Contact Info
Qianxiong Yang
PhD Candidate
Qianxiong Yang (he/they) is a PhD candidate in Theater and Performance Studies and a John H. and Patricia W. Mitchell fellow at UCLA. His current research uses the lens of under(per)formance to explore the production of subjectivity and affect, the conceptualization of value and political action, and the debates in critique and criticism, specifically across the material conditions of contemporary neoliberal China and the US. In his research, he is particularly intrigued by the intersection of aesthetic forms and politics, and attends to a variety of mediums, from everyday performances, to film and digital media, to literature. He has designed syllabuses that he taught at UCLA, including “Theatricality of Globalization: Reading Across China and the West,” and “Art, Media, and Mediums.” He has also collaborated on a dozen theater and film projects as an actor, playwright, director and makeup artist, and has additional interests in fashion, architecture and the history of medicine.
Research Interests
Cultural Studies, Transnational Studies, Media Theory, Digital Media, Political Theory, Queer Theory, Continental Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy
Education
MA, Theatre, Performance and Critical Culture, King’s College London
BA, English, Tongji University, Shanghai
Publications
“Contemporary Chinese Queer Performance by Hongwei Bao (review),” Theatre Research International [Forthcoming]
Presentations
“Ambivalent Unbecoming: Politics and the Media Form of Underperformance,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, 2024
“Chinese Flatliners: A Political Theory of Ambivalence,” American Society for Theatre Research, 2023
“From Tangping to Bailan: Underperformance in Contemporary China,” Transnational Turns and the Future of China Studies conference, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2023
“Political Subject and Technological Media in Neoliberal Governance.” Winter School Exploring the Media and Politics Landscape of Europe, East Asia and the US, University of Bologna, Italy, 2023
Awards
Florence Theil Herrscher Award, UCLA, 2022
Reach for the Stars Award, UCLA, 2021
John H. and Patricia W. Mitchell Fellowship, UCLA, 2020
King’s Interdisciplinary Award, King’s College London, 2018
