Ann Ngoc Tran
Ph.D. Candidate | American Studies and Ethnicity | University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California | ngtran@usc.edu | (469) 371-4669
Education
University of Southern California
Ph.D. in American Studies and Ethnicity Expected 2025
M.A. in American Studies and Ethnicity Spring 2023
Dornsife Graduate Fellowship Recipient
Transpacific Studies Research Fellow
Dissertation Committee: Viet Thanh Nguyen (co-chair), Adrian De Leon (co-chair), Francille R. Wilson,
Fiori Berhane
Texas Christian University
B.A. in English, Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude May 2020
B.A. in History, magna cum laude May 2020
Minor in Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies
Areas of Interest
Boat refugees, Southeast Asian history, Diaspora and Migration Studies, Asian American history, Critical Refugee Studies, Vietnam War, transpacific studies, Modern U.S. history
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
2023 “Imperial Gift: Soap, Humanitarianism, and Black Markets in the Vietnam War.” Radical History Review 2023 (147): 55–76. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Book Reviews
2024 “Refugee Lifeworlds: The Afterlife of the Cold War in Cambodia” (Book Review). Amerasia Journal. https://doi-org.libproxy2.usc.edu/10.1080/00447471.2023.2274269
Awards
2022 USC Library Research Award (1st Place), University of Southern California Awarded for the best graduate research paper using USC Special Collections “USC in 1970: Politics, Race, and the Antiwar Movement”
2021–2023 Frank S. Kawana Leadership Scholarship Award, USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association
2021 Raymond J. Cunningham Paper Prize, American Historical Association Awarded for the best published article written by an undergraduate student “A Bloody Solidarity: Nguyen Thai Binh and the Vietnamese Antiwar Movement in the
Long Sixties,” The Boller Review, Vol 5 (2020)
External Grants & Fellowships
2024 SHAFR-Gale Summer Fellowship in Digital History
2024–2025 AAUW American Dissertation Fellowship ($25,000)
2024 Center for History and Culture of Southeast Texas and the Upper Coast Fellowship, Lamar University
2024 The Dianne Woest Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities, The Historic New Orleans Collection
2023 Samuel Flagg Bemis Dissertation Research Grant, SHAFR
2022 Immigration History Research Center and Archives Grant-in-Aid Award, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
2022–2023 Global South Research Grant, New Orleans Center for the Gulf South, Tulane University
2022 Short-Term Research Fellowship, Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South, The University of Alabama
2022 The Portal to Texas History Fellowship, University of North Texas
2022 Russell F. Weigley Travel Grant, Society for Military History
2021 AHA Travel Award, American Historical Association
2021 SEASSI Language Scholarship, UW-Madison
2016–2020 Midland College Scholarship - $20,000
Internal Grants & Fellowships
2024–2025 USC-Mellon Humanities in the Digital World Fellowship ($40,000)
2024 Teresa Wilson Endowed Fellowship, USC Dornsife
2024 EASC Graduate Fellowship, East Asian Studies Center, University of Southern California
2023 Frank S. Kawana Leadership Scholarship, University of Southern California
2023 Transpacific Studies Summer Research Grant, University of Southern California
2023 ASE Summer Research Grant, University of Southern California
2023 Diane Sonosky Montgomery and Jerol Sonosky Graduate Fellowship for Environmental Sustainability Research, USC
Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability
2022 ASE Graduate Student Conference Award, University of Southern California
2022 ASE Graduate Student Summer Research Grant, University of Southern California
2022 USC Graduate School Summer Research and Writing Grant
2022 GSG Professional Development Fund Award, University of Southern California
2022 ASE Graduate Student Conference Award, University of Southern California
2021 Transpacific Studies Research Grant, University of Southern California
2021 ASE Summer Research Grant, University of Southern California
2021 Transpacific Studies Summer Research Grant, University of Southern California
2020 Diversity Research Award, Texas Christian University
2019 Kathryne McDorman Honors Scholar, Texas Christian University
2019 Paul Wassenich Founder's Medal, Texas Christian University
2017–2020 Ronald E. McNair Fellow, Texas Christian University
2016–2020 Chancellor’s Scholarship (full tuition), Texas Christian University
External Publications
Tran, Ann Ngoc. “Vietnamese Migrations and Narratives of Unsettlement.” University of Minnesota Libraries.
