Kong Pheng Pha

Kong Pheng Pha (he/him/his) was born in Ban Vinai refugee camp in northeastern Thailand after his family was forcibly displaced at the end of the United States’ “secret war” in Laos. He has lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota most of his life. He spent over a decade as a student at the University of Minnesota, where he ultimately earned his Ph.D. in American studies. Currently, he is Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He researches and teaches courses on Hmong American experiences in the diaspora, Asian American racialization and sexualization, and social justice organizing in the U.S. He is currently completing two books. The first book explores Hmong racial, gendered, sexual, and queer formations in the U.S. and the second book is a series of activist essays contemplating Hmong Americans’ place in the revolution. In all of his research, teaching, writing, and community engagement, he seeks to illuminate the histories and experiences of refugees, queer communities, and communities of color, especially Southeast Asian Americans and Hmong Americans.