Chad Heap

Chad Heap is Associate Professor of American Studies at The George Washington University, where he teaches courses on U.S. sexuality, gender, and urban culture. He is affiliated with the Department of American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and contributes to interdisciplinary programs in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WSGG).

Education:

• PhD, University of Chicago, 2000

His research centers on the historical relationship between sexuality and the city, particularly in late 19th and early 20th century America. He explores how urban environments shaped sexual identities and communities, with a focus on racial and sexual boundary-crossing in nightlife cultures. His work bridges cultural history, urban studies, and queer theory.

His publications reveal a sustained interest in the development of sexual knowledge in urban contexts, especially in Chicago. The themes across his work include the institutionalization of sexual binaries, the role of urban space in queer community formation, and the visual representation of interracial and queer social networks.

Scientific Awards:

• Finalist, Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction (2010)
• Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Newberry Library
• Sexuality Research Dissertation Fellowship, Social Science Research Council
• James C. Hormel Dissertation Fellowship, University of Chicago

Heap has chaired several graduate dissertations on topics including country music’s urbanization, African American consumer culture in Washington, DC, and suburban anxieties in the late 20th century. He has been a visiting scholar at New York University’s Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. His current research includes two book projects: one on a queer portrait gallery in 1920s Manhattan, and another on the history of sexological research in Chicago.

He is actively engaged in public scholarship, having been featured on BBC Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed to discuss his book Slumming.