MIMI THI NGUYEN
Associate Professor
Gender & Women’s Studies
Asian American Studies
Unit for Criticism
EDUCATION
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
New York University
University of California, Berkeley
Gender and Women’s
Studies Department,
University of Illinois
1205 W. Nevada St.
MC 137
Urbana, IL 61801
[email protected]
mimithinguyen.com
PhD., Ethnic Studies
Designated Emphasis in Women,
Gender, and Sexuality
M.A., American Studies
B.A., Women’s Studies
2004
2004
1997
1995
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2012-2016
Associate Chair, Gender and Women’s Studies, at the University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign
2012-Present Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Asian American Studies, at
the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2006-2012
Assistant Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Asian American Studies, at
the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2004-2006
Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Rackham School of Graduate Studies and
Visiting Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies, at the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
Mimi Thi Nguyen, The Gift of Freedom: War, Debt, and Other Refugee Passages. Durham:
Duke University Press, 2012. 2014 Outstanding Book Award in Cultural Studies, Association
of Asian American Studies.
BOOKS IN PROGRESS
Mimi Thi Nguyen, The Promise of Beauty.
EDITED VOLUMES
Fiona I.B. Ngô, Mimi Thi Nguyen, and Mariam B. Lâm, eds., “Southeast Asian American
Studies” Special Issue. positions: asia critique 20.3, Summer 2012.
Mimi Thi Nguyen and Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, eds., Alien Encounters: Popular Culture in Asian
America. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007.
REFEREED ARTICLES
Soo Ah Kwon and Mimi Thi Nguyen, “Non-Profits, NGOs, and ‘Community Engagement:’
Refiguring the Project of ‘Activism’ in Gender and Women’s Studies and Ethnic Studies.” In
“Incorporation and Excess: Politics In and Against Neoliberalism” Special Issue, edited by
Soniya Mushi and Craig Willse. Scholar and Feminist 13:2 (Spring 2016).
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “Minor Threats.”“Queering Archives” Special Issue, edited by Kevin
Murphy, Daniel Marshall, Zeb Tortorici, Radical History Review 122 (May 2015): 11-24.
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “The Hoodie as Sign, Screen, Expectation, and Force.” Signs: Journal of
Women in Culture and Society 40:4 (Summer 2015): 791-816.
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “Diasporic Erotic: Love, Loss, and the Copy.” Camera Obscura: Feminism,
Culture, and Media Studies 28:1 (May 2013): 68-101.
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “Riot Grrrl, Race, and Revival.” “Punk Anteriors: Genealogy, Performance,
Theory” Special Issue, edited by Beth Stinson and Fiona I.B. Ngô, Women & Performance
22:2-3 (July-November 2012): 173-196.
Fiona I.B. Ngô, Mimi Thi Nguyen, and Mariam B. Lâm. “Guest Editors’ Introduction: Special
Issue on Southeast Asian American Studies.” positions: asia critique 20:3 (Summer 2012):
671-684.
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “The Biopower of Beauty: Humanitarian Imperialisms and Global Feminisms in the War on Terror.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 26.2
(Winter 2011): 359-383.
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “Operation Homecoming: Memory, History, and the Production of the
Vietnamese Refugee in U.S. National and Transnational Imaginaries.” In "Topographies of
Race and Gender: Mapping Cultural Representations, Part 2," edited by Patricia Hilden,
Shari Huhndorf, Timothy J. Reiss, Annals of Scholarship 18.2-3 (2009): 115-149.
INVITED BOOK CHAPTERS
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “Profiling Surfaces.” In The Funambulist Papers, Vol. 2, edited by Leopold
Lambert. New York: Punctum Books, 2015. 8-13.
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “Afterward.” In Punkademics: The Basement Show in the Ivory Tower,
edited by Zack Furness. New York: Minor Compositions/Autonomedia, 2012. pp. 217-223.
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “Race and Riot Grrrl.” In Riot Grrrl Revisited: Die Geschichte einer Bewegung, eds. Katja Peglow and Jonas Engelman. Berlin: Ventil Verlag, 2011.
Mimi Nguyen, “It’s (Not) a White World: Looking for Race in Punk.” In White Riot: Punk Rock
and the Politics of Race, eds. Stephen Duncombe and Maxwell Tremblay, New York: Verso,
2011. pp. 256-268.
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Mimi Thi Nguyen, “'In the arms of Pirates, Under the bodies of Sailors:' Diaspora, Desire,
and Danger in Nguyen Tan Hoang's PIRATED!” In Charlie Don't Surf: Four Vietnamese
American Artists, ed. Viet Le, Centre A., Vancouver, 2005. pp. 66-75.
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “Queer Cyborgs and New Mutants: Race, Sexuality and Prosthetic
Sociality in Digital Space.” In AsianAmerica.net: Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Cyberspace,
edited by Rachel Lee and Sau-Ling Wong. New York: Routledge Press, 2003. pp. 281-305.
Mimi Nguyen, “Tales of an Asiatic Geek Girl: Slant from Paper to Pixels.” In Technicolor:
Race, Technology and Everyday Life, edited by Thuy Linh Tu and Alondra Nelson. New York:
New York University Press, 2001. pp. 177-190.
