Mei Zhan

Mei Zhan is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on medical anthropology, science and technology studies, globalization, and China studies. She investigates how transnational encounters shape knowledge systems, particularly in the context of traditional Chinese medicine and emerging knowledge economies in China.

Her work explores the 'worlding' of traditional Chinese medicine through comparative studies in Shanghai and the San Francisco Bay Area, emphasizing dynamic interactions between local and global frameworks. Current projects include an ethnography on China's knowledge economy, examining how (pre)Daoist ideas inform contemporary practices.

Professor Zhan teaches courses on anthropological theory, the anthropology of knowledge, and China's globalization. Her recent publications analyze translocal knowledge formations and nonmodern theoretical frameworks. Her research bridges anthropology with critical studies of science, technology, and posthumanism.