A food safety factory shutdown has Americans hunting for baby formula. Readying themselves for a covid-19 lockdown, Chinese in Beijing emptied store shelves. Emerging from lockdown, some in Shanghai are visiting well-provisioned markets. U.S.-China agricultural trade is booming, but many are still being left hungry. Food security, sustainability and safety remain issues.
Bernards, Brian

Education
- B.A. , University of Washington, 2002
- M.A. , Columbia University, 2005
- Ph.D. Asian Languages & Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles, 2011
Description of Research
Summary Statement of Research Interests
Modern Chinese and Southeast Asian literature and cinema, Sinophone studies, and postcolonial studies. Forthcoming book, Writing the South Seas, examines the colonial and postcolonial formation of the Nanyang, the “South Seas,” as a transnational and translingual literary trope in the modern literatures of China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.
Publications
Book
- Bernards, B. (2015). Writing the South Seas: Imagining the Nanyang in Chinese and Southeast Asian Postcolonial Literature. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
- Bernards, Brian, Shu-mei Shih, and Chien-hsin Tsai (Ed.). (2013). Sinophone Studies: A Critical Reader. New York: Columbia University Press.
Book Chapter
- Bernards, B. (2013). "Plantation and Rainforest: Chang Kuei-hsing and a South Seas Discourse of Coloniality and Nature". Sinophone Studies: A Critical Reader pp. 325-338. New York: Columbia University Press.
Journal Article
- Bernards, B. (2014). From Diasporic Nationalism to Transcolonial Consciousness: Lao She's Singaporean Satire, Little Po's Birthday. Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. Vol. 26 (1), pp. 1-40.
- Bernards, B. (2013). "Shuangxiang de hunzaxing: lun lengzhan shiqi Tai Hua xiaoshuo zhong de 'Taihua'" [Bidirectional Hybridity: "Thaification" in Cold War-Era Sinophone Thai Fiction]. Zhongshan renwen xuebao [Sun Yat-sen Journal of Humanities]. Vol. 35, pp. 127-141.
- Bernards, B. (2013). "Beyond Diaspora and Multiculturalism: Recuperating Creolization in Postcolonial Sinophone Malaysian Literature". Postcolonial Studies. Vol. 15 (3), pp. 311-329.
New Courses Developed
- ARLT 100g, 105g: Southeast Asian Literature and Film, Arts and Letters, 2011-
- EALC 380: Transnational Chinese Literatures, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Spring 2013
- EALC 530: Race, Ethnicity, and Multiculturalism in East Asia, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Spring 2013
- EALC 150g: Global Chinese Cinema and Cultural Studies, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Fall 2012
Honors and Awards
- USC or School/Dept Award for Teaching, USC Dornsife General Education Teaching Award, Fall 2014
- UCLA Asia Institute Graduate Fellowship, 2010-2011
- Fulbright Award, Fulbright-Hays Research Grant, 2008-2009
- University of California Pacific Rim Research Program Grant, 2008-2009
Featured Articles
European views toward China are not uniform. Europeans recognize China's economic prowess and clearly favor continued ties, but majorities in much of Europe now have a negative view towards China.
Events
Tensions evident in the recent European Union-China virtual summit reflect the increasing skepticism in Europe toward China and the worries over Ukraine and economic ties as well as human rights and environmental issues.