A scholar of women and gender studies, community engagement and Asian Pacific American studies, Karen Leong’s scholarship explores the intersectionality of gender, race, class and sexuality, and how these discourses have advantaged some and disadvantaged others in the U.S., women of color feminisms. Her work focuses on the cultural and social history of the United States with emphases on women’s experiences, racial identity formation, and citizenship. Leong has researched the experiences of Japanese Americans in Arizona, particularly their incarceration on American Indian reservations during World War II, the interaction of US popular culture and international relations with China during World War II, and the experiences of Asian American women. She is also doing research about the US relocation policies for Japanese Americans and American Indians during the 1940s and 50s, as well as Asian American and Pacific Islander women’s sexual and reproductive health.

She is author of the book The China Mystique: Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong, and Mayling Soong Chiang in the American Imagination (University of California Press, 2005).

Leong is an associate professor of women and gender studies and Asian Pacific American studies in the School of Social Transformation.