I am a scholar of Comparative Literature and my research involves modern Chinese, Korean and Japanese literatures. Broadly, I am interested in how people from the margins – geographical or metaphorical – gain power, find identity, and establish connections through transcultural negotiation and co-formation.

My first book, Territorializing Manchuria: The Transnational Frontier and Literatures of East Asia (Harvard Asia Center, 2013), received the MLA First Book Award and the First Book Award from Columbia University's Weatherhead East Asian Institute. In the book, I examine how the once-contested Northeast Asian frontier of Manchuria played a significant role in the formation and problematization of national literatures in multiple countries in East Asia. 

Built on my first book project, I continued to publish on Sinophone literature and Chinese ethnic minority literature. I guest edited a special issue for Prism: Theory and Modern Chinese Literature on Chinese literature across the borderlands with David Wang and Kyle Shernuk (2021) and published a set of articles on Chinese ethnic Korean literature.

I am currently working on my third book project about literature, sexual violence and trauma in contemporary East Asia. 

My work has received generous support from ACLS, Japan Foundation, SSRC and Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation. At Dartmouth, my work has been recognized by the John M. Manley Huntington Award for Newly Tenured Faculty.