BA. Brown University, 1993 Ph.D Harvard University, 2000

Interests

Aesthetic Theory and Cultural Studies, Feminist Theory, 19th, 20th, and 21st Century American Literature, Critical Race Studies, Modern Culture and Media.

Selected Publications

Ugly Feelings (Harvard University Press, 2005).  
“Merely Interesting.” Forthcoming in Critical Inquiry.
“Black Venus, Blonde Venus,” in Douglas Mao and Rebecca Walkowitz, eds. Bad Modernisms (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006).
“Competitiveness: From Sula to Tyra.” Women’s Studies Quarterly 34.3-4 (Fall/Winter 2006): 107-139.
“The Cuteness of the Avant-Garde.” Critical Inquiry 31.4 (Summer 2005): 811-847.

Additional Information

Professor Ngai joined the faculty at UCLA in the fall of 2007. She is the recipient of a 2007-08 Charles A. Ryskamp Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies.  Her current project on affect and aesthetics examines the social implications of three minor aesthetic concepts: the cute, the zany, and the (merely) interesting.  She is a member of the editorial board of Women and Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, and her work has appeared in differences, Critical Inquiry, Camera Obscura, American Literature, and a special issue of Women’s Studies Quarterly on “Envy,” guest edited by Jane Gallop.

 149 Humanities Building • Box 951530 • Los Angeles • CA 90095-1530
 Tel: 310.825.4173  Fax: 310.267.4339
 © 2008 UC Regents