Doctoral Student Fellow
Ph.D. candidate, Department of East Asian Studies
Decentralizing China's Televisual Media Ecologies
Wan-Chun Huang is a Ph.D. candidate in East Asian Studies at New York University, with a research focus on Chinese media, audience engagement, and political communication. Her dissertation, Decentralizing China’s Televisual Media Ecologies, examines how television audiences in China subvert centralized control through participatory practices. Her research traces the evolution of television genres from the 1960s to the present—including educational programming, reality TV, and queer animation—through the lens of sociopolitical media ecologies. Her published work includes a peer-reviewed article on democratic behaviors in Chinese reality shows and a critical review of censorship and media control, published in Asiascape: Digital Asia and the PRC History Review. As a dedicated educator, she has taught courses on East Asian media, Chinese literature, and language, and currently serves as lead instructor for Media Ecologies, a core undergraduate course at Pratt Institute. She is also an active contributor to academic communities through conference organization, curriculum development, and mentorship.