Christopher T. Fan
Associate Professor · Asian American Literature
University of California, IrvineAbout
Christopher T. Fan is an Associate Professor of English at the University of California, Irvine, with courtesy appointments in Asian American Studies and East Asian Studies. He directs UCI Global Asias and co-directs the Geographers at UCI Research Cluster alongside Prof. Yousuf Al-Bulushi. As a senior editor at Hyphen magazine (which he co-founded) and editorial board member for American Literary History, he bridges academic and public scholarship in Asian/American cultural production.
His academic credentials include a PhD in English Literature from UC Berkeley and a UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Riverside. From 2023-2024, he held a Mellon New Directions Fellowship focused on human geography and Taiwan studies.
Dr. Fan’s research examines 20th/21st century Anglophone and Asian/American cultural production through lenses of transnationalism, speculative fiction, and Taiwan studies. His work interrogates Northeast Asian political economy, techno-orientalism, and semiconductor history, as evidenced by his 2024 monograph Asian American Fiction After 1965 and co-edited volume Techno-Orientalism 2.0 (2025). Current book projects analyze China’s rise in fiction/film and Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.
His 15 most recent publications (2013-2025) reveal consistent engagement with Asian American literary traditions, transnational political economy, and speculative futures. Key patterns include critiques of techno-orientalism, explorations of Taiwan’s cultural-technological nexus, and analyses of economic mobility narratives within imperial contexts.
His scholarly recognition includes:
- Mellon New Directions Fellow (2023-2024)
- UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship
Dr. Fan mentors graduate students in English and related programs, with research supported by fellowships including the Mellon award. His publications in venues like American Literary History and Los Angeles Review of Books demonstrate interdisciplinary reach across literary studies, cultural theory, and public humanities.
Through UCI Global Asias and the Geographers Research Cluster, he cultivates collaborative spaces for scholars examining Asia-Pacific interconnectedness. These initiatives host workshops, speaker series, and publication projects that integrate human geography with diaspora studies, political economy, and cultural analysis.
