Chris A. Eng

Chris A. Eng is an Assistant Professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis, affiliated with the Performing Arts Department. He holds a PhD and MA from The Graduate Center, CUNY, and a BA from William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY/Hunter College. His research focuses on US ethnic literatures, queer of color critique, and Asian American studies, particularly examining how camp aesthetics and queer theory intersect with historical narratives of racialization. His first monograph, Extravagant Camp: The Queer Abjection of Asian America (NYU Press, 2025), reinterprets Asian American history through camp performance, while his second project critiques 'white gay fantasies' in LGBTQ cultural production. Eng is an affiliated faculty member in the Asian American Studies minor and teaches courses on queer youth, Asian American writings, and critical ethnic studies.

Eng’s work has been recognized with awards including the 2023 CLAGS Fellowship and the 2023 Early Career Achievement Award from the Association for Asian American Studies. He has held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and previously taught at Syracuse University. Professional roles include serving on the ASA’s Minority Scholars’ Committee and chairing the Queer Studies section of the Association for Asian American Studies.

His research appears in journals like American Quarterly, GLQ, and Journal of Asian American Studies, with co-edited forums in Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association. Eng actively mentors students, earning a 2020 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award from WashU’s Graduate Student Senate.