Stephie Minjung Kang  

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Ph.D., Rhetoric and Writing, Michigan State University

Teaching

In my writing classes, we complicate what “good writing” is by reading, researching, and discussing how language changes over time and is taken up differently across various sociocultural contexts. We ponder on questions like: Why do people attach certain attitudes and values to different languages? What counts as academic writing and academic knowledge? How is language so intricately linked to our identities? I like to pose these critical questions through various activities not only to demystify academic writing and knowledge but also to meet the very realities of students’ diverse literacy backgrounds–as our world is only becoming more global, multicultural, and multilingual. Students’ prior experiences, knowledge, and expertise are key writing assets in my class. We use autobiographical writing and critical literacy research to engage in self-reflection and fluid meaning-making from our own cultures and lived experiences.  

Research/Scholarship

My works look at how multilingual people navigate social situations and structures where monolingualism and white language habitus are dominant norms. Specifically, I approach my translingual writing research through the lens of sociocultural theory, aiming to look beyond text analysis and understand the broader trajectory of one’s transnational and multilingual experiences and contexts. This involves examining the contexts in which meanings are constantly negotiated within power structures. I use stories as the key method and methodology to highlight the experiences, knowledge, and perspectives of multilingual communities that are underrepresented in traditional academic discourse.  

Selected Publications

• Lee, E., Lee, S., & Kang, S. M. (2023). Coalition building against anti-Asian racism: Interweaving stories of transnational Asian/American Feminist survivance. Peitho, 26(1). 
• Kang, S. M., Gangopadhyay, S., & Hall, L. A. (2022). Critical collaboration across three transnational literacy autobiographies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 66(4), 208-217. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.1260