Dr John Wei joins Sociology, Gender Studies and Criminology with a background in Culture and Communication as well as Media, Film and Television. He has previously held multiple teaching and research roles at the University of Melbourne, the University of Auckland, and the University of Canterbury.
His research focuses on transnational gender, sexuality, and queer studies through an intersectional approach combining urban sociology, ethnography, migration and mobilities, and media and film studies to interrogate wider and ongoing social changes in global and regional flows and movements of talents, cultures, and capital.
John is the author of Queer Chinese Cultures and Mobilities: Kinship, Migration, and Middle Classes (Hong Kong University Press, 2020). His current work explores social practices and cultural productions of gender and sexuality through a comparative lens across global Anglophone (English-speaking) and Sinophone (Chinese-speaking) societies to consider geographical, social, generational, cultural, and gender/sexual mobilities in the 21st century.
Teaching
I co-ordinate and teach: GEND 101 Gender in Everyday Life GEND 205 / 305 Gender and the Media
I teach sections of: GEND 206 Gender, Work and Consumer Culture GEND 306 Gender, Work and Consumer Culture GEND 401 Debates in Gender and Sexuality
Postgraduate Research Supervision
Aaron Hu (PhD) Mental Health Disparities among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Individuals
Jemima Meegan (MPCS) Transgender and Queer Refugees/Asylum Seekers
Hannah Goh (MSc) Sexual Violence Prevention in East/Southeast Asian Communities in New Zealand
Rowan Simmons (Hons) Intersections between Transgender Identity and Masculinity
Annaliese Boyd (Hons) Mobility, Kinship, and Identity of Queer Female University Students
Publications
Gibbs, A., Wei, J., Gilmour, F., Dougherty, J., Bond, P., Bohn, S., Biggs, L., & Rakuita, T. (Eds.). (2023). Proceedings of the Sociology, Gender Studies & Criminology and Social & Community Work Postgraduate Symposium VII. Dunedin, New Zealand: Sociology, Gender Studies and Criminology Programme, University of Otago. 44p.
Conference Contribution - Edited volume of conference proceedings
Wei, J. (2023). Taiwan’s same-sex marriage legislation: Social movement strategies and relational dynamics. Journal of East Asian Studies. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1017/jea.2023.8
Journal - Research Article
Wei, J. (2023). Grand strategies and everyday struggles under the new Cold War and COVID-19: A sociological political economy. In K. P. Tan (Ed.), Asia in the old and new Cold Wars: Ideologies, narratives, and lived experiences. (pp. 103-125). Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-981-19-7681-0_5
Chapter in Book - Research
Wei, J. (2023). Rethinking Queer (Asian) Studies: Geopolitics, Covid-19, and post-covid queer theories and mobilities. Journal of Homosexuality. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/00918369.2023.2174471
Journal - Research Article
Boyd, A., & Wei, J. (2023). Stretched kinship: Queer female university students negotiating family and identity. Sexualities. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/13634607231152598
Journal - Research Article
Wei, J. (2023). Stretched kinship: Parental rejection and acceptance of queer youth in Chinese families. Journal of Homosexuality, 70(9), 1847-1866. doi: 10.1080/00918369.2022.2043130
Journal - Research Article
Wei, J. (2023). Out on YouTube: Queer youths and coming out videos in Asia and America. Feminist Media Studies, 23(3), 1173-1188. doi: 10.1080/14680777.2021.1950797
Journal - Research Article
Stringer, R., Keddell, E., Wei, J., Gibbs, A., Bond, P., & Bohn, S. (Eds.). (2022). Proceedings of the Sociology, Gender Studies & Criminology and Social & Community Work Postgraduate Symposium VI. Dunedin, New Zealand: Sociology, Gender Studies and Criminology Programme, University of Otago. 42p. Retrieved from https://www.otago.ac.nz/sgc/study/sociology/postgraduate/
Conference Contribution - Edited volume of conference proceedings
Wei, J. (2022, December). International queer political economy: Geopolitics, Covid-19, and migrant workers. Verbal presentation at the Decoloniality, Gender Equity and Diversity International Conference, [Hybrid].
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Wei, J. (2021, February). Queer Chinese cultures and mobilities: Kinship, migration, and middle classes. Boston University Center for the Study of Asia: World Languages and Literatures’ New Books in East Asian Literature Lecture Series. [Research Presentation].
