About
Cynthia Han is a Visiting Fellow at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, Department of History at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She received her BA from Nanjing University and her MA and PhD from Utrecht University.
Her research focuses on how societies are represented in media and how these representations influence society, challenge audiences' values, and transform viewers' opinions. Her work spans two main areas:
- Understanding cinema as an interactive, intercultural "contact zone" between the United States and China, with emphasis on diasporic Chinese representation
- Examining visual representations of epidemic experiences across race, gender, and wealth through a historical lens
Her scholarly work demonstrates strong engagement with Chinese Social Sciences, Cinematic Representations, Chinese Cinema, and Hollywood studies. Her research shows particular expertise in how media shapes cultural understanding across national boundaries.
Dr. Han's recent publications reveal a consistent focus on the intersection of film, epidemics, and cultural representation. She has produced significant work analyzing how cinema portrays disease outbreaks across different historical periods and cultural contexts, with particular attention to issues of race, gender, and social inequality.
Her research output includes 24 publications comprising 20 articles, 2 books, 1 book chapter, and 1 book/film/article review. Notable works include "Infectious Inequalities; Epidemics, Trust, and Social Vulnerabilities in Cinema" (2022) and "Heroism and Healthcare Workers in Epidemic Films" (2023).