CREATIVE NON-FICTION (See also OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS)
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “The Right to Be Beautiful.” In The Account Magazine, Spring 2016.
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “Preface.” In The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band,
Michelle Cruz Gonzalez. Oakland: PM Press, 2016.
Mimi Thi Nguyen and Golnar S. Nikpour, Punk. New York: Guillotine Press, 2013 (Second
printing 2014).
BOOK CHAPTERS
Mimi Nguyen, “Queer Cyborgs and New Mutants: Race, Sexuality and Prosthetic Sociality in
Digital Space” (Reprint). In American Studies: An Anthology, eds. Janice Radway, Kevin
Gaines, Barry Shank, and Penny Von Eschen. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. pp. 372-384.
Mimi Thi Nguyen, “Bruce Lee I Love You: Discourses of Race and Masculinity in the Queer
Superstardom of JJ Chinois.” In Alien Encounters: Popular Culture in Asian America, coedited with Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007. pp. pp. 271-304.
Mimi Thi Nguyen and Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, “Introduction.” In Alien Encounters: Popular
Culture in Asian America, co-edited with Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu. Durham: Duke University
Press, 2007. pp.1-32.
Mimi Nguyen,"Thoughts on Afropunk." In Youth Subcultures: Exploring Underground
America, edited by Arielle Greenberg. New York: Longman, 2006.
Mimi Thi Nguyen,"Vietnam: Journal/Journey." In An Introduction to Women's Studies:
Gender in a Transnational World, Second Edition, edited by Inderpal Grewal and Caren Kaplan. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. pp. 435-439.
Mimi Nguyen, “Orientalist Kitsch.” In Perspectives in Business Ethics, Third Edition, edited
by Laura Hartman. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. pp. 542-546.
BOOK REVIEWS
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Mimi Thi Nguyen, review essay of Distant Wars Visible: The Ambivalence of Witnessing
(Wendy Kozol), Nuclear Desire: Power and the Postcolonial Nuclear Order (Shampa Biswas),
and From Above: War, Violence and Verticality (eds. Peter Adey, Mark Whitehead, and
Alison Willisons), for American Quarterly, “Tours of Duty/Tours of Leisure” special issue (September 2016).
Mimi Thi Nguyen, review of War, Genocide, and Justice: Cambodian American Memory
Work (by Cathy Schlund-Vials). In The Journal of American Studies, forthcoming.
Mimi Thi Nguyen, review of The Ironies of Freedom: Sex, Culture, and Neoliberal Governance (by Nguyen-vo Thu-huong). In The Journal of Vietnamese Studies 4.3 (2009): 214-218.
HONORS, GRANTS, AND FELLOWSHIPS
2013-2018
Conrad Humanities Professorial Scholar Award, University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign
2015-2016
Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Faculty Fellow, University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign
2014-2015
Outstanding Gender and Women’s Studies Faculty Award, University of Illinois,
Champaign-Urbana
2014-2015
Women’s Resource Center Faculty Award, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
Fall 2014
Scholars Travel Fund, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
2013-2014
Research Board Multiracial Democracy Scholarship (with Ruth Nicole Brown, Karen
Flynn, and Fiona I.B. Ngô), “Hip Hop and Punk Feminisms: Genealogy, Performance,
Theory,” Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2013-2014
Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Event Grant (with Ruth Nicole Brown,
Karen Flynn, and Fiona I.B. Ngô), “Hip Hop and Punk Feminisms: Genealogy, Performance, Theory,” Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign
2012-2013
Research Board Diversity Funding Pilot Initiative (with Isabel Molina-Guzman),
“Assemblages and Affinities: Interdisciplinary Collaborations for Graduate Education
in Critical and Comparative Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies,” University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2011-2012
Focal Point Grant (with Soo Ah Kwon), “Women and Children First?: Critical Inquiries
in Nongovernmental Organizations and the Global Governance of Care,” Graduate
College, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
2011
Scholars Travel Fund, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
2010
Scholars Travel Fund, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
2009-2010
Humanities Released Time, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
2009-2010
CIC Asian American Studies Consortium Funding for Asian American Studies Junior
Faculty Manuscript Workshops
2004-2006
Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Rackham School of Graduate Studies,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2002
Dean’s Normative Time Grant, University of California, Berkeley
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2000, 2001
2000-2001
1997-2003
Ethnic Studies Block Grant, University of California, Berkeley
Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, Women’s Studies, University of
California, Berkeley
Graduate Opportunity Program Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley
INVITED PRESENTATIONS AND PANELS
2016
Invited Speaker: “The Politics of Beauty” Summer School and Conference, University of
Cambridge, August-September
Keynote: “The Promise of Beauty,” “Border Crossings” English Graduate Student
Association Symposium, George Washington University, February
2015
“Intellectual Publics Presents: Mimi Thi Nguyen and Kandice Chuh on Beauty,” The
Graduate Center at CUNY, New York City, New York, December
“Beautiful Failure,” “When Is Art Political?” Conference, California Institute of the Arts,
Aesthetics and Politics and the Transdisciplinary Aesthetics Foundation, Los Angeles,
California, November
“Beauty in Crisis,” 2015 Gender and Women’s Studies Annual Lecture, University of
