Chin Jou is a historian of the late-twentieth-century United States whose work lies at the
intersection of food, health, and social justice. Her recently completed book manuscript,
Captive Consumers: Hunger, Inequality, and Violence in American Prison Food, explores the
historical, political, economic, medical, and cultural dimensions of prison food in the United
States, particularly in the mass incarceration era. She is also the author of Supersizing Urban
America: How Inner Cities Got Fast Food with Government Help (Chicago, 2017), and research
articles in American Quarterly, Journal of Urban History, New England Journal of Medicine,
Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies,
International Labor and Working-Class History, Global Food History, and other refereed
journals. Her work and/or expertise have also appeared in The Atlantic, National Public Radio,
Washington Post, Scientific American, Politico, Smithsonian Magazine, Vice, and various media
outlets in Australia. Her research has been supported by long-term fellowships from the
National Humanities Center, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National
Institutes of Health.

Before joining Rice in 2024, she was the Brackenridge Endowed Chair in Interdisciplinary
Humanities at the University of Texas at San Antonio. From 2014 to 2023, she taught at the
University of Sydney, where she received a Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Excellence in
Teaching Award.

Photo credit: Marie Etchegoyen, Rice University