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
phone604 822 5188
location_onAsian Centre 408
Research Area
SanskritMajor 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
Alexandra Hoffmann
Alexandra Hoffmann
Assistant Professor | Classical Persian Literature
Research Area
PersianI 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
emailalison.bailey@ubc.ca
location_onAsian Centre 211
Research Area
ChineseI 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
location_onC.K. Choi Building 180
Research Area
Asian Diaspora StudiesAyaka 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
emailaynur.kadir@ubc.ca
location_onC.K. Choi Building 178
Research Area
Lifeways in Indigenous AsiaAynur 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
emailbin.zheng@ubc.ca
phone604 822 8574
location_onAuditorium Annex B 217
Research Area
ChineseBin 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 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
emailfultonb@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 6145
location_onAsian Centre 216
Research Area
KoreanAssociate 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
Acting Department Head | Associate Professor | Pre-Modern and Early Modern China
emailbruce.rusk@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5183
location_onAsian Centre 404
Research Area
ChineseMy 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
emailchienju.lin@ubc.ca
phone604 822 6245
location_onAuditorium Annex B 212
Research Area
ChineseChien-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
phone604 822 4990
location_onAsian Centre 210
Research Area
JapaneseAssociate 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
Christina Yi
Christina Yi
Associate Professor | Modern Japanese Literature | Associate Graduate Advisor
emailchristina.yi@ubc.ca
phone604 827 2093
location_onAsian Centre 403B
Research Area
JapaneseMy 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
emailchris.rea@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5428
location_onAsian Centre 218
Research Area
ChineseChristopher 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 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
emailclement.tong@ubc.ca
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
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
emailcolleen.laird@ubc.ca
Research Area
JapaneseResearch 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
...Read more
Research Area
Japanese
Donald Baker
Donald Baker
Professor | Korean
emaildon.baker@ubc.ca
phone604 822 4478
location_onAsian Centre 223
Research Area
KoreanProfessor 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 and Culture
emaileurie.shin@ubc.ca
phone604 822 4052
location_onAuditorium Annex B 214
Research Area
KoreanEurie 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 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
Gurinder Mann
Gurinder Mann
Lecturer | Punjabi Language and Culture
emailgurinder.mann@ubc.ca
phone604 710 9106
location_onAuditorium Annex B101
Research Area
PunjabiBorn 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
Harjot Oberoi
Harjot Oberoi
Professor | South Asian Social & Religious History
emailoberoi@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 5189
location_onAsian Centre 410
Research Area
Asian StudiesHarjot 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
phone604 822 5362
location_onAuditorium Annex B 206
Research Area
JapaneseI 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
location_onAsian Centre 403A
Research Area
Asian StudiesHasan 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
emailHelena.Wu@ubc.ca
Research Area
Hong KongMy 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
phone604 822 4619
Research Area
PersianHessam 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
September 1, 2023—August 31, 2024
Hsiang-ning Wang
Hsiang-ning Wang
ON LEAVE
September 1, 2023—August 31, 2024
Chinese Language Program Coordinator | Associate Professor of Teaching | Chinese Applied Linguistics
emailsunnie.wang@ubc.ca
location_onAuditorium Annex B 218
Research Area
ChineseI 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
emailhyejin.jo@ubc.ca
Research Area
KoreanHyejin 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
ON LEAVE
August 15, 2023—September 30, 2023
Hyung-Gu Lynn
Hyung-Gu Lynn
ON LEAVE
August 15, 2023—September 30, 2023
AECL/KEPCO Chair in Korean Research
emailhlynn@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 1277
location_onInstitute of Asian Research 264
Research Area
KoreanHyung-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
emailihhwa@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 827 4035
location_onAuditorium Annex B 207
Research Area
JapaneseResearch Area
Japanese
Janet Um
Janet Um
