Congratulations to our own Dr. Jian Neo Chen, Associate Professor of English and Women’s Gender & Sexuality Studies, for winning the 2021 Association for Asian American Studies book award in the Social Sciences!

In Trans Exploits Jian Neo Chen explores the cultural practices created by trans and gender-nonconforming artists and activists of color. They argue for a radical rethinking of the policies and technologies of racial gendering and assimilative social programming that have divided LGBT communities and communities of color along the lines of gender, sexuality, class, immigration status, and ability. Focusing on performance, film/video, literature, digital media, and other forms of cultural expression and activism that track the displaced emergences of trans people of color, Chen highlights the complex and varied responses by trans communities to their social dispossession. Through these responses, trans of color cultural workers such as performance artist Yozmit, writer Janet Mock, and organizer Jennicet Gutiérrez challenge dominating perceptions and institutions that kill, confine, police, and discipline trans people.

“Jian Neo Chen's book Trans Exploits is essential because it centers and uplifts trans people of color. This work is critical because it highlights the contributions and impact of trans people of color and their influence in shaping our culture, politics, and movement.”

— Jennicet Gutiérrez, Trans Latinx Activist

"In Trans Exploits, Jian Neo Chen focuses on the foundational and ongoing racial displacement of trans people of color from systems of white supremacy, cis-hetero-patriarchy, and white trans communities. Through conversations with a diverse range of artists and activists, Chen explores a rich series of cases in which trans people of color use digital media to create new expressive spaces and comment upon their displacement. This book will be important for a wide range of fields, including cinema and media studies and trans of color critique.”

— C. Riley Snorton, author of Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity