Society of Scholars

scholars discussing a topic around the main Simpson Center conference room table

The Society of Scholars is an intellectual community of humanists of diverse generations, academic ranks, and departmental affiliations who contribute to and learn from one another’s work. Each year, approximately eight faculty and three dissertation research fellowships support members of the Society of Scholars. Scholars in year-long residence at the University of Washington may be invited to participate as well. The group meets biweekly throughout the year to discuss their research in progress. 

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Cohort Archives

2022 - 2023 Society of Scholars

Heekyoung Cho looks to the left while wearing glasses.
Associate Professor
Asian Languages & Literature
Portrait of Alina Méndez.
Assistant Professor
American Ethnic Studies
Portrait of Ariana Ochoa Camacho wearing glasses and standing in front of a bookcase.
Assistant Professor
School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington Tacoma
Portrait of Carole Lee standing outside.
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
Portrait of Madeleine Dong wearing glasses, a scarf, and a dark jacket.
Professor
Jackson School of International Studies
Mal Ahern looks at a roll of film that has been unwound.
Assistant Professor
Cinema & Media Studies
profile of Maya Smith smiling at the camera, hair pulled back with some curls along the left side, wearing a red top under a blue blazer with a necklace
Associate Professor
Department of French & Italian Studies
A portrait of Amalie Goul Dueholm standing in front of a wall.
Doctoral Candidate
Cinema & Media Studies
A portrait of Leah Rubinsky standing in front of a body of water.
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Comparative Literature
Black and white portrait of Kewi Adeyemi
Assistant Professor
Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies
Portrait of Megan Ybarra
Associate Professor
Department of Geography
A portrait of Raphaëlle Rabanes wearing a grey jacket.
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
A portrait of Anna Nguyen wearing glasses.
Doctoral Candidate
History
Justin Randolph stands in front of a dark wall while wearing glasses and a white sweater.
CHCI/ACLS Visiting Scholar and Assistant Professor
History, Texas State University
Portrait of Gust Burns.
Doctoral Candidate
Department of English
Jingsi Shen stands outside with mountains in the background.
Doctoral Candidate
Comparative Literature
Matthew Childs sits outside on a hill overlooking a body of water.
Doctoral Candidate
German Studies
Maxine Savage stands in front of a large bush while wearing glasses and a grey jacket.
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Scandinavian Studies
Brendan McElmeel stands on a rooftop wearing a dark shirt.
Doctoral Candidate
History
Diana Molkova stands facing the right while looking into the camera and holds a huge fuzzy dog.
Doctoral Candidate
Classics

2022 - 2023 Society of Scholars Fellow

A portrait of Anna Nguyen wearing glasses.

Anna Nguyen (she/her/hers)

Doctoral Candidate

Refugee Narratives and Resistance Nationalisms: The Development of Vietnamese Political Identity in the United States from the 1960s to 2000s

Anna Nguyen's project explores the varied priorities of Vietnamese refugee nationalists in the United States from the 1960s to 2000s. For Vietnamese in the United States, being a refugee is more than just a legal classification; rather the refugee is a racial formation that is central to the US understanding of non-communist Vietnamese as helpless and grateful subjects of the US empire. Her dissertation argues that US-based Vietnamese nationalists across the political spectrum were aware of this dynamic and sought to exploit their status as refugees to advance their own political agendas, while simultaneously contesting established narratives of race, war, and empire in both the United States and Vietnam.