Judy Tzu-Chun Wu
Associate Dean, School of Humanities
Director, Humanities Center
Director, Center for Liberation, Anti-Racism, and Belonging (C-LAB)
Professor, Departments of History and Asian American Studies
Ph.D., Stanford University, 1998, History
Email: j.wu@UCI.edu
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
Asian American History; Comparative Racialization and Immigration; Empire and Decolonization; Gender and Sexuality
Websites
Appointments
University of Chicago, Visiting Associate Professor, Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, 2005-2006
Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project, Research Assistant, 1991-1992
Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project, Research Assistant, 1991-1992
Research Abstract
My research and teaching focus on analyzing intersecting social hierarchies, such as those based on race, gender, sexuality, and citizenship. I am particularly interested in understanding how individuals form identities and navigate/protest social inequalities.
My first book, Dr. Mom Chung of the Fair-Haired Bastards: A Life of a Wartime Celebrity (University of California Press, 2005) was a biography of Margaret Jessie Chung, the first American-born Chinese woman doctor. Born in the late 19th century, she became a celebrity during World War II, adopting over 1000 U.S. military personnel, entertainers, and politicians. My biography of Chung explores how she performed multiple and at times contradictory gender, racial, and sexual identities. To find out more, please see: “Dr. Mom Chung of the Fair-Haired Bastards,” A Digital Narrative, May 2009 (https://tinyurl.com/DrMomChung)
My second book, Radicals on the Road: Internationalism, Orientalism, and Feminism during the Vietnam Era (Cornell 2013) examined the international travels of American anti-war activists and how these journeys shaped their political identity and goals. I focus on understudied individuals and historical events, particularly the anti-war activism and global travels of people of color and women.
My third book, Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress (New York University Press, 2022) is a political biography of Patsy Takemoto Mink, the namesake of Title IX. I worked in collaboration with Mink's daughter, Political Scientist Gwendolyn Mink. Ms. Magazine recommended Fierce and Fearless for their May 2022 reads: https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/sharingcomfortandcare/home. To learn more about Mink, please explore this storymap of her life: https://bit.ly/PTMStoryMap
I currently am researching the Asian American and Pacific Islander women who participated in the 1977 National Women's Conference, the first and only time that the federal government supported a convening across 50 states and six territories to develop a national agenda on women's rights. I am also working with a team at the University of Houston and faculty, students, and alum in California to document the broader conference, including the 101 California women who were elected as delegates and alternates to the NWC.
I enjoy creating digital narratives and assigning them as class projects. These multi-media "essays" explore complex topics through storytelling. Please check out the following:
1. Why I became a professor of Asian American Studies:
“The Takeover: May 15, 1989,” A Digital Narrative, May-April 2009
https://tinyurl.com/StanfordTakeover1989
2. My personal story and political take on immigration:
“A Trip Down Immigration Lane,” A Digital Narrative, October 2010
https://tinyurl.com/MyImmigrationLane
My first book, Dr. Mom Chung of the Fair-Haired Bastards: A Life of a Wartime Celebrity (University of California Press, 2005) was a biography of Margaret Jessie Chung, the first American-born Chinese woman doctor. Born in the late 19th century, she became a celebrity during World War II, adopting over 1000 U.S. military personnel, entertainers, and politicians. My biography of Chung explores how she performed multiple and at times contradictory gender, racial, and sexual identities. To find out more, please see: “Dr. Mom Chung of the Fair-Haired Bastards,” A Digital Narrative, May 2009 (https://tinyurl.com/DrMomChung)
My second book, Radicals on the Road: Internationalism, Orientalism, and Feminism during the Vietnam Era (Cornell 2013) examined the international travels of American anti-war activists and how these journeys shaped their political identity and goals. I focus on understudied individuals and historical events, particularly the anti-war activism and global travels of people of color and women.
My third book, Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress (New York University Press, 2022) is a political biography of Patsy Takemoto Mink, the namesake of Title IX. I worked in collaboration with Mink's daughter, Political Scientist Gwendolyn Mink. Ms. Magazine recommended Fierce and Fearless for their May 2022 reads: https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/sharingcomfortandcare/home. To learn more about Mink, please explore this storymap of her life: https://bit.ly/PTMStoryMap
I currently am researching the Asian American and Pacific Islander women who participated in the 1977 National Women's Conference, the first and only time that the federal government supported a convening across 50 states and six territories to develop a national agenda on women's rights. I am also working with a team at the University of Houston and faculty, students, and alum in California to document the broader conference, including the 101 California women who were elected as delegates and alternates to the NWC.
