Holding a master degree in African Studies from Yale University, Xu Zhang's research interests include mining industry, informal labor, precarity and sociality in southern Africa. His MA thesis is an investigation into slag dumpsites in Copperbelt, Zambia as a socio-cultural landscape, with anthropological analysis regarding illegal mining, transnational capital, social welfare, and Anthropocene. Before joining Yale, Xu completed his B.A in International Politics from Peking University, China. He intends to conduct a research project about gold mining on slag dumps in South Africa at University of Cape Town. Xu hopes to explore anthropology theory and experimental ethnographic writing with a specific focus on African Studies in the future. Xu also loves reading and writing poems.