Arizona, Gender and Women’s Studies, September
“The Promise of Beauty,” University of Michigan, Asian/Pacific Islander American
Symposium, March
“Time and the Promise of Beauty,” Purdue University, American Studies and Asian American
Studies, February
“Securing Beauty,” Vassar College, Women’s Studies, February
Plenary Speaker: “Minor Threats,” “Perverse Assemblages: Queering heteronormative
orders inter/medially,” Oldenburg University, Germany, January
2014
Keynote: “Securing Beauty,” How Do I Look? Race, Beauty, and Desire (Ray Warren
Symposium on Race and Ethnic Studies), Lewis and Clark College, November
“On Freedom and Beauty,” Biopolitical Afterlives (Symposium), California State University,
Los Angeles, October
Plenary Panelist: “The States of Southeast Asian American Studies” Conference,
Minneapolis/St.Paul, University of Minnesota, October
Keynote: “Damage Control, or the Promise of Beauty,” Colloquium for Critical Asian Studies
and Critical Ethnic Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, May
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“Minor Threats,” Lines of Work: Intellectual Life and Labor Inside and Outside the Academy
Graduate Symposium, American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California, Los
Angeles, March
Panelist: “Borders,” for Feminist/Women’s Media Festival, Brown University, Providence,
Rhode Island, March
“Accidental Napalm; Or, War, Beauty, Forgiveness,” Center for Southeast Asian Studies and
Women and Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, January
Keynote: “Damage Control, and the Art of Governing Through Freedom,” Canadian
Association of Cultural Studies Biennial Meeting, Balsillie School of International Affairs,
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada, January
“The Hoodie as Sign, Screen, Expectation, and Force,” English and Cultural Studies Visiting
Speakers Series, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, January
2013
“On Balances and Bombs; The Liberal Way of War,” Ethnicity, Race, and Migration Program
Lecture Series, Yale University, New Haven, New Hampshire, November
Panelist: “Persons Unknown,” Queer Methods Conference, English Department and Gender
and Sexuality Studies Reading Group, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, OctoberNovember
Panelist: “POC Zine Project/Race Riot! Tour,” School of Information Resources and Library
Science and Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Arizona, Tucson, October
Panelist: “POC Zine Project/Race Riot! Tour,” Queer and Ally Student Assembly, University of
Southern California, Los Angeles, October
Panelist: “POC Zine Project/Race Riot! Tour,” Powell Library, University of California, Los
Angeles, October
Panelist: “Cultural Work: Finding Our People, Finding Our Politics: How Queer Cultural
Work Builds Movements,” Queer Dreams and Nonprofit Blues Conference, Columbia
University Law School, New York, October
Panelist: “Refashioning Race, Gender, and Economy,” The Asian/Pacific/American Institute at
New York University and Museum of Chinese in America, New York, June
“The Napalmed Girl; or, War, Beauty, Forgiveness,” Center for the Study of Gender and
Sexuality, University of Chicago, April
“Cut & Paste Revolution: A Zine-Making Workshop,” Center for the Study of Gender and
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Sexuality, University of Chicago, April
“Missing Persons; On Being (or Not) an Object in the Archive,” (“Archivo-Punk: On
Preserving Riot Grrrl Music, Texts, and Material Cultures” Symposium) Rhetoric and Public
Culture, Northwestern University, April
“The Bomb Will Bring Us Together; On the Gift of Freedom, and the Debt to War,” Sarah
Doyle Women’s Center, Brown University, March
“Cut & Paste Revolution: A Zine-Making Workshop,” Sarah Doyle Women’s Center, Brown
University, March
Panelist: “Queer Zines: Doin’ It in Print,” ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives and
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, February
Panelist: “Punk Anteriors,” Performance Studies and Women & Performance: a journal of
feminist theory, New York University at The Gallery at LPR, Manhattan, New York, January
2012
“Liberal Peace, Liberal War, and the Passage Between Them,” Cultural Studies Colloquium
Series, George Washington University, Washington D.C., October
Panelist: “POC Zine Project/Race Riot! Tour,” Department of Women’s Studies, University of
Maryland, College Park, Maryland, October
Panelist: “POC Zine Project/Race Riot! Tour,” Women’s Studies Program, University of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October
Panelist: “POC Zine Project/Race Riot! Tour,” FOKUS, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Michigan, October
Panelist: “POC Zine Project/Race Riot! Tour,” Women’s and Gender Studies, Ohio University,
Athens, Ohio, September
Panelist: “Gender, Race, and Sexuality: A Discussion with Women in Self-Publishing,”
Columbia College/Chicago Zine Fest, March
“Threadbared PDA: Public Displays of Aesthetics/Academics,” with Minh-Ha Pham, Spring
Edition Lecture Series, Cranbrook Academy of Art (Michigan), January
2011
Panelist: “Meet Me at the Race Riot: People of Color in Zines from 1990 to Today,” Barnard
College (with The POC Zine Project and For the Birds Collective), November
“The Gift of Freedom,” Department of English and Asian American Studies Program,
University of Pennsylvania, November
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Panelist: “‘Who Took the Bomp from the Bomp-a-lomp-a-lomp?’: Le Tigre and Punk Feminisms,” Department of Women’s Studies, Eastern Illinois University, November
“Of Prosthetics and Pageants,” Asian American Studies, University of Texas, Austin,
November
Panelist: “Archiving the Underground: A Conversations on Zines in Academia,” Chicago Zine
Fest, Chicago, March
2010
