Dr. Flora Chuang
Associate Professor of Mandarin Chinese Instruction
Flora Chuang arrived at Ā鶹ֱ²„ in 2015 to develop the collegeās program in Mandarin Chinese. In addition to the modern Mandarin she grew up speaking in Taiwan, she is a fluent reader of Japanese and of classical Chinese. She teaches Mandarin to beginning, intermediate and advanced students. Her other courses include the first year seminar From Confucius to Kung Fu and the Cultural Heritage course Visualizing China in Transition.
One of Dr. Chuangās great interests is film as it relates to culture. In her doctoral dissertation, she explored how New Taiwanese Cinema shapes audiencesā vision of East Asia and Sinophone as imagined communities.
She is a member of ASIANetwork, the Modern Language Association, the Association for Asian Studies and the Chinese Language Teachers Association.
AREAS OF expertise
- Chinese literature and film
- Taiwan New Cinema
- East Asia popular culture
- Cultural theory
EDUCATION
- Ph.D., comparative literature, University of Texas at Austin, 2015
- M.A., comparative literature and cultural studies, University of New Mexico, 2008
- B.A., English, National Sun Yat-sen University (Taiwan), 2005
Selected Publications & Presentations
- āRediscovering New Taiwan Cinema in and outside of Greater China: Wei Te-shengās Cape No. 7 and Chang Tso-chiās Soul of a Demon,ā ASIANetwork Exchange, 2022
- āHow to De-sequence Chinese Language Classes, ā presentation to Great Lakes Colleges Association Chinese Language Faculty Meetings, 2022
- āFinding a Way Home: āMagicā and āRealismā in Chang Tso-chiās The Best of Times,ā presentation at the ASIANetwork conference Mindful Connectivity: Asian Perspectives and Influences, 2018
- āAn Audienceās Close Reading of Chang Tso-Chiās Films: From Cuts to Fades into Black in Ah Chung and Darkness and Light,ā Sun Yat-Sen Journal of Humanities, 2016
- āAn Inquiry into the Reception of Taiwanese Cinema in the New Millennium,ā presentation at Watersheds Conference, University of Barcelona (Spain), 2014
- āThe Legacy of Taiwan New Cinema and Beyond: Newcomers in the 1990s, Cinema in and outside China,ā presentation at University of Manchester (UK), 2013
Outside the college
Dr. Chuang is a mother of two daughters. She enjoys cooking, jogging, doing yoga and exploring West Michigan.