Contact Information

Office Location Office Phone Department Fax Email Mailing Address

Bartlett Hall 73 413-577-0710 413-545-1500 Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies Dept. 208 Bartlett Hall Univ. of MA, Amherst Amherst, MA 01003-0530

Educational Background

• Doctor of Philosophy, Sociology, New York University, 2001
  
  Dissertation: "Manicuring Identities: Race, Gender, and Class in New York City Korean-Owned Nail Salons"
  This ethnographic study explores the social construction of race, gender and class in service interactions in ethnic small businesses by examining relations between Korean female owners and workers and their racially diverse customers in New York City nail salons. It describes and analyzes the practices of how language, body, and emotions are managed and how these actions shape identities and inter-group relations in the interpersonal settings of the post-industrial economy.
  
  
• Master of Arts, Sociology, New York University, New York University, 1996
• Bachelors of Arts, Social Studies, Radcliffe College, Harvard University, 1988

Research Interests

• Social Construction of Race, Gender and Class
• Sociology of the Body
• Emotional Labor and Service Interactions
• Immigrant Women's Work
• Asian American Communities
• Relations between Korean Americans and African Americans
• Ethnography

Courses Taught

Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies, UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA	"Introduction to Women's Studies" (Women's Studies 187) "Critical Perspectives in Women's Studies" (Women's Studies 201) "Gender and Difference: Community Service Learning" (Women's Studies 201HCS) "Asian American Women: Gender, Race, and Immigration" (Women's Studies 295B) "Body Matters: Race, Gender and the Politics of Bodies" (Women's Studies 397D) "Feminist Research Methods" (Women's Studies 691B)
Sociology, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA	"Introduction to Sociology" "Sociology of the Body" "Introduction to Statistics"
Sociology, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY	"Asian American Women" "Sociological Perspectives" "Sociology of the Body"
Sociology, Barnard College, New York, NY	"Asian Americans in the Ethnographic and Literary Imagination" "Research Seminar On Asian American Life" "Junior Colloquium"
Sociology, New York University, New York, NY	"Race and Ethnicity" "Immigration" "Law and Society" "Protest, Revolt, and Revolution" "Introduction to Sociology"

Publications & Media Quotations

• Kang, Miliann. 2010. The Managed Hand: Race, Gender and the Body in Beauty Service Work. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Reviewed by Samantha Kwan in Gender & Society, February 2012, 26:1, pp. 120-123
  • Reviewed by Jennifer L. Pierce in Contemporary Sociology, July 2011, 40:4, pp. 413-416
  • Reviewed by Adia Harvey Wingfield in American Journal of Sociology, March 2011, 116:5, pp. 1695-1697
  • Outstanding Book Award, American Sociological Association, Section on Asia and Asian America
  • Oliver Cromwell Cox Award, American Sociological Association, Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities
  • Distinguished Book Award, American Sociological Association, Section on Sex and Gender
  • Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award, American Sociological Association, Section on Race, Gender, and Class
  • Sara Whaley Book Prize, National Women's Studies Association
• Kang, Miliann. 2010. "Manicuring Intimacies: Inequality and Resistance in Asian-Owned Nail Salons," in Intimate Labors: Cultures, Technologies, and the Politics of Care, Eileen Boris and Rhacel Salazar Parrenas (Eds.). Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.
• Kang, Miliann. 2009. Book Review of Free Food For Millionaires by Min Jin Lee, Warner Books. Sociological Forum, Vol. 24, No. 2, June, pp. 464-468.
• Kang, Miliann. 2009. Book Review of Managing Multicultural Lives: Asian American Professionals and the Challenge of Multiple Identities by Pawan Dhingra, Stanford University Press. Contemporary Sociology, 37:4: 342-44.
• Quoted in New York Magazine, "A Stranger's Touch: An Inside Look at the Spa Industry" magazine article, written by Emily Nussbaum, November 25, 2007.
• Kang, Miliann and Katherine Jones. 2007. "Why Do People Get Tattoos?" Contexts 6:1:42-47.
• Kang, Miliann. 2006. Book Review of Cross-Border Marriages: Gender and Mobility in Transnational Asia by Nicole Constable, University of Pennsylvania Press. Contemporary Sociology, 35:1: 25-26.
• Kang, Miliann. 2005. "Inequality in Domestic Service" in Marybeth C. Stalp and Julie Childers, eds. Teaching Sociological Concepts and the Sociology of Gender, American Sociological Association.
• Kang, Miliann. 2003. "The Managed Hand: The Commercialization of Bodies and Emotions in Korean Immigrant-Owned Nail Salons." Gender and Society 17:820-839.
  • Reprinted in Feminist Frontiers VII, edited by Verta Taylor, Nancy Whittier, and Leila Rupp, New York: McGraw-Hill (2006).
  • Reprinted in Sociological Odyssey: Contemporary Readings in Introductory Sociology, edited by Peter and Patti Adler, Stamford, CT: Thomson Wadsworth (2007).
  • Reprinted in Workplace/Women's Place: An Anthology, edited by Paula J. Dubeck and Dana Dunn, Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing (2006).
  • Revised and Reprinted as "Korean Immigrant Women's Work in the Nail Salon Industry: Gender, Race and Class in the Service Sector," in Kim, Ilpyong (Ed.). Korean Americans: Past, Present and Future. Elizabeth, NJ: HollyM International (2004).
• Kang, Miliann. 2000. "Researching One's Own: Negotiating Co-Ethnicity in the Field," in Martin Manalansan, Ed. Cultural Compass: Ethnographic Explorations of Asian America, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
• Kang, Miliann. 1997. "Manicuring Race, Gender, and Class: Service Interactions in New York City Korean Nail Salons," Race, Gender, and Class. 4:3:143-164.