“The Biopower of Beauty: Humanitarian Imperialisms and Global Feminisms in the War on
Terror,” Cultural Studies Symposium Series, Columbia College Chicago, April
Invited Roundtable Participant: “Feminist Studies meeting Cultural Studies: Two-part Round
Table Discussion, Part One: The Colonial and The Postcolonial” (with Caren Kaplan, Minoo
Moallem, Inderpal Grewal, and Jennifer Terry), Cultural Studies Association Annual
Conference, Berkeley, California, March
Plenary Speaker: “Aesthetics, Access, Intimacy, or Race, Riot Grrrl, Bad Feelings,” The
Message is in the Music: Hip Hop Feminism, Riot Grrrl, Latina Music, and More, Sarah
Lawrence College, March
“Love, Ao Dai, and the Serial Example,” Asian American Visual Cultures Conference,
University of Pennsylvania, February
2009
Moderator: “Virtual Worlds: The Business and Recreation of Gaming Culture,” Illinois
Program for Research in the Humanities, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, October
Roundtable Participant: “Closing Roundtable,” Feminist Futures Conference, Unit for
Interpretive and Critical Theory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, May
“The Spectacle of Labor,” Fashion Matters, Unit for Social and Cultural Analysis, New York
University, February
2008
Classroom Lecture: “Beauty,” for V55.0539 World Cultures: Asian Pacific American Cultures,
New York University, November
Panelist: “The Biopolitics of Beauty,” Women’s Studies Department and The Transnational/
Transoceanic Networks: Histories and Cultures Project (“Consumer Culture and Muslim Fashion” Panel with Reina Lewis and Emma Tarlo), University of California, Irvine, June
2007
Keynote Address: "Napalmed Girls Go to Washington City," International Studies Seminar
Series, Illinois State University, November
"Fantasy Forever, or Circuits of Love and Desire," Showing (exhibition), Telic Arts Exchange,
Los Angeles, September
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Guest Lecture: "Fans and Fantasy in Queer Film and Video," Social and Cultural Analysis
V18.0380 Channels of Discourse: Race, Gender, and Media, New York University, April
2006
"Beauty and the Burka: Global Feminisms and the Geopolitical Uses of the Makeover,"
McGill Centre for Research and Teaching on Women, McGill University, Montreal, November
Guest Lecture: "Asian American Queer Film and Video," Asian Pacific American Studies 120
Race and Popular Culture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, November
"Napalmed Girl Goes to Washington City: Image, Affect, and Historical Justice," Sociology
Colloquium Series: "Social Justice, Social Movements, Social Science," University of
California, Santa Cruz, May
"Beauty Without Borders? Fashions, Global Feminisms, Neoliberalisms," Women's Studies,
Bates College, April
"Beauty Without Borders? Fashions, Global Feminisms, Neoliberalisms," Women's Studies
Lecture Series, Duke University, February
2005
"Representing Refugees: Image, Affect, and Historical Justice in Transnational Feminist
Practices," Gender Studies, Indiana University, December
"Security States and Patriot Acts: New Directions for Asian American Studies," American
Studies, State University of New York, Buffalo, December
Public Lecture: "Bruce Lee, JJ Chinois and the Queer Technologies of Celebrity,"
Presentation: "Dressing for Democracy," Workshop: Grrrls Writing Riots Workshop, Guest
Lecture (Global Studies): "When States Hit the Runway: Vietnam," Lecturer-in-Residence, St.
Lawrence University, Canton, New York (Sponsored by Gender Studies, Global Studies, Film
Studies, US Studies, Asian Studies Initiative), November
“'In the arms of Pirates, Under the bodies of Sailors:' Diaspora, Desire, and Danger in
Nguyen Tan Hoang's PIRATED!” 11th Annual Gender and Sexuality Lecturer, University of
Texas, Austin, Radio-Television-Film, March
2004
“Star Personas and Fan Fictions: Bruce Lee, JJ Chinois and Queer Technologies of
Celebrity,” Art, Technology, and Culture Lecture Series, University of California, Berkeley,
September
“Cultural Studies and Interdisciplinarity,” Cultural Studies Graduate Program Symposium,
Series, University of California, Davis, April
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“Drags Kings and Democracy: Boy Bands Against War and the Queer Politics of Pleasure,”
Queer X Girl, University of California, Los Angeles, April
Keyword Discussant: “Diaspora,” Queer Locations: Race, Space, and Sexuality Symposium,
University of California, Irvine, University of California Humanities Research Institute, May
2003
Roundtable Participant: “The Underground Press: Zines, Self-Publishing, and Alternative
Communities,” University of California, Santa Barbara, February
“Fan Fictions: Queer Asian American Cultural Production and Popular Culture,” Asian American Studies Lecture Series, Ohio State University, March
“Postmodern Spaces and Asian/American Feminist Practices,” Asian American Studies
Lecture Series, Scripps College / Claremont College, California, October
2002
"Race and Riot Grrrls," Ladyfest Bay Area, January
“Where’s the Riot, Grrrls? Race, ‘Voice,' and Feminist Futures,” Center for Race and Gender
Lecture Series, University of California, Berkeley, February
“The Future of Asian American Studies,” Transcending Boundaries: Community, Crisis, and
Resistance, Oberlin College, Ohio, March
“The Problematic Politics of ‘Third Wave’ Feminism,” Practicing Transgression: Celebrating
This Bridge Called My Back, University of California, Berkeley, April
2001
Guest Lecture: “’Fair is Fair’: The Legend of Billie Jean and Feminist Popular Culture,” Film
Studies 85A: Approaches to the Study of Popular Culture, University of California, Irvine,
October
“Where’s the Riot, Grrrls? Skinny Ties and New Wave Challenges for Feminist Futures,” Popular Culture and Third Wave Feminism MIT Symposium, MIT, Boston, Massachusetts, November
Workshop Participant, Sexualities, Medias, Technologies, University of Surrey, UK, June
