Karen Kuo
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Phone: 480-965-9121
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Wilson 358 TEMPE, AZ 85287-4401
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Mail code: 4308Campus: Tempe
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Karen Kuo is an associate professor in the School of Social Transformation. Her fields of interest include literary and cinematic studies and social and cultural theories of race, gender, and sexuality. Her first book, East is West and West is East: Gender, Culture, and Interwar Encounters between Asia and America (Temple UP, 2012) examines the geopolitical imaginaries of US orientalism in film and literature during the interwar period. Her two current projects include an edited anthology on Taiwanese Americans, Remembering the Beautiful Island: Critically Considering Transnational Taiwanese/America, and a monograph on Asian American women and reproduction. Her teaching includes a wide variety of courses in the humanities and social sciences that include Asian American culture, history, and experiences, women and gender studies, transnational feminism, modern twentieth-century literature, and US ethnic studies and literatures.
B.A. Psychology, University of California-Santa Barbara
M.A. English Literature, University of California-Riverside
Ph.D. English Literature, University of Washington
Asian American film and literature, film theory and film studies, twentieth-century American literature, and Cultural studies.
- East is West and West is East: Gender, Culture, and Interwar Encounters between Asia and America. Temple University Press, November 2012.
- Aggie J. Yellow Horse, Karen Kuo, Eleanor Seaton, and Edward D. Vargas. “Asian Americans’ indifference to Black Lives Matter: The Role of Nativity, Belonging, and Acknowledgement of Anti-Black Racism.” Social Sciences. 10, 168 (May 12, 2021) pp. 1-19. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/5/168
- “Japanese Women are Like Volcanoes”: Trans-Pacific Feminist Musings in Etsu I. Sugimoto’s A Daughter of a Samurai.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, vol. 36, no. 1, 2015, pp. 57-86.
- “Asian American Model Masculinities: Younghill Kang’s East Goes West: The Making of an Oriental Yankee.” EurAmerica: A Journal of European and American Studies, vol. 43, no. 4, December 2013, pp. 753-783.
- “The Shanghai Gesture: Melodrama and Modern Women in the East/West Romance.” Quarterly Review of Film and Video, vol. 29, no. 2, February 2012, pp. 95-113.
Courses
2025 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| AMS 502 | Amer Studies: Theory & Method |
| AMS 502 | Amer Studies: Theory & Method |
2025 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| WST 790 | Reading and Conference |
| AFR 375 | Race, Gender and Sport |
2024 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| WST 792 | Research |
| WST 331 | Asian Pacific American Genders |
| WST 331 | Asian Pacific American Genders |
| AMS 502 | Amer Studies: Theory & Method |
| APA 330 | Asian Pacific American Genders |
| APA 330 | Asian Pacific American Genders |
| AMS 502 | Amer Studies: Theory & Method |
2024 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SST 590 | Reading and Conference |
| SST 493 | Honors Thesis |
| WST 792 | Research |
2023 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| WST 792 | Research |
| APA 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| AFR 212 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| JUS 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| SST 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| WST 601 | Critical Concepts of Gender |
2023 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| WST 799 | Dissertation |
2023 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| WST 799 | Dissertation |
| SST 590 | Reading and Conference |
| APA 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| AFR 212 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| JUS 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| APA 350 | Inequality/Diversity Education |
| APA 350 | Inequality/Diversity Education |
| APA 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| AFR 212 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| JUS 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| AFR 350 | Inequality/Diversity Education |
| AFR 350 | Inequality/Diversity Education |
| JUS 365 | Inequality/Diversity Education |
| JUS 365 | Inequality/Diversity Education |
| TCL 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| TCL 360 | Inequality/Diversity Education |
| TCL 360 | Inequality/Diversity Education |
| TCL 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| CDE 350 | Inequality/Diversity Education |
| APA 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| AFR 212 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| JUS 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
2022 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| WST 799 | Dissertation |
| APA 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| AFR 212 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| JUS 210 | Intro to Ethnic Studies in US |
| APA 345 | Asian Pacific Americans & Film |
| SST 590 | Reading and Conference |
2022 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| WST 792 | Research |
| HUL 598 | Special Topics |
| HUL 494 | Special Topics |
| PSY 494 | Special Topics |
| PSY 598 | Special Topics |
| TSS 598 | Special Topics |
| TCL 494 | Special Topics |
| AIS 494 | Special Topics |
| AIS 598 | Special Topics |
| APA 494 | Special Topics |
| AFR 494 | Special Topics |
2021 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| APA 493 | Honors Thesis |
| APA 330 | Asian Pacific American Genders |
| APA 330 | Asian Pacific American Genders |
| APA 345 | Asian Pacific Americans & Film |
| WST 331 | Asian Pacific American Genders |
| WST 331 | Asian Pacific American Genders |
2020 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| WST 790 | Reading and Conference |
| APA 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| APA 200 | Intro/Asian Pacif Amer Studies |
| WST 331 | Asian Pacific American Genders |
| APA 330 | Asian Pacific American Genders |
| WST 331 | Asian Pacific American Genders |
| APA 330 | Asian Pacific American Genders |