Emily HC Chua

Emily HC Chua serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where her work critically examines intersections of technology, capital, and culture in Singapore and China through anthropological and sociological lenses.

Her educational background includes a PhD in Anthropology from UC Berkeley, an MA in History from NUS, and a BA in History and Art from Wesleyan University. Prior to academia, she worked as an art writer and visual artist.

Chua's research centers on evolving entanglements of money, media, and society. Her current Money Island project investigates Singapore's fintech innovations—from trading apps to blockchain-based currencies—analyzing how these create "permanent-beta relationships to money" where windfall profits and deepfake scams coexist. Her acclaimed 2023 monograph The Currency of Truth reframes Chinese digital journalism as relational currency rather than mass communication. She further explores startup entrepreneurship, digital media, and political discourse across Asian contexts.

Her research has secured funding from the American Council of Learned Societies, Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and UC Berkeley Institute of East Asian Studies. Chua develops courses equipping students with ethnographic and theoretical tools to dissect contemporary societal challenges in technophilic, capitalist environments.