“Drag Racing in Digital Space: Prosthetics, Performativity, and the Phantasmatic Analogy,”
Race in Digital Space MIT Conference, MIT, Boston, Massachusetts, April
“Drag Racing in Digital Space: Prosthetics, Performativity, and the Phantasmatic Analogy,”
At The Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism Conference, Smith College,
Northampton, Massachusetts, March
2000
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Keynote: “Where’s the Riot, Grrrls? Challenges for Feminist Futures,” Over My Head:
Feminist Interruptions into Privilege, New York University, February
1998
“Asiatic Geekgirl Agitprop from Paper to Pixels,” Public Displays of Asian-ness, New York
University, November
REFEREED CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PANELS
2015 “The Politics of Misery, and the Aesthetics of Resilience,” American Studies Association
Annual Conference, Toronto, November
Panelist: “ASA Committee on Departments, Centers and Programs: American Studies on a
Shoe-String….When You’re the Shoe-String,” American Studies Association Annual
Conference, Toronto, November
2014
“‘Pornography’ at the Limits of Feeling Human,” American Studies Association Annual
Conference, Los Angeles, November
2013
“On Transition and the Timetable,” American Studies Association Annual Conference,
Washington DC, November
Co-Presenter (with Soo Ah Kwon): “Refiguring the Project of ‘Activism’ in Gender and
Women’s Studies and Ethnic Studies,” Critical Ethnic Studies Association Conference,
Chicago, September
“On the Gift of Freedom (And Debt),” Association for Asian American Studies Annual
Conference, Seattle, Washington, April
2012
Panelist: “The Violence of Life Itself: Progress, Design, Beauty, Humanitarianism,” American
Studies Association Annual Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico, November
Chair/Discussant: “Ugly Knowledge: Disrupting Neoliberalism, Nationalism, and Normal
Time,” Cultural Studies Association Annual Conference, San Diego, California, March
Chair/Discussant: “South Asian Diaspora Media Assemblages: The Globalized Circulation of
Affect, Cultures, and Feminisms,” Cultural Studies Association Annual Conference, San
Diego, California, March
Panel Co-Convener/Discussant: “Something Missing: Transnational Discourses and Practices
of War, Embodiment, and Vision,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual
Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, March
2011
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“The Gift of Freedom: A Transnational Feminist Critique,” Critical Ethnic Studies and the
Future of Genocide: Settler Colonialism/Heteropatriarchy/White Supremacy, University of
California, Riverside, Riverside, California, March
2010
“The Gift of Freedom: A Transnational Feminist Critique,” “Beyond Citizenship: Feminism
and the Transformation of Belonging,” The Birkbeck Institute for Social Research, University
of London, London, United Kingdom, July
2009
Roundtable Participant: “Exploring the Unsustainable: Feminist, Radical, Queer
Politics,” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Washington DC, November
Convener/Discussant: “Senses of Belonging, Structures of Feeling,” Association for Asian
American Studies Annual Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, April
2008
Roundtable Participant: “Beautiful Kitsch and Random Form” (with Barry Shank, Gayle Wald,
and Janice Radway), American Studies Association Annual Conference, Albuquerque,
October
Presenter/Convener: “Fashioning ‘Women's Rights as Human Rights’ in a Time of War and
Terror” (Panel Organizer: “Globalizing Fashion/Fashioning Globalization”), Association for
Asian American Studies Annual Conference, Chicago, April
2007
Chair: "Theorizing the Transpacific: The Cross-Cultural Roots of Chicana/o and Filipina/o
Identity," Association for Asian American Studies Annual Conference, Philadelphia, October
Chair/Discussant: "Bodies, Representation, and Nation: Asian Americanness in Narrative and
Image," Association for Asian American Studies Annual Conference, New York City, April
"Asian American Gender and Sexuality in the Media" (co-presenting with Prof. Fiona Ngo),
Scene and Heard series, Asian Pacific American Coalition (campus group), University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, March
2006
Chair: "Spectacles and Performance," Bodies and Spectacles: A Conference on Asian American Performance, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, October
2005
"'Operation Homecoming:' Militarisms, Masculinities, and the Commemorative 'Origin' of
the Vietnamese in America," American Studies Association Annual Conference, Washington
DC, November
"Calendar Girls," Association of Asian American Studies Annual Conference, Los Angeles,
California, April
“Fashioning Transnationality: Gender, Dress, and Modernity in Vietnam,” Trans/Positions: A
Conference on Feminist Theory in Transit, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, April
“Bruce Lee I Love You: Discourses of Race and Masculinity in the Queer Superstardom of JJ
Chinois,” National Popular Culture/American Culture Associations Conference, San Diego,
California, March
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2004
“Patriot Acts: Human Rights, Multiculturalism and Cold War Knowledge Production,”
American Studies Association Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, November
2003
Roundtable Participant: “Changing Paradigms of Asian/American Studies: Confronting the
American Security State and its Subjects," American Studies Association Annual Conference,
Hartford, Connecticut, October
“Queer Cyborgs and New Mutants: Race, Sexuality, and Prosthetic Sociality in Digital
Space,” Association of Asian American Studies Annual Conference, San Francisco, California,
May
2000
“Bodies in Space: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Prosthetics,” American Studies
