Joey Hong
Graduate Student, Literature
Joey Hong (they/them) is currently a second-year Ph.D. student in English, and they are also pursuing a graduate certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. They have a keen interest in the genre known as transgothic, which integrates trans* studies and Gothic literature. Their interest lies in the ways that this genre allows us to detect the fluidity of the human being beyond cisgender-centered heteronormativity and humanity. Furthermore, they are interested in pioneering the research on 'the transgothic bildungsroman' to investigate how entities with nonnormative identities represent themselves in writings and how they negotiate their selfhood with their cisgender-oriented patriarchal surroundings. Joey has recently taken an interest in examining transfemininity and transgothic through the lens of East Asian and Asian American studies. They are exploring autobiographical and speculative fiction written by Asian and Asian American writers, which focuses on the lives and self-making of trans* subjects. Moreover, the Philosophy of Love is another cluster of Joey's interests. They examine why the dominant thread of Western Continental Philosophy has neglected love in philosophical discourses, as well as what is so special about the affect known as "love." In Philosophy of Love, Joey navigates how people practice love and sexuality in contemporary society through topics such as non/monogamies, BDSM, unrequited love, and online dating. Their work has appeared in Shirley Jackson Studies.