he/him

Assistant Professor

Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, and Russian Studies

Wentao Ma (he/him) earned his Ph.D. in Literature from the University of California, San Diego in 2026. His research explores media, care, and relationality in contemporary Chinese and Sinophone cultures through interdisciplinary approaches spanning film and media studies, cultural studies, Science and Technology Studies, and critical theory. His book manuscript, tentatively titled Towards A Theory of Media Care in the Contemporary Sino-World, situates care within media forms to examine its ambivalent roles, as transient, excessive, and coercive, silhouetting a spectrum of care as both a phenomenon of thinking and a mode of thought within communities and regions affected by Chinese cultures across the world. His scholarship and translations have appeared in Chinese Literature and Thought Today, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, and Contemporary Cinema. He has also worked as a Film Programmer with the San Diego Asian Film Festival and the CineCina Film Festival in New York.

Publications