Association Annual Conference, Detroit, Michigan, October
1999
“On Operation Homecoming: An Exercise in Phantoms & Amnesia,” Association of Asian
American Studies Annual Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April
1998
“Burn Baby Burn: Mediations on Haunting & Historical Amnesia,” American Studies
Association Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington, November
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Undergraduate:
Asian American Popular Culture
Asian Americans and the Arts
Bodies and Technologies in Popular Culture
Feminist and Gender Theory
Advanced Undergraduate:
Transnational Feminisms
Politics of Fashion
Transnationalism and Diaspora
Transnational Feminisms
War and Cinema
Activism and Advocacy
Graduate:
Feminist Theories and Methods
Asian/American Cultural Studies
Transnational Feminisms
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Undergraduate:
The Politics of Fashion
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Gender and Popular Culture
Graduate:
Theories of Feminism
Transnational Feminist Cultural Studies
University of California, Berkeley
Undergraduate:
Bodies + Machines: Race, Gender, and Technology
Graduate Student Instructor:
Gender and Science
Representations of Gender
Introduction to Women’s Studies
Introduction to Feminist Theory
Asian American Film/Video
San Francisco State University
Undergraduate:
Lesbian and Queer Perspectives on Literature and Media
STUDENT ADVISING AND MENTORING
Undergraduate Thesis Advisor, Completed
Jason Lee
“Doughboy” (short film), Asian American Studies/Interdisciplinary
Studies, 2008-2011
Undergraduate Honors Thesis Reader, Completed
Yasmin Naghash
“Chador to Chic, Chic to Choice: Political Autonomy and Dissent in
Iranian and Turkish Women; Profound Similarities in Two Very
Different Regimes,” Political Science, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor 2005-2006
Dissertation Committee Member, Ongoing
Silas Casinelli
English, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2011
Elizabeth Verklan
Women’s Studies, University of Arizona, 2014
Dissertation Committee Member, Completed
Richard Davila
Information and Media Studies, "No Hay Sólo Un Idioma, No Hay
Sólo Una Voz: A Revisionist History of Chicana/Os and Latina/Os in
Punk,” University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, 2016
Ariana A. Ruiz
English, “In Transit: Travel and Mobility in Latina Art and Literature,”
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2015
Martha Webber
English, “Crafting Citizens: Material Rhetoric, Cultural
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Tutin Aryanti
Sharon Heijin Lee
Amy Shujun Chen
Intermediaries, and the Amazwi Abesifazane South African National
Quilt Project,” University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2013
Architecture, “Breaking the Wall, Preserving the Barrier: Gender,
Space, and Power in Contemporary Mosque Architecture in
Yogyakarta, Indonesia,” University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign,
2013
“The (Geo)Politics of Beauty: Race, Transnationalism and
Neoliberalism in South Korean Beauty Culture,” American Cultures,
University of Michigan, 2012
“Chinese women and mothers: Stories about immigration and
children's education,” Education Policy Studies, University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2007
Masters Committee Member, Completed
Cassidy Browning
“A Room of Wong's Own: A Look at the Work of Kristina Wong,”
Theater, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2007-2008
Participation on Qualifying Exams Committees, Completed
Elizabeth Verklan
Women’s Studies, University of Arizona, 2013
Silas Cassinelli
English, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2012
Ariana Ruiz
English, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2011
Tutin Aryanti
Architecture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2010
Martha Webber
English, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2008
Sharon Heijin Lee
American Cultures, University of Michigan, 2007
Participation on Qualifying Exams Committees, Ongoing
Natalye Tate
Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Contributions to Curricula
Course Developed, Individual:
Bodies and Technologies in Popular Culture
Transnational Feminisms
The Politics of Fashion
Transnationalism and Diaspora
Asian/American Cultural Studies
Activism and Advocacy
Course Developed, Department:
Sexualities (Core course for Gender and Women’s Studies Department Major)
Race, Sex, Power (Core course for Gender and Women’s Studies Department Major)
Advanced Feminist Theory
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
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Editorial Positions
2015-Present positions: asia critique Editorial Collective
2015-Present Critical Ethnic Studies Journal Editorial Collective
Offices Held in Professional Societies
2014-2015
Programming Committee, Association of Asian American Studies
2014-2015
Cultural Studies Book Award Sub-Committee, Association of Asian American
Studies
2013-2015
Governing Board, Cultural Studies Association
2009-2011
Conference Programming Committee, National Women’s Studies
Association
Speaker Series and Conference Organizer
2014-2015
Hip Hop and Punk Feminisms Speaker Series Co-Organizer, Gender and
Women’s Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Dec 2013
Conference Co-Organizer, “Hip Hop and Punk Feminisms: Theory,
Genealogy, Performance,” Gender and Women’s Studies, University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Sept 2013
Conference Co-Organizer, “Assemblages and Affinities: Reimagining
Interdisciplinarity,” University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2012-2013
Co-Organizer of Speaker Series, “Assemblages and Affinities:
Interdisciplinary Collaborations for Graduate Education in Comparative