Lecturer | Sanskrit Language and Literature
emailjanet.um@ubc.ca
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
Jeonghye Son
Jeonghye Son
Lecturer | Korean Language and Culture
emailjhson39@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 4052
location_onAuditorium Annex B 214
Research Area
KoreanJeonghye 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
ON LEAVE
July 1, 2023—December 31, 2023
Jessica Main
Jessica Main
ON LEAVE
July 1, 2023—December 31, 2023
Associate Head, Internal | Chair and Director, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhism | Associate Professor | Contemporary Society
emailjessica.main@ubc.ca
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
Jinhua Chen
Jinhua Chen
Professor | East Asian Buddhism
emailjinhua.chen@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5196
location_onAsian Centre 612
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
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
emailchiuduke@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 5732
location_onAsian Centre 406
Research Area
ChineseDegrees:
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
emailjmostow@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 5131
location_onAsian Centre 217
Research Area
JapaneseProfessor 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
Research Area
Korean
Kaori Tanaka
Kaori Tanaka
Lecturer | Japanese Language
emailkaori.tanaka@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5511
location_onAuditorium Annex B 200
Research Area
JapaneseKaori 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, 2024—April 30, 2024
Kay Duffy
Kay Duffy
ON LEAVE
January 1, 2024—April 30, 2024
Assistant Professor | Premodern Sinitic Poetry
emailkay.duffy@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5180
location_onAsian Centre 405
Research Area
Asian StudiesKay 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
Assistant Professor | Punjabi Language, Literature, and Culture
emailkiran.sunar@ubc.ca
Research Area
PunjabiKiran 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
Research Area
Japanese
Kyoko Hillman
Kyoko Hillman
Lecturer | Second Language Acquisition/Applied Linguistics
emailkyoko.kh@ubc.ca
location_onAuditorium Annex B-208
Research Area
JapaneseKyoko 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)
emaillkshin@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 5167
location_onBuchanan Tower 1223
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
Li Yang
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
emaillijung.lee@ubc.ca
phone604 822 6245
location_onAuditorium Annex B 212
Research Area
ChineseLi-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
emailliam.doherty@ubc.ca
location_onAsian Centre 407
Research Area
CantoneseDr. 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
emailmaorong@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 4763
Research Area
ChineseSpecial 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
emailmasumi.abe@ubc.ca
phone604 827 4075
location_onAuditorium Annex B205
Research Area
JapaneseResearch Area
Japanese
Meng Wu
Meng Wu
Sessional Lecturer | Chinese Literature
emailwu.meng@ubc.ca
location_onAuditorium Annex A 244A
Research Area
ChineseWu 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
JapaneseMajor Research Interests:
Japanese linguistics, Japanese pedagogy
Research Area
Japanese
Minami Orihara
Minami Orihara
Sessional Lecturer | Early Modern Japanese History
Research Area
JapaneseResearch Area
Japanese
Mingzhu Lu
Mingzhu Lu
Lecturer | Chinese Language
emailmingzhu.lu@ubc.ca
phone604 822 6583
location_onAuditorium Annex B 215
Research Area
Chinese
Misuzu Kazama
Misuzu Kazama
Lecturer | Japanese Language
emailmisuzu.kazama@ubc.ca
phone604 822 5362
location_onAuditorium Annex B 206
Research Area
JapaneseMajor 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
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
Nam-lin Hur
Nam-lin Hur
Professor | History of Japan and Religious Culture
emailnamlin.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
emailnaveena.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
Research Area
ArabicNesrine 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
emailnick.hall@ubc.ca
phone604 827 4075
location_onAuditorium Annex B205
Research Area
JapaneseResearch Area
Japanese
Noriyuki Kawada
Noriyuki Kawada
Lecturer | Japanese Language
phone604 822 8495
location_onAuditorium Annex B 202
Research Area
JapaneseOffice 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
Pihua Lin
Pihua Lin
Lecturer | Chinese Language
emailpihua.lin@ubc.ca
phone604 827 3268
location_onAuditorium Annex B 213
Research Area
ChinesePihua 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
emailqian.wang@ubc.ca
phone604 827 3450
location_onAsian Centre 219
