GWSS PhD candidate Jey Saung has successfully defended their dissertation, Alien Intimacies: Science Fiction, Queer Kinships, and the Asian Resident Alien.
Drawing on the work of Black feminist science fiction writer Octavia Butler, Saung’s dissertation explores the figure of the Asian American resident alien through the lens of queer kinship, alternative intimacies, and national belonging. In Alien Intimacies, Saung challenges approaches that frame queer kinship solely through resistance or complicity, instead proposing a reading practice that attends to “alien intimacies”—the constituting of the “other” within the body of the “self.” Their work interrogates how identity, community, and belonging are shaped through the unstable borders of self and nation.
Their dissertation committee included Professors Chandan Reddy (chair), Amanda Swarr, Sasha Su-Ling Welland, and Leilani Nishime.
Congratulations, Dr. Saung!