About
Leland Tabares is an Assistant Professor of Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Studies at Colorado College. His work centers on literature, labor, and racialization in twentieth- and twenty-first-century American culture. His book project, Professionalizing Asian America: Race and Labor in the Twenty-First Century, traces how Asian Americans’ increasing representation in a diverse range of contemporary industry professions enculturates new conceptions of race, ethnicity, and belonging. His research is published in Profession, Journal of Asian American Studies, Arizona Quarterly, Verge: Studies in Global Asias, Hyphen, Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association, and The Recipes Project. Education
Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, University Park
M.A., Pennsylvania State University, University Park
B.A., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Publications
Refereed Articles
- “Consider the Crawfish: The Messy Politics of Viet-Cajun Fusion in the Gulf Coast.” Forthcoming in Verge: Studies in Global Asias 9.2 (2023).
- “A&Q: Recipes for Messiness.” Co-authored with Stephen Suh, Ruslan Yusupov, Jennifer Ruth Shutek, and Erica Maria Cheung. Forthcoming in Verge: Studies in Global Asias 9.2 (2023).
- “Misfit Professionals: Asian American Chefs and Restaurateurs in the Twenty-First Century.” Arizona Quarterly 77.2 (Summer 2021): 103-132.
- “Professional Amateurs: Asian American Content Creators in YouTube’s Digital Economy.” Journal of Asian American Studies 22.3 (October 2019): 387-417.
- “Professionalization and the Precarious State of Academic Freedom for Graduate Student Instructors.” Profession (Winter 2019).
- “The Contexts of Critique: Para-Institutions and the Multiple Lives of Institutionality in the Neoliberal University.” Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association 6.1 (Spring 2017).
Non-Refereed Articles
- “Danny Bowien’s Post-Authentic Asian America.” The Recipes Project (November 2021).
Review Essays
- “Gish Jen’s Resistant Possibilities: On Black Fugitivity, Coalitional Care, and Baseball.” Solicited review of The Resisters, by Gish Jen, Hyphen (October 2020).
- Solicited review of Asian American Media Activism: Fighting for Cultural Citizenship, by Lori Kido Lopez, Journal of Asian American Studies 21.3 (October 2018): 488-491.
Media Appearances & Interviews
- Print interview with Daniel Schwalm. “Professors concerned about student disengagement.” The Maroon, 5 May 2022, https://loyolamaroon.com/10035052/news/professors-concerned-about-student-disengagement/.
- Podcast interview with Mary Alice Fallon Yeskey. “Leland Tabares, Arizona Quarterly: ‘Come for the recipes, stay for the political activism.’” Johns Hopkins University Press Podcasts from Johns Hopkins University Press, 20 July 2021, https://www.press.jhu.edu/media/audio/leland-tabares-arizona-quarterly.
- Radio interview with Vivian La. “C-U Asian American Community Speaks Out About Recent Racism.” Illinois Public Media/WILL, 7 May 2021, http://www.illinoisnewsroom.org/cu-asian-american-community-speaks-out-about-recent-racism.
- Print interview with Farrah Anderson. “Anti-Asian Violence Scares UI Community.” The Daily Illini, 22 April 2021, p. 4A, https://dailyillini.com/life_and_culture-stories/2021/04/22/anti-asian-violence-scares-ui-community/.
- Print interview with Saima Choudhury. “Coloring in the Ivory Tower.” Colour 9.1 (Spring 2020): 52-57.
Upcoming Talks and Conferences
- “Asian American Post-Professionals: Racial Precarity and the Future of Work in Science Fictional Worlds,” Modern Language Association, San Francisco (2023).
- “Working Futures After Asians: Techno-Orientalism in the Twenty-First Century,” Karen Laborde Faculty Speaker Series, Sponsored by the Department of English at Loyola University New Orleans (2023).
- “Asian America in the Social Media Economy: YouTube and TikTok, 2005-2022,” Sponsored by the Department of Sociology at San Diego State University (2022).
Memberships
American Literature Association
American Studies Association
Asian Studies Association
Association for Asian American Studies
Circle for Asian American Literary Studies
Modern Language Association
Northeast Modern Language Association
Popular Culture Association
Popular Culture/American Culture Association in the South
Society for Cinema and Media Studies
South Central Modern Language Association
The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
