USC Today

Karen Tongson

Expert in popular culture, suburban culture, gender studies, sexuality and gender politics.
  • Associate Professor of English and Gender Studies
  • USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences
Office: (213) 740-2817
Links:

Expertise

  • sexuality in the suburbs
  • race in the suburbs
  • Filipino & Filipino-American pop music
  • suburban-themed films and TV
  • queer and LGBT popular culture
  • women in popular music
  • Filipinos in theater and television
  • queer and LGBT popular music
  • queer performance
  • pop music and pop culture in the 1980s
  • gay and lesbian gentrification in urban areas
  • musical theater
  • Southern California subcultures
  • pop culture
  • reality TV and current TV shows
  • politics
  • Inland Empire youth cultures
  • American Idol
  • Queer and LGBT lifestyle and travel
  • gay and lesbian politics
  • comparative ethnic literature
  • Victorian literature and contemporary adaptations

Languages

  • German
  • Tagalog

Additional Information

  • Author of RELOCATIONS (forthcoming) about race and sexuality in the Southern California suburbs
  • Co-founder and regular contributor to the pop culture webzine Oh! Industry