Current Position
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Tsinghua University. Three-year appointment to the Tsinghua-Michigan Society of Fellows based at the Institute for World Literatures and Cultures in Beijing, P.R. China.
Education
Princeton University in Princeton, NJ USA, 2010–2016
Ph.D. and M.A. in Anthropology from the Department of Anthropology
Dissertation Title: Unpredictability, Sociality, and Decision-Making in an Accelerating Chinese City
Boston University in Boston, MA USA, 2005–2009
B.A. in Visual Rhetoric and Chinese Studies from the University Professors Program
Trustee Scholar, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa
Thesis Title: Visions of Chinese Nationalism: The Beijing 2008 Olympics and China’s Developing National Identity
Publications
n.d. Crowds: Anthropological Encounters. Editor of volume. Under contract with the Ethnographic Encounters Series at Bloomsbury Publishers, London. Expected May 2018.
Selected Awards, Honors, and Fellowships
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, 2014–2015
The Fellowship of Woodrow Wilson Scholars for Policy-Related Research, 2014–2015
The Yan Huo *94 Graduate Fellowship, 2014
Princeton University Mathey College Fellow, 2013–2014
Taiwan Ministry of Education Huayu Enrichment Scholarship, 2009–2010
University Professors Program Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis for Visions of Chinese Nationalism, 2009
Boston University Trustee Scholar, 2005–2009
Freeman-ASIA Grant, 2008
Selected Talks and Presentations
“Well Managed Fears: Worst-case Scenarios and Comforting Catastrophic Contingencies in the People’s Republic of China.” American Ethnological Society 2017 Meeting, Stanford University. Palo Alto, CA, USA. April 1, 2017.
“Willful Times: Events, unpredictability, and presentism among entrepreneurs in a central Chinese city.” Institute for World Literatures and Cultures Lunch Colloquium. Tsinghua University. Beijing, P.R. China. October 12, 2016.
“‘How will we get through 2016?’ Unpredictability, risk, and willfulness among socialites in Zhengzhou.” Society for Economic Anthropology Plenary Session. Athens, GA, USA. April 15, 2016.
“在郑州连心都堵了 (Traffic of the Heart).” (In Mandarin.) Institute of Public Management Seminar. Zhengzhou University. Zhengzhou, Henan, PRC. October 22, 2015.
“Empty Houses and China’s Housing Bubble, Re-examined: Notes from an Alleged Ghost City.” Princeton in Beijing, Beijing Normal University. Beijing, PRC. July 20, 2015.
“Empty Houses: Real and Imagined Consequences of Investment in China’s Real Estate Market.” Oikos: Affects, Economies, and Politics of House-ing. International Seminar with Princeton University, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Cultura e Economia, and Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur les Enjeux Sociaux. Princeton, NJ, USA. May 14, 2015.
“‘Too Many People’: Crowds and Cliques in Contemporary China.” Anthropology of Crowds panel. American Anthropological Association 2015 Annual Meeting. Washington D.C., USA. December 5, 2014.
“Overpopulation, Its Effects, and Research in the PRC.” Princeton in Beijing, Beijing Normal University. Beijing, PRC. July 28, 2014.
“Making the Most of Your Time in China: A Beginner’s Guide to Research in the PRC.” IES, Beijing Foreign Studies University. Beijing, PRC. March 21, 2014.
Selected Academic Experience
Instructor of Record for Global Capitalisms at the Institute for World Literatures and Cultures, Tsinghua University, Spring Semester 2017 and 2018.
Instructor of Record for Introduction to Issues in Cultural Anthropology at the Institute for World Literatures and Cultures, Tsinghua University, Fall Semester 2016 and 2017.
Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Public Management, Zhengzhou University, July 2013 through October 2014 and June 2015 through March 2016.
Resident Graduate Student at Mathey University, Princeton University, 2011 through 2013 and 2014 through 2015.
Preceptor for Introduction to Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology, Princeton University, Fall Semester 2011.
Writing Fellow and Tutor at the Writing Center, Boston University, 2007 through 2009.
