Biography
The daughter of a refugee father from China and an immigrant mother from Jamaica, whose parents themselves were immigrants from Hong Kong, Jennifer Ho is the director of the Center for Humanities & the Arts and Professor of Ethnic Studies, where she teaches courses on Asian American culture and Critical Race Theory. She is past president of the Association for Asian American Studies (2020-2022) and the editor of three essay collections—Global Anti-Asian Racism (Asia Shorts series, forthcoming Fall 2023), Teaching Approaches to Asian North American Literature (MLA Press 2022 w/Jenny Wills), Narrative, Race, and Ethnicity in the United States (Ohio State University Press 2017 w/Jim Donahue & Shaun Morgan)—and the author of three scholarly monographs, Consumption and Identity in Asian American Coming-of-Age Novels (Routledge 2005), Racial Ambiguity in Asian American Culture (Rutgers University Press 2015), which won the South Atlantic Modern Language Association award for best monograph, and Understanding Gish Jen (University of South Carolina Press 2015 and 2023 paperback with new introduction). In addition to her academic work, Ho is active in community engagement around issues of race and intersectionality, leading workshops on anti-racism and how to talk about race in our current political climate. She has been interviewed by and contributed pieces to NPR, NBC, CNN, The Denver Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other news outlets. You can also follow her on Twitter @drjenho.
Articles, Publications, and Appearances
- Podcast, “Dr. Jennifer Ho on Assimilating America’s Culture of Gun Violence, Toxic
Masculinity, and White Supremacy,” Asian America: the Ken Fong Podcast,
January 29, 2023.
- Interview (on-line) “Back-to-back California Shootings reflect an American tragedy,
not an ‘Asian issue,’ experts say,” Kimmy Yam and Mirna Alsharif for NBC
News, January 25, 2023.
- Interview (on-line) “Constance Wu’s Harassment Claims Reveal a Painful Trade-off
Women of Color Face,” Kimmy Yam for NBC News, September 27, 2022.
- Interview (TV) “Combatting Anti-Asian Racism in Boulder Art Exhibit,” EW Scripps
Television, June 2, 2022.
- Interview (on-line) “Figures in Asian American/Native Hawai’ian/Pacific Islander
History Not Well Known in the General Public.” Deena Zaru for ABC News.com.
May 13, 2022.
- Interview (print) about Critical Race Theory and Colorado Congressional candidate
wanting to ban Critical Race Theory. Amber Carlson for Colorado Times
Recorder. February 4, 2022.
- Interview (TV) “US History Classes Don’t Often Tell the Full Story in the Eyes of
BIPOC Communities,” 9News, January 21, 2022.
- Interview (TV) “Critical Race Theory Controversy Comes to Colorado with Effort to
Ban it from Education, Training,” Denver 7 ABC, July 8, 2021
- Interview (radio) “‘Time to Go’: Faculty of Color Explain What Made Them Ready to
Leave UNC,” WUNC North Carolina Public Radio, June 21, 2021.
- Interview (print) “‘We’ve Lost People’: The Deep Cost of Political Meddling at
UNC,” Raleigh News & Observer, May 21, 2021.
- Interview (print) On the Proud Boys, Chinese Donors, and Toxic Masculinity, USA
Today, May 4, 2021.
- Interview (print) distinctions between Pacific Islander and Asian Americans, “South
China Morning Post, April 20, 2021.
- Interview (on-line) Responding to anti-Asian hate, Today NBC, April 8, 2021.
- Interview (print) Asian American activism on college campuses, Chronicle of
Higher Ed, March 30, 2021.
- Interview (podcast) “Anti-Asian Racism and the Atlanta Shootings,” That Said with
Michael Zeldin, March 26, 2021.
- Interview (radio) “The History of Violence against Asians and Asian Americans,”
Radio Times (WHYY NPR), March 24, 2021.
- Interview (radio) “A History of Anti-Asian Racism,” It’s Been a Minute with Sam
Sanders (NPR) March 19, 2021.
- Interview (radio) “Anti-Asian Hatred in Colorado,” Colorado Matters, Colorado
Public Radio, March 19, 2021.
- Interview (radio) “Anti-Asian Racism & Atlanta,” Monocle UK, March 18, 2021.
- Interview (TV) Anti-Asian racism/harassment and COVID-19, AlAraby TV
(Arabic-language media outlet), March 1, 2021.
- Interview (print) “‘We Can See Ourselves in Her’: Colorado Women of Different
Backgrounds Reflect on Kamala Harris’s Ascension,” Denver Post, January 22,
2021.
- Interview (print) “Racial Ambiguity and Mixed Race People,” Vox, January 9, 2021.
- Interview (TV) Causes and security breaches of January 6 insurrection, KRBO news
station/ABC affiliate, January 7, 2021.