Skip to main content

Susan Thananopavarn

Lecturing Fellow of Thompson Writing Program
Thompson Writing Program
Box 90025, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Susan Thananopavarn is a Lecturing Fellow in the Thompson Writing Program and a core faculty member of Duke's program in Asian American and Diaspora Studies (AADS).  Her research interests include contemporary American literature, ethnic studies, and Asian American studies.  Her book, LatinAsian Cartographies: History, Writing, and the National Imaginary (Rutgers UP, 2018), examines how Asian American and Latina/o literary texts can disrupt dominant understandings of U.S. history by "writing back in" histories of imperialism, nativistic racism, border crossings, and LatinAsian contact zones.  

At Duke, Susan teaches Writing 101 courses in Asian American studies; “ethnofuturism,” or alternative speculative fiction by writers of color; and exploring human connection in the digital age.  She also teaches a course in Asian American literature for Duke's program in Asian American and Diaspora Studies.  Susan received her A.B. in Anthropology from Princeton, an M.A. in Anthropology from UC-Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Lecturing Fellow of Thompson Writing Program · 2017 - Present Thompson Writing Program, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

In the News


Published August 8, 2024
Duke Student Thang Lian Named Beinecke Scholar
Published October 31, 2022
Thompson Writing Teaching Award Winner Teaches Writing via Asian American Narratives
Published March 29, 2021
The History of Violence Against Asian Americans

View All News

Recent Publications


Digging Up the Past: Randall Kenan’s Let the Dead Bury Their Dead and the Suppressed Histories of the U.S. South

Chapter · March 4, 2020 This dynamic collection of scholarship proves that swampy approaches to southern spaces possess increased relevance in an era of climate change and political crisis. ... Cite

Negotiating Asian American Childhood in the Twenty-First Century: Grace Lin's Year of the Dog, Year of the Rat, and Dumpling Days

Journal Article The Lion and the Unicorn: A Critical Journal of Children's Literature · January 2014 Full text Cite
View All Publications

Education, Training & Certifications


University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · 2015 Ph.D.
University of California, Berkeley · 1998 M.A.
Princeton University · 1996 B.A.