Teaching Areas

Undergraduate Program 

Sex in the Media 

This class explores questions of sex, gender, sexuality, and power in contemporary media and popular cultures. It examines issues and themes such as gender identity and representation of sex, women in media production and consumption, and reception and fandom of pop culture, from critical approaches in cultural studies, feminist theory, film theory, queer studies, and communication theory. Materials discussed include film, music, television, advertising, comics, animation, video games, and social media. Students completing this module will be able to analyze the representation of gendered and sexual identities and desires in the media.

Race, Media, and Representation 

This class introduces students to how the concept of race has been constructed, experienced, and represented in global contexts. We will focus on the mediation of race through politics and cultures and the representation of race across various media forms, including news, popular media, cultural production, practice, and performance, and data and technology.  The broad purpose of this class is to critically understand how notions of race have been shaped through learning a broad range of critical theories on race and media representation, including (but not limited to) critical race theory, postcolonialism, migration and diaspora, color blindness and post-racism, and racial bodies and performance in media. Upon completing this class, students will be able to critically analyze representations of race within both contemporary and historical global media productions.

Current Research

Her current research project, the working title "Performing Transnational Erotic Acitivism for Asian Migrant Massage/Sex Workers" revolves around community-engaged performance ethnography of transnational Asian migrant sex work and activism, examining the way in which sex workers define their sexual and erotic pleasures, fight against anti-sex work and human trafficking policies, and promote communal care and human dignity in transnational sex work communities. She also builds her upcoming research project on tracing the historical lineage of U.S. human trafficking policies in the U.S treat allies- South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines-within the context of racial and sexual relations of U.S. imperialism, as well as collecting oral histories of migrant and military sex workers in these countries as counter-hegemonic narratives to build transnational feminist movements in sex work.

Research Interests

Migration, Race, Gender, Sexuality, Sex work, U.S. imperialism, Postcolonialism, Transnational feminism, Digital activism, Performance ethnography, and Oral history performance.