Jennifer Ho is an Associate Professor in the Department of English & Comparative Literature at UNC Chapel Hill, where she also serves as the director of graduate studies (English) and teaches courses in Asian American literature, multiethnic American literature, and Contemporary American literature. Her first book, Consumption and Identity in Asian American Coming-of-Age Novels (Routledge Press, 2005) examines the intersection of coming-of-age, ethnic identity formation, and foodways in late 20th Century Asian American coming-of-age narratives and American popular culture. Her book Racial Ambiguity in Asian American Culture (forthcoming Rutgers University Press, May 2015) considers various forms of racially ambiguous subjects (such as transnational/transracial Asian adoptees, multiracial Asian American authors/texts, and Tiger Woods), and her third book, Understanding Gish Jen (forthcoming University of South Carolina Press, Fall 2015) is a single-author study about the very accomplished contemporary Chinese American writer Gish Jen. She has published in journals such as Modern Fiction Studies, Journal for Asian American Studies, Amerasia Journal and has also presented at conferences such as the American Studies Association, Modern Language Association, American Literature Association, and the Association of Asian American Studies. Her next project will be a hybrid personal-scholarly examination of Asians in the global south as explored through her maternal family’s immigration from Hong Kong to Jamaica to Canada. Additionally, she is deeply invested in critical race theory and anti-racist activism.
Workshop Biographies
Sean Lew is an Assistant Professor at the Charlotte School of Law, where he also directs the law school’s Pro Bono Program. A past Fellow at the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership, he received the inaugural North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA) “Citizen Lawyer” Award for Public and Community Service in the state in 2007. He has been recognized by the Mecklenburg County Bar’s Volunteer Lawyers Program for his legal efforts in the Charlotte community. He is a past co-Chair of the NCBA’s Pro Bono/Poverty Issues Committee, which works to organize, plan, and deliver free legal clinics across the state on a monthly basis. He is also committed to access to justice initiatives in the state, especially among immigrant communities unable to secure quality legal representation. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of North Carolina School of Law. At UNC Law, he was the founder and inaugural President of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) where he pushed administrators to hire the law school’s first Asian American faculty member, increase recruitment of Asian American law students and implement an immigration law course and clinic.
The North Carolina Justice Center is the state’s preeminent voice for economic, social and political justice.
As a leading progressive research and advocacy organization, our mission is to eliminate poverty in North Carolina by ensuring that every household in the state has access to the resources, services and fair treatment it needs to achieve economic security.
To make opportunity and prosperity for all a reality, we work toward:
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Jobs that are safe, pay a living wage, and provide benefits
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Access to quality and affordable health care
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Quality public education for every child
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Consumer protections from abusive practices
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Safe and affordable housing
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Public investments that expand opportunities for economic security
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A fair and stable revenue system that adequately funds public investments while fairly distributing tax responsibility
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Fair treatment for everyone in North Carolina – regardless of race, ethnicity, or country of origin
The Justice Center’s effectiveness in advocating for policies that improve the lives of people in communities throughout North Carolina stems from our unique five-strategy approach, which enables us to attack problems with the most effective tools.