Research Area
ChineseDr. 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
emailraymond.pai@ubc.ca
phone604 822 4131
location_onAuditorium Annex B 211
Research Area
CantoneseRaymond 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
emailrchau@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 9029
location_onAsian Centre 215
Research Area
JapaneseAssociate 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
emailrenren.yang@ubc.ca
location_onC.K. Choi #179 1855 West Mall
Research Area
ChineseRenren 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 | Graduate Advisor
emailross.king@ubc.ca
phone604 822 2835
location_onAsian Centre 411
Research Area
KoreanMajor 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
emailrumee.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
Saeko Suzuki
Saeko Suzuki
Sessional Lecturer | PhD Candidate
- A Literary Journey to Yoshino: Cultures of Travel in Early Modern Japan (Supervisor: Dr. Chrsitina Laffin)
- Sex and Migration in the Transpacific Underground (1860-1923): Japanese Primary Sources in Translation (Co-creator: Dr. Ayaka Yoshimizu)
- Exploring Premodern Japan (Supervisor: Dr. Chrsitina Laffin)
- One Hundred Poets | 百人一首 - UBC Library Open Collections (Supervisor: Dr. Joshua S. Mostow)...Read more
Sebastian Prange
Sebastian Prange
Associate Professor | South Asian History
emails.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
phone604 822 5132
location_onAsian Centre 401
Research Area
JapaneseDepartment 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
emailsheni@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 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 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
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
emailsonam.chusang@ubc.ca
phone604 446 8705
location_onJack Bell Building 135
Research Area
TibetanSonam 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
emailstefania.burk@ubc.ca
Research Area
JapaneseResearch Area
Japanese
Su-Anne Yeo
Su-Anne Yeo
Sessional Lecturer
emailsuanne.yeo@ubc.ca
location_onAuditorium Annex A 244D
Research Area
ChineseSu-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
location_onC.K. Choi 177
Research Area
Asian StudiesI 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
emailsunil.bhatt@ubc.ca
phone604 827 5950
location_onC.K. Choi 178
Research Area
Hindi-UrduI 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
emailtaeeom@mail.ubc.ca
Research Area
Asian StudiesTae 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
emailtshakya@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 822 2968
location_onInstitute of Asian Research, CK Choi 281
Research Area
Tibetan
Weiting Guo
Weiting Guo
Sessional Lecturer | Chinese History and Culture
emailweiting.guo@ubc.ca
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
Wen-Hui Chen
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
Xiangjun (Sean) Feng
Xiangjun (Sean) Feng
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow | Early Modern and Modern Chinese Literature
emailsean.feng@ubc.ca
Research Area
ChineseXiangjun “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
emailxiaoqiao.xu@ubc.ca
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
Xiaowen Xu
Xiaowen Xu
Associate Professor of Teaching | Chinese Applied Linguistics
emailxiaowen.xu@ubc.ca
location_onAsian Centre Room 219
Research Area
ChineseRESEARCH 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
Xueshun Liu
Xueshun Liu
Lecturer | Chinese Language
emailxliu@mail.ubc.ca
phone604 827 3268
location_onAuditorium Annex B 213
Research Area
ChineseUpon 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
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
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
ON LEAVE
September 1, 2023—December 31, 2023
Yi-Yi Chen
Yi-Yi Chen
ON LEAVE
September 1, 2023—December 31, 2023
Visiting Lecturer | Chinese
emailyi-yi.chen@ubc.ca
Research Area
ChineseChen, 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
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
Yuqing Liu
Yuqing Liu teaches courses on Chinese and Sinophone literature and culture. She received her B.A. from Fudan University, M.A. from National Taiwan University, and Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. At the heart of her teaching lies a deep-rooted passion for Chinese literature, especially...Read more
Research Area
Chinese
Zheng Cai
Zheng Cai
Lecturer | Chinese Language and Literature
emailzheng.cai@ubc.ca
phone604 822 8574
location_onAuditorium Annex B 217
Research Area
ChineseZheng (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
emailzoe.lam@ubc.ca
phone604 822 4131
location_onAuditorium Annex B 211
Research Area
CantoneseZoe 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