Studies of Indigeneity, Race, Gender, and Sexuality,” University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign
2011-2012
Co-Organizer, “The Nongovernmental Impulse: Negotiating Theory and
Practice in the Global Governance of Care” A Focal Point Project of the
Graduate College, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 19-20 April
2012
2011-2012
“Women and Children First?: Critical Inquiries in Nongovernmental
Organizations and the Global Governance of Care,” Focal Point Speaker
Series, Graduate College, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Fall 2009
Gender and Women’s Studies Transnational Feminisms Speaker Series,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2007-2008
Steering Committee, “Southeast Asians in the Diaspora” Conference,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 15-16 April 2008
1998-1999
Executive Planning Committee, “Performing Unnatural Acts: Critically
Queering Racial Cultural Studies,” Queer Ethnic Studies Townsend Working
Group Conference, University of California, Berkeley, 5-6 November 1999
Research Groups
2012-2015
Co-Chair of Steering Committee, “Assemblages and Affinities:
Interdisciplinary Collaborations for Graduate Education in Comparative
Studies of Race, Gender, and Sexuality,” Research Board, University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2011-2012
Faculty Co-coordinator, “Women and Children First?: Critical Inquiries in
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2006-2010
2006-2009
1998-2004
Nongovernmental Organizations and the Global Governance of Care,”
Focal Point Project of the Graduate College, University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign
Asian American Cultural Studies Reading Group, Illinois Program for
Research in the Humanities, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Critical Technologies of Race Reading Group, Illinois Program for Research
in the Humanities
Queer Ethnic Studies Working Group Coordinator, Doreen B. Townsend
Center for the Humanities, University of California, Berkeley
Manuscript Review
Book Manuscript Review:
Duke University Press
Temple University Press
University of Minnesota Press
University of Illinois Press
Journal Manuscript Review:
MELUS: The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
Meridians: Race, Feminism, Transnationalism
Journal of Middle Eastern Women’s Studies
Journal of Vietnamese Studies
Women and Performance
Feminist Formations
Journal of Sport and Social Issues
Political Theory
Anthropology of the Middle East
Journal of American Ethnic History
GLQ
UNIVERSITY SERVICE
University of Illinois Campus Committees
2013-2014
Member, Interdisciplinary Working Group for Integrative Scholarship in the
Arts, Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for
Research, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Department of Gender and Women’s Studies Committees
2014-2016
Associate Chair (Chair, Curriculum Committee)
2012-Fall 2013 Associate Chair (Chair, Curriculum Committee)
2012-2014
Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral
Fellow Mentor (Ahalya Satkunaratnam)
2011-Fall 2013 Chair, Curriculum Committee
2010-2011
Chair, Programming Committee
2009-2010
Chair, Programming Committee
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2008-2009
2007-2008
2006-2007
Programming Committee
Advisory Committee
Curriculum Committee
Search Committee (GWS Director)
Curriculum Committee
Search Committee (GWS and American Indian Studies Joint Hire)
Department of Asian American Studies Committees
2015-2016
Search Committee, Chair
2014-2015
Advisory Committee
2014-2015
Chair, Postdoctoral and Awards Committee
2012-2014
Postdoctoral Fellow Mentor
2012-2013
Chair, Postdoctoral Committee
2011-2013
Advisory Committee
2010-2011
Awards Committee
2009-2010
Awards Committee
2008-2009
Awards Committee
Spring 2008
Advisory Committee
2007-2008
Awards Committee
2006-2007
Awards Committee
INVITED PRESENTATIONS & OTHER SERVICE, ON-CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY
2015 Chicago Zine Fest Friday Reading, Chicago, May
2014 Curator, CFA Crasher Series, Chicago Film Archives, Chicago, December
RADAR Reading Series, San Francisco Public Library, November
Travel Grant Committee, Zine Librarians unConference, Duke University, July
Organizer: “Rough Cut: A POC Zine Reading and Workshop,” Hull House (University of
Illinois, Chicago), Chicago, April
2013 Speaker: “POC Zine Project/Race Riot! Tour,” Multiple Locations, October:
Scrappy’s, Tucson, Arizona
The Southern California Library, Los Angeles, California
SOMArts, San Francisco, California
Speaker: “Guillotine 4 Release Party: PUNK,” WORD Bookstore, Brooklyn, New York, June
Special Guest, Sister Spit: The Next Generation (Reading Tour), Chicago, April
Roundtable Participant: “Lessons from the First Race Riot! Tour,” Chicago Zine Fest,
Chicago, Illinois, March
2012 Speaker: Wish to Live: A Hip Hop Feminism Pedagogy Reader Book Event, Urbana, Illinois,
December
Panelist: “Going Grad: A GWS Panel Discussion on Graduate School Admissions,” Gender
and Women’s Studies Department, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, November
Speaker: “POC Zine Project/Race Riot! Tour,” Multiple Locations, September-October:
538 Johnson, Brooklyn, New York
The Wooden Shoe Bookstore, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mr. Roboto Project, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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The Trumbullplex, Detroit, Michigan
Third Death Star, Ann Arbor, Michigan
multikulti, Chicago, Illinois
Women’s Resource Center, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois
Champaign-Urbana Independent Media Center, Urbana, Illinois
Rachael’s Cafe, Bloomington, Indiana
Skylab, Columbus, Ohio
St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, Washington D.C.
