
Position Title
Associate Professor
About
Born in Taiwan and raised in Canada, Professor Howard Chiang joined the faculty of UC Davis in 2017. He has written two award-winning monographs on China, forming a duology of queer Asian Pacific history through the lens of knowledge production. After Eunuchs: Science, Medicine, and the Transformation of Sex in Modern China analyzes the history of sex change in China from the demise of castration in the late Qing era to the emergence of transsexuality in Cold War Taiwan. Transtopia in the Sinophone Pacific proposes a new paradigm for doing transgender history in which geopolitics assumes central importance. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History, a landmark 3-volume reference compendium.
Chiang's current work centers on the historical and conceptual foundations of the human sciences, especially psychoanalysis, cultural psychiatry, and racial science. This will culminate in a book called Mind Hunters (under contract), which explores the history of psychoanalysis and transcultural reasoning across the Pacific. A podcast on this project is available here. He coedits (with James Welker) the "Global Queer Asias" book series published by the University of Michigan Press. His forthcoming title, Trans Without Borders (under contract), will appear in this series. An associate editor of Cultural History and Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, he also sits on the editorial boards of numerous book series and journals, including Gender & History, Journal of the History of Sexuality, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, and Journal of Women's History.
Between 2019 and 2022, Chiang served as the Founding Chair of the Society of Sinophone Studies. An affiliate of the East Asian Studies, Science & Technology Studies, Cultural Studies, Critical Theory, and Feminist Theory & Research programs on campus, he convened the annual Liu Lecture in honor of KC Liu until 2023. Prior to coming to UC Davis, Chiang taught at New York University, the University of Warwick in England, and the University of Waterloo in Canada.
Research Focus
Professor Chiang’s research focuses on the history of modern China and global Sinophone cultures, with an emphasis on the critical studies of science, medicine, race, gender, and sexuality. Grants and fellowships from, among others, Academia Sinica, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study, the National Humanities Center, the Tang Prize Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust have funded his work. His writing has advanced the fields of transgender history, Sinophone studies, psychoanalysis, and the historical epistemology of East Asian science and medicine.
Publications
Bachner, A., Chiang, H., & Lee, Y.-L. (Eds.). (2023). Sinoglossia. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Chiang, H. (2021). Transtopia in the Sinophone Pacific. New York: Columbia University Press. **Winner of the Bonnie and Vern L. Bullough Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Studies, and Honorable Mention for the Alan Bray Memorial Book Award in LGBTQ Literary and Cultural Studies from the Modern Language Association.
Chiang, H. (Ed.) (2021). Queer Taiwanese Literature: A Reader. Amherst: Cambria Press.
Chiang, H., & Wong, A. K. (Eds.). (2020). Keywords in Queer Sinophone Studies. London: Routledge.
Chiang, H. (Ed.). (2019). The Making of the Human Sciences in China: Historical and Conceptual Foundations. Leiden: Brill.
Chiang, H. (Ed.). (2019). Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History (3 vols). Farmington Hills: Charles Scribner's Sons. **Winner of the Dartmouth Medal from the American Library Association.
Chiang, H. (2018). After Eunuchs: Science, Medicine, and the Transformation of Sex in Modern China. New York: Columbia University Press. **Winner of the Best Book in the Humanities Prize from the International Convention of Asia Scholars and the Bonnie and Vern L. Bullough Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.
Chiang, H. (Ed.). (2018). Sexuality in China: Histories of Power and Pleasure. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Chiang, H., & Wang, Y. (Eds.). (2016). Perverse Taiwan. London: Routledge.
Chiang, H. (Ed.). (2015). Historical Epistemology and the Making of Modern Chinese Medicine. Manchester: Manchester University Press. **Translated into Mandarin Chinese as 历史认识论与现代中医的建构 (苏州: 苏州大学出版社, 2021).
Chiang, H. (Ed.). (2014). Psychiatry and Chinese History. London: Pickering and Chatto.
Chiang, H., & Heinrich, A. (Eds.). (2013). Queer Sinophone Cultures. London: Routledge.
Chiang, H. (Ed.). (2012). Transgender China. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Ph.D., Princeton University, 2012
- Honorable Mention, Alan Bray Memorial Book Award, GL/Q Caucus of the Modern Language Association, 2023
- Member, School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, 2022–2023
- Bonnie and Vern L. Bullough Book Award (Biennial), Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, 2022
- Finalist, Lammy Award in LGBTQ Studies, Lambda Literary Foundation, 2022
- The 2nd Annual Sexuality Studies Minor Keynote Lecture, University of Massachusetts Boston, 2022
- Henry Luce Fellowship, National Humanities Center, 2021–2022
- Dean's Faculty Fellowship, College of Letters and Science, University of California, Davis, 2021–2024
- The 10th Annual Southampton Stonewall Lecture, University of Southampton, 2021
- Bonnie and Vern L. Bullough Book Award (Biennial), Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, 2020
- Dartmouth Medal for Excellence in Reference, Reference and User Services Association, American Library Association, 2020
- Best Book in the Humanities Prize (Biennial), International Convention of Asia Scholars, 2019
- Yu Ying-shih Award in Humanities Research (Monographic Book Category), Academia Sinica and Tang Prize Foundation, 2018
- HIS 9A East Asian Civilization: China
- HIS 16 Sex, Science, and Society: A Global History
- HIS 102H Proseminar in the History of Sexuality in Modern China
- HIS 110 Themes in World History
- HIS 135B Global Freud: Psychoanalysis and the Politics of the Unconscious
- HIS 135B The Rise of Modern Science in China
- HIS 191E The Chinese Revolution
- HIS 191F History of the People's Republic of China
- HIS 191H Modern Taiwan: History, Literature, and New Cinema
- HIS 191H Science, Sexuality, and Society in Modern China
- HIS 191J Sex & Society in Modern Chinese History
- HIS 201G Sources and General Literature of History: Modern China
- HIS 201S History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Modern China
- HIS 201Q Cross-Cultural Women's & Gender History: Global Intimacies
- HIS 201X / CST 204 Global Sexualities: Theoretical and Historical Perspectives
- HIS 202F Major Issues in Historical Interpretation: China