I am a DPhil candidate in International Relations at the University of Oxford, where I also completed my MPhil in the same subject. My academic interests are in language politics and global governance, and my doctoral research is supported by the Clarendon Fund and the Queen's College.
My prior experience has been in quantitative social science research. Prior to Oxford, I obtained degrees in Economics from Peking University and the University of Chicago, and I worked for a time as a pre-doctoral fellow at the Yale Law School. I enjoy: exploring abandoned buildings; the window seat on airplanes; small, fluffy animals; off-key karaoke singing.
DPhil topic
'The Politics of Language Regimes in International Relations'
The global status of languages vis-a-vis one another has important implications for international politics. My DPhil research seeks to conceptualise a politics of 'language regimes' for the International Relations discipline. I explore cases of interstate contestation and cooperation over language policy choices in international milieux.
As relates to China, I am interested in the politics of promoting (Mandarin) Chinese language-learning to non-sinophones by state actors. My research seeks to study cross-strait contestation over the standard form of the Chinese script, authenticity in 'Chineseness,' and the competing pressures of domestic politics and Chinese/Taiwanese identities.
