Vivian Huang

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Vivian L. Huang is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at San Francisco State University, specializing in race and performance studies.. Her first book, Surface Relations: Queer Forms of Asian American Inscrutability, theorizes minoritarian aesthetics of inscrutability in contemporary Asian American literary, visual, and performance cultures. Surface Relations comes out December 2022 with Duke University Press, where it has been awarded the Scholars of Color First Book Award. Vivian's peer-reviewed articles can be found in The Journal of Popular Culture, Journal of Asian American Studies, Women & Performance, and Diacritics. Their latest work connects Asian American lesbian feminist writings of the 1980s and 90s to contemporary queer and trans of color critique. 

Vivian holds B.A. degrees in English and Theater & Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Performance Studies at New York University. Prior to arriving at SF State, Vivian was Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Williams College, where she taught feminist and queer studies, performance studies, and Asian American culture. Their work has been recognized by the Mellon Emerging Faculty Leaders Award, the Hellman Foundation, the Association of Asian American Studies, and the Crompton-Noll Essay Prize from the Modern Language Association and the American Studies Association.