This fall, we welcome our newest Area Chairs in our “Area Chair Spotlight” series!
Meet Jered, currently finishing his doctoral program in English at the University of Texas at Arlington, who will be taking over as Area Chair for Asian Popular Experiences / Asian American Experiences.
📍 How did you first become involved with SWPACA, and what drew you to take on a leadership role as an Area Chair?
My first SWPACA conference was in 2023, and I was on an animation panel and had a great experience with the crowd, moderators, and my panel colleagues. From the positive experience there, I have since been presenting ideas at SWPACA. My interest in becoming an Area Chair arose from a conversation with the wonderful Elaine Cho who highlighted the responsibilities of the position. I was especially drawn to the opportunity to get hands on experience with shaping the various ideas that flow into Asian and Asian American studies and to help support a community of thinkers in essential ways.
📍 What excites you most about Asian Popular Experiences / Asian American Experiences and its place within the broader field of popular/American culture studies right now?
For me, the most exciting thing about the Asian Popular Culture and Asian American Experience Area is seeing the cultivation of interdisciplinary engagement with the field. It’s great to see how these thinkers create space for their interests and draw critical connections to different fields, histories, and perspectives. I think this matters for popular/American culture studies especially as we continue to navigate the margins of the mainstream and continue to create space for our community in sustainable ways.
📍 What are your goals or hopes for your Area?
My goal for my area is pretty straightforward. I hope that we can stay in contact with each other and continue to foster a professional support system that is engaging with Asian/American histories, activity, and culture. In this way, overall, I hope that we can continue to add to each other’s intellectual pursuits and offer important insights, not just in the work that we do, but in the lives that we embody.
📍 How does your own research or teaching intersect with the themes of your area?
My research centers Asian/American film and television in popular culture especially focused on “post-COVID” representations of femininity, masculinity, and class analysis. I argue that these representations are psychologically damaging but economically profitable. My area with SWPACA ranges anywhere between rhetorical analysis, historical engagement, and artistry dealing in themes of nationhood, identity, aesthetic, and form which are all a part of my research and teaching interests.
📍 If you could organize a dream SWPACA panel, what would the topic be?
I would love to hold a session on visual and sonic rhetoric and design in Asiatic communities that seeks to resolve issues of erasure and put forth visibility in radio broadcasting, national archives, and Avant-garde cinema.
📢 Join Jered and the Asian Popular Experiences / Asian American Experiences Area at SWPACA 2026! Submit your proposal today at swpaca.org!
