Embedded Files
Research Team
Research Team
Dr. Yao Xiao, Research Director
Dr. Yao Xiao, Research Director
Dr. Yao Xiao (蕭堯, they/他/佢) is a scholar of cultural studies, migration, diaspora, Chinese studies, and critical Asian studies. Their research explores identities, transnational mobility, cultural memories, inter-Asia relations, and Asia/Africa interface, with a focus on social justice education and participatory, community-engaged methodologies. Their collaborative research has appeared in leading international journals, including Cultural Studies, Critical Arts, Postcolonial Directions in Education, and Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education.
Dr. Xiao is an Associate Editor of Critical Arts: South-North Cultural and Media Studies, a Steering Committee Member of the Centre for Culture, Identity, and Education, and a founding director of Critical Alternatives, a knowledge network committed to unlearning imperialism and platforming pluriversal ways of being.
Dr. Xiao is affiliated with the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice, as well as the Department of Educational Studies, at The University of British Columbia. They teach courses in social justice, critical studies, and diversity education, integrating research insights and lived experiences into their curriculum and pedagogy.
A non-binary Cantonese-Hakka first-generation immigrant settler of colour on Turtle Island, Dr. Xiao has spent over a decade accompanying/walking/working with grassroots seniors and youth in and around Vancouver Chinatown, centring intergenerational memories, non-Anglophone-dominant practices, and forms of care that are non-extractive, non-savior, and grounded in reciprocal learning.
Michelle Liu, Research Intern
Michelle Liu, Research Intern
Michelle is a student in the UBC Sciences Po Dual Degree program completing a BA in Political Humanities and Sociology at Sciences Po Paris, as well as a BA in Urban Studies at UBC. She is passionate about critical and anti-colonial urban geographies, interdisciplinary forms of knowledge production, and participatory research. Michelle has been published for her work on surveillance as a tool for settler colonialism in the digital age, and her hope is to apply her future academic research to direct action in housing justice initiatives, exploring the ways in which global capital and colonial processes impact the everyday experiences and material conditions of the most marginalized urban residents. These goals are heavily inspired by her involvement with the UBC Social Justice Centre, and she is also involved with the UBC Office of Regional and International Community Engagement, working on research and advocacy in relation to academic freedom worldwide. She became involved with the Foundation for Chinese Dignity to gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics, histories, and social structures shaping diasporic Chinese life in so-called Vancouver and beyond. She is currently working with the Foundation on a research project about narratives surrounding Chinese Laundries.
Dr. Cyrus Yee, Visiting Research Fellow
Dr. Cyrus Yee, Visiting Research Fellow
Dr. Cyrus Yee is a Research Associate at Simon Fraser University, and holds a Ph.D. in History from the SOAS University of London (2017). He has worked as an Associate Research Fellow in the Department of History at Sun Yat-sen University, and lectured at Simon Fraser University, Trinity Western University, and The University of Hong Kong. Dr. Yee's key publications include “Whither Mongolian Consciousness? Or, Ethnic Politics in Mongolia in the Early 20th Century” (2017) and “Han Migrant Farmers in Qing Inner Mongolia” (2019).
Project Team
Project Team
Melody Ma, Project Director
Melody Ma, Project Director
Melody Yun Ya Ma 馬勻雅 (she/her) is a second-generation Hakka Toisan Chinese writer and cultural organizer. She leads the SaveChinatownYVR anti-gentrification advocacy campaign and is a founding member of Kirin Rising 麒麟革命, the only active, youth-led Hakka Kirin Chinese Unicorn dance troupe on the continent. Melody is a fellow of the EU’s Global Cultural Relations Platform and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC). She is a founding board member of The Tyee, and served on the Vancouver Public Library Board of Trustees and the City of Vancouver’s Arts and Culture Advisory Council. She was also the national co-chair of artsScene, a young patrons program with Business for the Arts. Her writing, commentary, and advocacy on issues of cultural equity and racial justice have been featured in The Economist, CBC, Maclean’s, Vancouver Sun, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, South China Morning Post, Georgia Straight, and other outlets.
Baapooh Chung, Project Associate
Baapooh Chung, Project Associate
Baapooh Donia Min-Chuan Chung (Donnie) 鍾旻川 (he/him) is a Vancouver-based writer and legal student at the University of Victoria. With a background in English literature, he supports the research, documentation, and project operations for the Foundation of Chinese Dignity from a multilingual perspective.
Google Sites
Report abuse