Brickhaus Art Space, Baltimore, Maryland
Death by Audio, Brooklyn, New York
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
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Workshop with the Khmer Girls Club, A Youth Program of the Cambodian Association of
Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, May
Faculty Research Slam, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign, February
Author’s Roundtable Respondent: Kathryn Lofton, The Gospel of An Icon, Unit for Criticism
and Interpretive Theory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, December
Judge: Second Annual Five Minute Feminist Film Festival, Women’s Resource Center and Art
Theater, Champaign, May
Speaker: “Punk Rock’s Race Riot,” Midwest Zine Fest, Independent Media Center, Urbana,
Illinois, May
Presenter: “Where’s the Riot, Grrrls? Women of Color and the Riot Grrrl Movement,” Dish It
Up Lunchtime Speaker Series, Women’s Resource Center, April
Panel Chair and Discussant: “Restaging the Middle,” “Queering the Middle: Sexual
Diasporas, Race, and A Queer Midwest Conference,” University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign, October
Co-Presenter (with Fiona I.B. Ngô): “Queer Punk,” Quench Lunchtime Speaker Series, LGBT
Resource Center, March
Guest Lecture: “Bruce Lee,” AAS 120 Asian American Popular Culture, University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign, April
Guest Lecture: “Southeast Asian Refugees,” AAS 100 Asian American Studies, University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, March
Feminist Scholarship Brown Bag Lecture: “Freedom’s Gift, Beauty’s Promise,” Gender and
Women’s Studies Program, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, February
Co-organizer, Co-host (with Fiona I.B. Ngô): “GWS and AAS Student Film Nite,” University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, December
Discussant: “GWS Students on the Job Market,” Gender and Women’s Studies Program,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, April
Invited Discussant: “Commentary on Mutiny: Asians Storm British Music," film screening and
discussion with director Vivek Bald, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, October
Co-Presenter: “Asian American Gender and Sexuality in the Media,” Scene and Heard series, AsianPacific American Coalition, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, February
Guest Lecture: “Asian American Queer Film and Video,” AAS 120 Asian American Popular
Culture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, November
Respondent: Sharon Lee, "Lessons from Around the World with Oprah: Korean/American
Women, Plastic Surgery, and Discursive Violence," American Culture Workshop Series,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, March
OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS
MISCELLANEOUS
Sept/Oct 2015 “Writer's Manifesto: What's a Zine? An Interview with Mimi Thi Nguyen,” in Cicada
Magazine, Herndon, Virginia
20 Oct 2014
“Mimi Nguyen On Epic Dream Dates with Keanu Reeves, Tenure & Obscurantist
Labor,” for Radar Productions, San Francisco, California
1 June 2014
Podcast interview with Nia King, We Want the Airwaves
Spring 2014
Chanelle Adams, Ann Kremen, and Sophia Seawell, "(Un)Productivity in a Digital
Age: A Conversation with Mimi Thi Nguyen," in Bluestockings Magazine,
Providence, Rhode Island
February 2014 Poster collaboration with Sarah Faith, “Your Daughter Is One,” limited edition
screenprint for the Sylvia Rivera Law Project 2014 Small Works for Big Change art
auction
4 Oct 2013
Podcast interview with The Archipelago, “the epidermalization of the public body”
16 Sept 2013 “Punk, Feminist, Activist and Professor,” The Youngist
2 August 2013 Tanisha Ford, “Feminist We Love: Mimi Thi Nguyen,” Feminist Wire
Summer 2013 Tina Vasquez, “Revisiting the Riot: An Interview with Punk Veteran Mimi Thi
Nguyen,” Bitch Magazine
February 2013 Podcast interview with The Critical Lede
Sept 2012
Cassandra Osei, “Mimi Thi Nguyen,” Untitled Mag
2010
“Toilet Training: Interview with Dean Spade and Craig Willse,” in the Toilet Training
Toolkit: The Companion Guide for Activists and Educators, Sylvia Rivera Law Project
(New York)
OTHER WRITING
2007-2012
Threadbared
Author and collaborator (with Minh-ha T. Pham) for research blog on dress and
beauty
1998-2005
Punk Planet, Columnist
1998-2004
Worse Than Queer, Blogger
1998-2004
Maximumrocknroll, Contributor
1998-2004
Freelance Writer
1997-2002
exoticize this!, Designer and Editor
Web designer and editor for first on-line clearinghouse for Asian and Asian American
feminist resources
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