Natalia Duong, Ph.D.

Dr. Natalia Duong is an Assistant Professor of Asian American studies and science and technology studies at the University of California, Davis. She is also affiliated faculty with the Medical Humanities and Cultural Studies programs.

Her current book project, Chemical Diasporas, examines the spread of the herbicide Agent Orange through a study of cultural media, disability law, and community-engaged research in Vietnam. The book reframes the study of toxicity by arguing that the spread of toxins create networks of harm alongside infrastructures of kinship.

In addition to her scholarly research and writing, Dr. Duong makes performances as a dramaturg, director, and choreographer focusing in particular on new play development. She has collaborated with a wide range of organizations and her work has been performed at a wide variety of venues including: A.C.T., La Jolla Playhouse, Pacific Playwrights Festival (South Coast Repertory Theater), Bay Area Playwrights Foundation, San Francisco Playhouse, Magic Theater, Aurora Theater, Chance Theater, Oregon Contemporary Theatre, Oakland Theater Project, Dixon Place, and Movement Research. Her work has also been exhibited internationally in Edinburgh, London, Uganda, and Vietnam.

Education 

Ph.D., Performance Studies, designated emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies, University of California, Berkeley
M.A., Performance Studies, New York University
B.A., Psychology, Stanford University

Research Interests

Environmental toxicity, transnational Asian American studies, disability studies, feminist science studies, human-non human relations, performance and sense-making

Recent Publications

“Homing Toxicity: The Domestication of Herbicidal Warfare.” Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience 9, no. 1 (April 5, 2023). https://doi.org/10.28968/cftt.v9i1.38357.
“Rhizophora: Queering Chemical Kinship in the Agent Orange Diaspora,” in Crip Genealogies, edited by Mel Y. Chen, Alison Kafer, Eunjung Kim, and Julie Minich. Duke University Press, 2023.
“An Elephant’s Exquisite Corpse: Spectral Matters in Lynn Nottage’s Mlima’s Tale.” With Rishika Mehrishi and Joshua Williams. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 36, no. 1 (2021): 117-136.
“Agent Orange Bodies: Việt, Đức, and Transnational Narratives of Repair.” Canadian Review of American Studies 48, no. 3 (2018): 387-414.

Awards and Fellowships

Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Social Science, Arts, and Humanities (CAMPSSAH) Faculty Scholar, 2024
University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA, 2022-2024
Dunbar Ogden Prize in Theater History, 2020
Phi Beta Kappa, Graduate Fellowship, 2019
Selma Jeanne Cohen Award, Dance Studies Association, 2018