David L. Eng

David L. Eng is the Richard L. Fisher Professor of English and Faculty Director of the Program in Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds affiliations with the School of Arts & Sciences, Comparative Literature & Literary Theory, and Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies. After earning his B.A. from Columbia University and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, he joined Penn in 2007 following teaching roles at Columbia and Rutgers.

• Education: B.A. in English (Columbia University), Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (UC Berkeley)

Eng’s research bridges psychoanalysis, critical race theory, and queer studies to analyze Asian American experiences, diaspora, and trauma. His recent work, Reparations and the Human (2025), examines Cold War reparations, while Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation (2019) explores immigration’s psychological toll. His scholarship often intersects with visual culture, gender studies, and postcolonial frameworks.

His publications span psychoanalytic critiques of racialized masculinity (Racial Castration, 2001) to edited volumes like Left of Queer (2020), which connects queer theory and Marxism. Articles trends highlight his focus on racial affect, diasporic memory, and the institutionalization of queer studies.

Scientific Awards:

• Kessler Prize (2021)
• Boyer Book Prize (2021)
• AAAS Book Award Honorable Mention (2021)
• Lambda Literary Award (1998)

Eng chairs doctoral dissertations on Afro-Asian connections, queer nationhood, and trauma studies. He co-founded Penn’s Faculty Working Group on Race and Empire Studies, serves on editorial boards for journals like GLQ and Social Text, and contributes to institutions such as the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.