Mia Chen Ma is an active researcher in the field of East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures, with particular expertise in Chinese literary and cultural representations of ecology. A literature enthusiast ever since childhood, she believes in the power of literary narratives, across multiple forms and disciplines, in constantly reshaping our understanding of a bewildering, fast-changing world.
She received her doctorate in Chinese and Inner Asian Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London in October 2022. Her PhD project, funded by the Universities’ China Committee in London (UCCL), focuses on the increasing role of science fiction as a way of thinking about other fields, such as ecology, health, and politics. Her ongoing project continues to explore the intersection between medical and environmental humanities. She considers that the central question posed, and often left unresolved, by SF is how to resist the universal narratives of centrality and exceptionalism regarding specific types of society—whether they be human, more-than-human, dystopian, utopian, socialist or capitalist. She is currently revising her PhD thesis into a book, tentatively entitled Ecocriticism in Chinese Science Fiction: Risk, Failure, and Solastalgia (Brill).
She co-directs the London Science Fiction Research Community (LSFRC, from 2020 to 2022), and coordinates with institutions (LSE, U of Leeds, UCD, etc.) and other organizations ( besea.n - Britain’s East and South East Asian Network, Bubble Tea Writers Network, London Chinese Science Fiction Group, UK-China Film Collab, etc.) to host and participate in a series of academic and cultural events. These events covered a wide range of topics, from global e-waste and climate justice to anti-racism and science fiction as activism and resistance, Chinese films and their international reception, as well as the preservation of East and South East Asian cultural heritage.
She has a passion for teaching, and has previously had the honour to teach a diversified group of students across continents and cultures (Wuhan, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Champaign, Dublin, London), while simultaneously being inspired by them in the best way possible. Absorbing cultures from around the world, she feels motivated to encourage not only herself but more and more people to create tales of their own, exploring their fascination with and connection to the rest of the world.
She holds a BA honours degree in Chinese Language and Literature (Wuhan University, China), an MA in East Asian Studies (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA), and a PhD in Chinese and Inner Asian Studies (SOAS, UK).
Academic and other Memberships:
· AAS (Association for Asian Studies)
· ASLE (Association for the Study of Literature & Environment)
· SFRA (Science Fiction Research Association)
· BSFA (British Science Fiction Association)