Linda M. Pheng

Linda M. Pheng is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, affiliated with the School of Arts & Sciences and the Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE). Her research focuses on Asian/Southeast Asian immigrant and refugee youth, exploring intersections of race, class, displacement, and educational equity. She investigates how these communities navigate and resist exclusion in formal/informal educational spaces through community-based approaches. Dr. Pheng’s work emphasizes pedagogical practices that empower marginalized youth and address historical displacement.

Her current research project examines how Southeast Asian American students transform exclusionary spaces into sites of cultural and identity formation. This ethnographic study analyzes racialized discourses, youth resistance to educational erasure, and pedagogical responses to historical displacement. Prior to Penn, she worked in nonprofit education in both the U.S. and Cambodia.

• Awards: 2023 AESA Taylor & Francis Educational Studies Award for Best Paper of the Year

Her interdisciplinary approach bridges anthropology, education studies, and critical race theory. While no specific grants or advising details are documented, her work highlights collaboration with community-based educational spaces.