I enjoy creating digital narratives and assigning them as class projects. These multi-media "essays" explore complex topics through storytelling. Please check out the following:
1. Why I became a professor of Asian American Studies:
“The Takeover: May 15, 1989,” A Digital Narrative, May-April 2009
https://tinyurl.com/StanfordTakeover1989
2. My personal story and political take on immigration:
“A Trip Down Immigration Lane,” A Digital Narrative, October 2010
https://tinyurl.com/MyImmigrationLane
Awards and Honors
2022 “Democratizing Politics: Mapping the Stories and Significance of the 1977 National Women’s Conference,” Subrecipient, National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research Grant
2021 Dynamic Womxn of UCI, Tamara Austin Legacy Award, University of California, Irvine
2021 Cross-Cultural Center Faculty Ally of the Year, Anteater Awards, Cross-Cultural Center, University of California, Irvine
2021 Rising Together, Thriving Together Conference, Outstanding Faculty Mentorship Award, DREAM Center, University of California, Irvine
2021 Leading and Learning Initiative Stories of Change Case Study, Co-Principal Investigator, Imagining America: Artists + Scholars in Public Life, Davis, California
2020-2021 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentorship, Recipient for the School of Humanities, Division of Undergraduate Education, University of California, Irvine
2019 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research, School of Humanities and University of California, Irvine, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
2018 The CCC Faculty/Staff Ally Award, University of California, Irvine, The Cross-Cultural Center
2021 Dynamic Womxn of UCI, Tamara Austin Legacy Award, University of California, Irvine
2021 Cross-Cultural Center Faculty Ally of the Year, Anteater Awards, Cross-Cultural Center, University of California, Irvine
2021 Rising Together, Thriving Together Conference, Outstanding Faculty Mentorship Award, DREAM Center, University of California, Irvine
2021 Leading and Learning Initiative Stories of Change Case Study, Co-Principal Investigator, Imagining America: Artists + Scholars in Public Life, Davis, California
2020-2021 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentorship, Recipient for the School of Humanities, Division of Undergraduate Education, University of California, Irvine
2019 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Fostering Undergraduate Research, School of Humanities and University of California, Irvine, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program
2018 The CCC Faculty/Staff Ally Award, University of California, Irvine, The Cross-Cultural Center
Publications
Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress (New York University Press, May 2022) https://nyupress.org/9781479831920/fierce-and-fearless/
“Bold Asian American Activism and Its Roots,” Democracy in Color Podcast with Steve Phillips and Sharline Chiang, 1 April 2021, https://democracyincolor.com/podepisodes/2021/3/31/bold-asian-american-activism-and-its-roots
“Who was Patsy Mink? A Conversation with historian Judy Wu,” She’s History podcast hosted by Laura Boersma, 7 October 2020, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep16-who-was-patsy-mink-conversation-historian-judy/id1509084412?i=1000493974424
Co-Editor, Gendering the Trans-Pacific World (Brill, 2017)
Co-Editor, Women's America: Refocusing the Past, 8th Edition (Oxford University Press 2015)
Radicals on the Road: Internationalism, Orientalism, and Feminism during the Vietnam Era (Cornell University Press, 2013)
Dr. Mom Chung of the Fair-Haired Bastards: The Life of a Wartime Celebrity (University of California Press, 2005)
Grants
UCI Inclusive Excellence Spirit Award, “A Double Minority: Undocumented and AAPI," 2017-2018
Spirit Award, Office of Inclusive Excellence, Co-Recipient for “Learning from Our AAPI Elders: Towards an Inclusive History of Santa Ana," 2019-2020
“Empire and Women’s Suffrage in the Americas,” Multicampus Faculty Working Group, University of California Humanities Research Institute, 2019-2020
Humanities for All Grant, California Humanities Council, Co-Recipient for “Sharing Comfort and Care: Intergenerational Story Mapping in the Cambodian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities of Orange County," 2019-2021
“Through Our Eyes, Hear Our Stories: Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities in a Time of Pandemic,” Are We In This Together? Advancing Equity in an Age of COVID-19 Grant, Co-Recipient, Office of Inclusive Excellence, University of California, Irvine, 2020-2021
“TEACH: Transforming Education, Archives, and Community History,” Anteater Grant Initiative, Humanities Center and Libraries, University of California, Irvine, 2021-2022
Other Experience
Co-Editor, Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies
2012—2017
2012—2017
Co-Editor, Gendering the Trans-Pacific World: Diaspora, Empire, and Race
Book Series with Brill 2014—pres
Book Series with Brill 2014—pres
Co-Editor, Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
Alexander Street Press 2017—2023
Alexander Street Press 2017—2023
Co-Convener, Rethinking Transnational Feminisms
UCHRI Research Residency Group Fall—2017
UCHRI Research Residency Group Fall—2017
Faculty Mentor for Research Project
BADAAS@UCI (The Beginnings of Activism for the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine 2017—2018
BADAAS@UCI (The Beginnings of Activism for the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine 2017—2018
Faculty Mentor for Research Project
AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Women on the Move 2017—pres
AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Women on the Move 2017—pres
Co-Founder
UC Consortium for the Study of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Histories in the Americas (WGSHA) 2017
UC Consortium for the Study of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Histories in the Americas (WGSHA) 2017
Co-Organizer
The Inaugural Cultural Resonance in Contemporary Bodies Dance Festival 2018
The Inaugural Cultural Resonance in Contemporary Bodies Dance Festival 2018
Editor
Amerasia Journal 2019—2022
Amerasia Journal 2019—2022
Co-President
Berkshire Conference of Women Historians —2023
Berkshire Conference of Women Historians —2023
Chair
University of California Press Editorial Committee 2021—2022
University of California Press Editorial Committee 2021—2022
Series Co-Editor
Cornell University Press, U.S. in the World 2020
Cornell University Press, U.S. in the World 2020
Research Centers
The Black Panther Party Oakland Community School Community Archives, Activism and Storytelling Research Cluster, Humanities Center, University of California, Irvine, 2021-
Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=6123
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=6123
Last updated
07/01/2022
07/01/2022