is researching foreign settlements in East Asia in the late 19th century using genealogical methods.

Research Area

Asian Studies | Korean

Myungkeun Cho

Myungkeun Cho

Visiting Associate Professor | Modern Korean History

Research Area

Korean

Research Area

Korean

Owen Stampton

Owen Stampton

Post-Doctoral Researcher | Korean Literature

Owen Stampton is a Korea Foundation post-doctoral research fellow of Korean Literature. He received his MA in modern and classical Korean literature from the Graduate School of Korean Studies at the Academy of Korean Studies, South Korea and his PhD in Korean literature at the School of Oriental and...Read more

Seok Min Eun

Seok Min Eun

Visiting Professor | History of Medicine in East Asia

Research Area

Korean
Professor Seok Min Eun is recently focused on researching philosophical thinking inherent in medical theory, especially interested in the relationship between Confucianism and medicine.

Research Area

Korean

YoungJin Seo

YoungJin Seo

Visiting Associate Professor

Research Area

Korean | Korean Language

Research Area

Korean | Korean Language

Yuanyuan He

Yuanyuan He

Visiting Associate Professor | Ancient Korean Literature