Before commencing my DPhil studies at Oxford, I obtained a BA in Social Sciences from Hitotsubashi University in Japan and an MA in Modern and Contemporary Literature from the University of Manchester. During an exchange at University College London, a module on queer theory and literature confirmed my academic passion for this field and inspired me to pursue it as my professional and research trajectory.
My research interests lie broadly in comparative literature, with a particular focus on Sino-Japanese cultural and literary interactions. I am especially interested in queer theory, feminism, gender and sexuality studies, literary and critical theory, as well as literary geography and spatial criticism. Through my interdisciplinary approach, I aim to explore how literature negotiates questions of identity, space, and transnational cultural exchange across East Asia.
Beyond academia, I am an amateur French learner and translator, working across English, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and French. These multilingual experiences continually inform my perspective on cross-cultural dialogue and translation as both a practice and a metaphor for intellectual exchange.
DPhil topic
My DPhil project investigates spatial representations in queer literature across East Asia, focusing on writers such as Nishino Kōji, Fushimi Noriaki, Hiruma Hisao, Cui Zi’en, Mu Cao, Chi Ta-wei, Kuo Chiang-sheng, and Nicholas Wong. Employing a comparative literature approach, I examine how processes of urbanization have shaped the emergence and imagination of queer spaces – from physical sites such as parks, bars, and streets to representational spaces including the Internet, social discourse, and imagined communities.
By analysing these varied spatial articulations, my research seeks to illuminate how queer identities and desires are negotiated within different socio-cultural and linguistic contexts in East Asia. Furthermore, the project engages critically with the epistemological dynamics between Western queer theory and East Asian literary production. Through this dialogue, I aim to question and reconfigure the binary oppositions between East and West, Global North and South, and the so-called First and Third Worlds. Ultimately, my research aspires to contribute to a more decentered and dialogic understanding of global queer studies and literary modernity.
