Zhiqiu Zhou

Zhiqiu Benson Zhou is an Assistant Professor of Global China Studies at NYU Shanghai. Before joining NYU Shanghai, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for the Study of Contemporary China at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his Ph.D. in Communication Studies (Rhetoric and Public Culture) with a certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies from Northwestern University. Zhou’s research explores how emerging media technologies shape and mediate intimate experiences related to gender, sexuality, and race. His work draws on ethnographic, discursive, and critical methods to investigate the interplay between media and marginalized communities.

His interdisciplinary scholarship has appeared in New Media & Society, Information, Communication & Society, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, Sexualities, Media, Culture & Society, Feminist Media Studies, and Journal of Asian Studies. He has received fellowships, awards, and grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Communication Association, the American Anthropological Association, and the Association for Asian Studies.

Select Publications

• Zhou, Zhiqiu Benson, “Compulsory Interracial Intimacy: Why Does Removing Ethnicity Filter on Dating Apps Not Benefit Racial Minorities?” Media, Culture & Society, 44, no. 5 (2022): 1034-1043.
• Zhou, Zhiqiu Benson, “Besides Tongzhi: Tactics for Communicating and Constructing Sexual Identities in China.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, (2022): 1-19. doi: 10.1111/jola.12357.
• Zhou, Zhiqiu Benson, “(Un)Naturality and Chinese Queer Masculinities on Ailaibulai,” Feminist Media Studies. 20, no.4 (2020): 565-581. 

Education

Ph.D.
Northwestern University

M.A.
Renmin University of China                      

B.A.
Communication University of China

​