Vivian Huang

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Vivian L. Huang (she, they) is Associate Professor of race, gender, and performance studies in the Department of Communication Studies at San Francisco State University. Vivian's book, Surface Relations: Queer Forms of Asian American Inscrutability (Duke University Press, 2022), theorizes racial aesthetics and affects of obfuscation in contemporary performance, visual art, and literature. Surface Relations was awarded the Duke University Press Scholars of Color First Book Prize and was a finalist for the LGBTQ+ Studies Lambda Literary Award and the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present/ASAP Book Prize. Vivian’s writing also can be found in Women & Performance, Journal of Asian American Studies, Diacritics, GLQ, Theatre Journal, Frieze Magazine, Journal of Popular Culture, Brooklyn Rail, Sinister Wisdom, and elsewhere. Their latest writing, "Becoming Meat," on dogmeat, US militarism, and queer intimacy can be found in Eating More Asian America: A Food Studies Reader (NYU Press, 2025).

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 studies. 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.