Other Research Output
Wei, J. (2021). The new Cold War: Geopolitics, Covid-19, and grand strategies in great power rivalry. Proceedings of the Narrating Cold Wars Conference. (pp. 16). Retrieved from https://www.hkbu.online/narratingcoldwars
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Wei, J. (2021, September). Feminism at the top: Gendered leadership under Covid-19 in Taiwan and New Zealand. Verbal presentation at the Feminism(s) in the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond: An Interdisciplinary Conference, [Online].
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Wei, J. (2021, September). Revisiting migration: Population mobility and economic restructuring in post-covid geopolitical shifts. Verbal presentation at the Breaking Boundaries: Reimagining Borders in Postcolonial and Migrant Studies, [Online].
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Wei, J. (2021, August). Handling the pandemic: Female, male and transgender leaders during Covid-19. Verbal presentation at the 116th American Sociological Association (ASA) Virtual Annual Meeting: Emancipatory Sociology: Rising to the Du Boisian Challenge, [Online].
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Wei, J. (2020, December). Queer Chinese cultures and Mobilities: Kinship, migration, and middle classes: An interview with John Wei. New Books in Chinese Studies, New Books Network Podcast, hosted by Laurie Dickmeyer. Retrieved from https://newbooksnetwork.com/queer-chinese-cultures-and-mobilities
Other Research Output
Wei, J. (2020). Queer Chinese cultures and mobilities: Kinship, migration, and middle classes. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 216p. doi: 10.2307/j.ctv12fw76v
Authored Book - Research
Wei, J. (2019, November). "Gated communities": Queer middle classes and social stratification in urban China. Verbal presentation at the National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) Annual Conference, San Francisco, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Wei, J., Carter, S., & Laurs, D. (2019). Handling the loss of innocence: First-time exchange of writing and feedback in doctoral supervision. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(1), 157-169. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2018.1541074
Journal - Research Article
Wei, J. (2018, March). Stretched kinship: Queer Chinese cultures/mobilities in the twenty-first century. Verbal presentation at the Popular Cultural Association & American Cultural Association (PCA/ACA) Conference, Indianapolis, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Wei, J. (2018, March). Stretched kinship and queer mobilities in Chinese societies. Verbal presentation at the Association for Asian Studies (ASA) Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Wei, J. (2017, October). Mobilised desire, decentred cinema: Queer film clubs/communities in urban China. Verbal presentation at the San Francisco State University’s School of Cinema 19th Annual Conference: Cinema De-Centered, San Francisco, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Wei, J. (2017, May). Stretched kinship: Queer Chinese mobilities in the twenty-first century. Verbal presentation at the International Communication Association's 67th Annual Conference, San Diego, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Wei, J. (2016, March-April). Queer Confucian bodies on digital screens: Sexual capital, dis/embodiment, and locative mobile social media. Verbal presentation at the Doing the Body in the 21st Century Conference, Pittsburgh, USA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Wei, J. (2015). Queer sinophonicities in (South) East Asia: The short films of Desmond Bing-Yen Ti. Intersections, 38. doi: 10.17613/M6W01K
Journal - Research Article
Wei, J. (2014, October). Intimate space: Queer film clubs and mobile queer social media. Verbal presentation at the Media Ubiquity Symposium: Spaces, Places and Networks, Auckland, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Wei, J. (2014). [Review of the book Queer Marxism in two Chinas]. China Review International, 21(2), 182-184. doi: 10.1353/cri.2014.0016
Journal - Research Other
Wei, J. (2014). 'But there are no lions in the Scottish highlands': Reading the trunk in Matka. Short Film Studies, 4(1), 51-54. doi: 10.1386/sfs.4.1.51_1
Journal - Research Other
Wei, J. (2014). [Review of the book Queer/Tongzhi China: New perspectives on research, activism, and media cultures]. China Review International, 21(2), 133-136. doi: 10.1353/cri.2014.0009
Journal - Research Other
Wei, J. (2014). [Review of the book Tongzhi living: Men attracted to men in postsocialist China]. China Review International, 21(2), 195-198. doi: 10.1353/cri.2014.0020
Journal - Research Other
Wei, J. (2014). Iron Man in Chinese boys' love fandom: A story untold. Transformative Works & Cultures, 17. doi: 10.3983/twc.2014.0561
Journal - Research Article