Academic & Community Presentations

• "Working in the Nail Salon Industry: Toxic Exposures, Labor Rights Violations and Organizing," conference on Body Work: Critical Issues, Future Agendas, Economic and Social Research Council, University of Warwick, Coventry, England in October 2008.
• "Enhancing Career and Leadership Effectiveness, Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics," IBM Executive Leadership Institute, July 2008 in Somers, NY.
• "Embodying Care, Caring for Bodies: Beauty Services as Carework," presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 2008 in Boston, MA.
• "Tools of the Trade? The Status of Research Methods within Graduate Programs in Women's Studies," presented at the annual meeting of the National Women's Studies Association, June 2008 in Cincinnati, OH.
• "Are Asian American Women Opting Out of the Workplace?," presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, March 2007 in Philadelphia, PA.
• "Manicuring Intimacies: Inequality and Resistance in Asian-Owned Nail Salons," presented at the Intimate Labors: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Domestic, Care, and Sex Work conference, October 4-6, 2007 in Santa Barbara, CA.
• "Work-Family Issues for Second Generation Asian American Women," presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian American Studies, April 7, 2007 in New York, NY.
• "Work and Mothering: Practices and Identities of Second Generation Asian American Women," presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, March 17, 2007 in Philadelphia, PA.
• Invited Speaker, "Manicuring Immigrants: Asian Women in New York City Nail Salons," talk given at Michigan State University, February 26, 2007.
• "Hooked on Nails: Competing Constructions of Beauty by Black and White Women," presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 16, 2006, Montreal, Quebec.
• "Asian American Women Writers: Subjectivity and the Politics of Language," co-authored with Juliette Lee, presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian American Studies, April 2005, in Los Angeles, CA.
• Panelist, "Women's Academic Career Trajectories," summer meeting of Sociologists for Women in Society, August 2004 in Philadelphia, PA.
• Panel Organizer and Presenter, "Feminist Research Methods in Asian American Studies," annual meeting of the Association for Asian American Studies, March 2004, in Boston, MA.

Grants, Awards, & Activities

• Quoted in a Forbes.com article, "How Indo-Americans Created The Ultimate Neighborhood Bank" (June 6, 2012) about how a group of Indian-American businessmen in New Jersey has created an investment fund for other Indian small businesses in their region and how it is common in Asian communities to have such funds as a way to help new immigrants and to promote ethnic solidarity.
• Family Research Scholar, "Asian American Women and the 'Opting Out' Debate." Center for Research on Families, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2009-2010).
• Project on "Immigration, Race, and the Future of Work," $3,000 award. Labor Relations and Research Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2009-2010).
• Co-principal investigator, "UMass Amherst/Five College Asian Pacific American Studies" Mellon Mutual Mentoring (M3) Team Grant," $6,110 award from the Office of Faculty Development, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2009-2010).
• Project on "Gender, Migration and Low-Wage Work," $1,250 award. Ford Foundation (2008-2009).
• Co-principal investigator, "UMass Amherst/Five College Asian Pacific American Studies" Mellon Mutual Mentoring (M3) Team Grant," $3,500 award from the Office of Faculty Development, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2008-2009).
• Advisory Board Member, Women of Color Leadership Network, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2008-present).
• Post-doctoral Fellowship, $30,000 award. American Association of University Women, (2006-2007).
• Lilly Teaching Fellowship, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2005-2006).
• Co-chair, "When Academic Issues Become Personal," professional development workshop at the winter meeting of Sociologists for Women in Society, January 2004 in Albuquerque, NM.
• Research Fellow (co-principal investigator with C.N. Le), Institute for Asian American Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston (2004-2005).
• Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Article Award, American Sociological Association's Section on Race, Gender and Class (2004).
• Fellow, Five College Center for Crossroads in the Study of the Americas (2004).
• Cheryl Allyn Miller Award for Research on Women and Work, awarded annually by the Sociologists for Women in Society (2000).
• Elected as the Graduate Student Representative of the Asia and Asian America section of the American Sociological Association (1998).
• Peter Ohm Scholarship, (Alternate), Korea Society (1998).
• International Migration Program Minority Summer Dissertation Fellowship, Social Science Research Council (1997).
• Founded and coordinated the Asian Pacific American Student Support Program at New York University's Student Advising Center and received a President's Service Award for Programming (1996-1997).
• Served on the Board of Directors of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, New York City, advocating for and outreaching to Asian women workers and victims of bias-related crimes (1992-1994).
• Legislative Coordinator, North American Coalition For Human Rights In Korea, Washington D.C. (1990-1992).