Students

Alexander is a sixth year PhD candidate in Religious Studies at Duke University. He studies Chinese and Japanese Buddhism from Qing dynasty to the Republic of China and Meiji, Taisho, and Showa. He is currently working on his dissertation on Chinese Buddhists seeking esoteric Buddhism in Japan.

You can find out more about his research here: https://alexanderhowardatkins.com/"; title="alexanderhowardatkins.com/">alexanderhowardatkins.com

You can find his database project at Database">https://dmeab.com/">Database of Modern East Asian Buddhism

Mariko Azuma is a Ph.D. candidate in art history with a focus on modern Japanese art and visual culture. Her studies examine the spatial constructs of travel and tourism through mediums such as the built environment, photography, and travel pamphlets in the late-19^th-20^th century. At Duke, she is pursuing certificates in East Asian Studies and College Teaching. She is also interested in engaging with the broader scholarly community through the graduate student-led East Asia/Asian Diaspora Studies (EADS) Working Group. 

Felix is a PhD student in the Department of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University. Centered on the post-growth city, his research critically explores emerging forms of urban sociality, post-growth urban futures, and our relationship to the historical and material legacy of the built environment. He investigates these issues through an ethnographic project on the residential communities of long-standing suburban public housing projects (danchi) in Tokyo, Japan. His other interests include gender and the family, labor and precarity, Marxism and political economy, the politics of cultural heritage and architectural preservation, and the anthropology of space. 

Felix holds a B.A. (Japan in East Asia, 2016) and an M.A (Interdisciplinary Information Studies, 2018) from the University of Tokyo.

Haocong Cheng is a Ph.D. student in the history department. Identifying himself as a historian of science and technology, environment, and society of twentieth-century China, Haocong's current research project revolves around livestock in twentieth-century Inner Mongolia. He aims to bring together human and nonhuman actors while exploring questions about modernizing projects and transnational knowledge production. Before joining Duke, he received his BA in history from UCLA and MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia.

Doctoral Student in Religious Studies

My academic interests have been grounded in the study of World Christianity via historical analysis. I have examined the vitality and variance of Christian faith in the specific cultural contexts, in East Asia. As a neophyte scholar, I have developed my research fields in the juxtaposition of historical study, cultural study, East Asian study, and Theology. 


Education
B.A., Theology, Yonsei University, South Korea (2013)
Th.M., World Christianity and Inter-cultural Studies, Yonsei University (2018) 
M.Div., Vanderbilt University (2021)

Yuting Hu is a PhD student in the Literature Program and the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute (APSI). She is now serving as the co-chair for the Critical Theory Workshop (CTW). Her research focuses on twentieth- and twenty-first century Chinese and Sinophone novels and media; Chinese literary and digital modernisms and postmodernisms, aesthetics, psychoanalysis, and narrative theories. 


The Institute for World Literature, Harvard University, 2025

M.A., University of Pennsylvania
East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics

School of Criticism and Theory, Cornell University, 2023

B.A., cum laude, University of Rochester
Comparative Literature (Highest Distinction); Philosophy (Highest Distinction)

Kexuan is a PhD student in the Department of Philosophy and a">https://philosophy.duke.edu">Philosophy and a certificate student of Gender">https://gendersexualityfeminist.duke.edu">Gender Sexuality Feminist Studies & East Asian Studies (APSIhttps://asianpacific.duke.edu">APSI;). Their research interests lie at the intersection of critical disability studies, feminist/queer/trans studies, memory studies, and asian american & diaspora studies. They also have a deep fondness for Taoist philosophies, especially the beautiful and hilarious philosophical writings in Zhuangzi. You are welcome to learn more about Kexuan or their research on their https://www.kexuanliu.com"; title="Personal Website">Website.

Coralei Neighbors is a second-year Ph.D. candidate in Population Health Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the intersection of infectious diseases, health economics, and global health policy. With a strong foundation in epidemiology and disease surveillance, gained through a Bachelor of Science from Baylor University and a Master of Science in Global Health from Duke University, Coralei has experience in tackling global health challenges through a dual lens of scientific inquiry and policy analysis.

Her research encompasses infectious disease surveillance, economic modeling, and policy evaluation. With experience in both national and international settings, she is currently contributing to infectious disease surveillance initiatives and developing models to assess the economic impact and sustainability of vaccines and other health interventions in diverse populations. Coralei's work aims to inform the development of evidence-based policies to improve global health outcomes.

Haotian Wang is an Ethnomusicology Ph.D. student in the Department of Music at Duke University. His research explores musical traditions, everyday soundscapes, and listening practices of Yunnan, Southwest China, and their intersections with transregional migration and cross-cultural exchange. Besides scholarship, he is a musician and sound artist whose creative work spans field recording, songwriting, performance, and installation. For more info and his projects, please see: https://www.haotianwangmusic.com/"; title="haotianwangmusic.com">haotianwangmusic.com

Ph.D. student in the Program in Literature, Duke University

M.A., New York University
English and American Literature

B.A., magna cum laude, Bowdoin College
English and Music Composition double major, Russian minor