Ph.D. CandidateMonica's research interests are feminist ecocriticism, ethics, and biopolitics in modern and contemporary Korean literature. Her dissertation project focuses on the representation of madness in post-Korean War literature. Please visit www.monicawcho.com for a complete bio and CV.
Soojin Jeong
Ph.D. CandidateSoojin's research interests are communication studies, Asian-American studies, literary studies and gender studies in Korea and Japan.
Wonjun Kang
Ph.D. StudentWonjun‘s project is to investigate the meaning of nature among postwar Japanese writers and intellectuals in the context of atomic bomb experience and a series of pollution. He hopes to keep his project in dialogue with discourses on vitalism and tradition in East Asian intellectual sphere. He received his B.A. and M.A. in Asian Languages and Civilizations at Seoul National University. His master's thesis centered on Ishimure Michiko's Kugai Jodo, a trilogy on the sufferings of Minamata Disease patients.
Adam Miller
Ph.D. CandidateAdam's research centers on gender and sexuality in contemporary Korean literature and film. He is particularly interested in exploring constructions and representations of masculinity in the post-democratization period through the present day. His research interests also include speculative fiction, poetry, and critical theory.
Adam Reynolds
Ph.D. CandidateAdam's main interest is contemporary Japanese literature and film, especially within the context of Japan’s postcolonial relations. He is currently exploring narratives dealing with the disruption of Okinawan culture and society by Japanese and American forces. Adam is also interested in humor theory, the connection between aesthetics and politics, KyÅgen plays, anime, and other popular Japanese art forms.
Asha Rieussec
Ph.D. StudentAsha focuses on feminism and ecocriticism in Korean literature. In particular, she's interested in how female writers discuss feminism, queerness, and plants within different literary works. She received a bachelor's degree in Korean Literature & Language at UC Irvine and a master's degree in Korean Area Studies at University of Southern California before returning to UC Irvine.
Sophie Wheeler
Ph.D. CandidateSophie's research interests are travel photography, ethnography, food studies, environmental politics, and multimedia storytelling.
Yee-Kwan (Vanessa) Wong
Ph.D. CandidateVanessa is interested in the social changes reflected in modern fiction from various Chinese communities, the literary connections and distinctions between Hong Kong and China, and the city’s position in the context of greater China.
Yaqi Wang
Ph.D. Student
Yaqi's research focuses on postwar Japanese cinema and literature. She is interested in film philosophy and theory, modernity in East Asia, and environmental humanities. She received a bachelor's degree in media and cinema studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master's degree in Humanities from The University of Chicago before joining UC Irvine. (yaqiw7@uci.edu)
Blossom Jeong
Ph.D. Student
Blossom is interested in the politics of in/exclusion and community building in post-colonial repatriation narratives by Korean and Taiwanese writers.
Xiangu Qi
Ph.D. Student
Xiangu Qi is a Ph.D. student advised by Professor Bert Scruggs, published different papers respectively in East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, Journal of Film Art, and Journal of Beijing Film Academy. Her research interests include Chinese-language films, Chinese diaspora cinema, film history, and environmental humanities. She is the founder of Voice-Over (画外音), an academic podcast that focuses on film studies and cultural studies. She also launched the Chinese-language Cinema Discussion Club that holds regular online discussions on various films across global Chinese-language communities with scholars from different fields.
