Dissertation Title: Còn nước, còn tát’: Understanding and Theorizing Water in Vietnamese Anglophone Cultural Production 

Advisors: Dr Alden Marte-Wood and Dr. José Aranda

Karen Siu (she/her/hers) is a PhD candidate in English at Rice University. Her dissertation project examines how understanding and thinking through nước (the Vietnamese word for water) allows us to see the archive’s ecofeminist, transcorporeal vision of hope, care, and resilience in the wake of war, imperialism, and colonialism. As a child and grandchild of Vietnamese refugees, her work is personal and political, intertwining oral histories and creative nonfiction in her writing, research, and teaching. She follows a tenet of Critical Refugees Studies that these histories, experiences, and memories are worth knowing and studying. Beyond her work, she co-founded the Rice Asian Diasporic and Asian American Research Collective (RADAAR), a space for advocacy, scholarly exchange, and community partnerships in order to raise consciousness about Asian American Studies and Asian American political organizing in Texas.