September 15, 2023.
Tran, Ann Ngoc. “Local Fishing Villages and the Troubled Future of Fishing in Việt Nam.” USC Dornsife.
July 10, 2023.
Tran, Ann. “8 Essential Vietnamese Restaurants in Houston’s Bellaire Neighborhood.” Vietcetera.
January 5, 2022.
Invited Lectures
“Unsettled Histories of the Vietnamese Diaspora,” Lecture for the Contested Histories Workshop, World History and Literature Initiative (WHaLI) at the International Institute at the University of Michigan, June 17–18.
Conferences and Symposiums
Association for Asian American Studies, Seattle, WA, April 27, 2024
Paper Presented: “Uncharted Waves: Alternate Routes, Refusals, and Returns on the Boat”
CSEAS Vietnam-Centric Approaches, Berkeley, CA, April 19–20, 2024
Paper Presented: “Imagined Diaspora: Anticipating Departure in Postwar Việt Nam”
Global Asias Conference, Irvine, CA, February 23, 2023
Paper Presented: “Phantasmatic Geography: Riverine Wars in the Mekong Delta”
American Studies Association, Montreal, Canada, November 5, 2023
Roundtable Participant: “The Political Lives of Infrastructure”
Western Historical Association, San Antonio, TX, October 15, 2022
Paper Presented: “Placemaking, Cultural Memory, and Refugee Politics in Westminster’s Vietnamese Supermarkets”
Society for Military History Conference, Fort Worth, TX, May 1, 2022
Roundtable Participant: “The Elusive Home Front and Its Place in Military History”
Vietnam War Studies Symposium, “1972: The War Between North and South Vietnam,” April 2022
Paper Presented: “Imperial Gift: Soap, Squalor, and the Archives of Medical Humanitarianism”
Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association Conference, October 15, 2021
Paper Presented: “Battle on Two Fronts: The Vietnamese Left in the Anti-War Movement”
Cultural Studies Association, Virtual Conference, June 10, 2021
Paper presented: “Fooding on Facebook: How Facebook Groups Saved Asian/American Restaurants in the COVID-19 Pandemic”
Association for Asian American Studies, Virtual Conference, April 8, 2021
Paper presented: “Archives in Transit: Boat Refugees and the Refuse of Viet Nam”
Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture Symposium, USC, March 2, 2021
Paper presented: “Living in Memory: The Counternarratives of War at the Boat Refugee Memorial”
Society for Military History Young Scholars Conference, Arlington, VA, May 3, 2020 (cancelled)
Paper accepted: “From Student to Hijacker: The Conversion of Vietnamese Students in America During the Vietnam War” Association for Asian American Studies, Washington, D.C., April 11, 2020 (cancelled)
Paper accepted: “A Bloody Solidarity: Nguyen Thai Binh and the Union of Vietnamese in the Anti-Vietnam War Movement” Association for Asian American Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, April 26, 2019
Paper presented: “Work After War: Sanctuary, Labor, and Vietnam American Literature”
Teaching
Teaching Assistant
Spring 2023 AMST 150: The American War in Viet Nam with Viet Thanh Nguyen
Fall 2022 AMST 101: Race and Class in Los Angeles with George J. Sánchez
Spring 2022 AMST 206: The Politics and Culture of the 1960s with George J. Sánchez
Fall 2021 AMST 252: Black Social Movements with Francille Rusan Wilson
Professional Academic Training
Journal of Southern History Manuscript Workshop, July 8, 2022
VOCES Oral History Center Summer Institute, June 6-10, 2022
SEASSI Summer Intensive Language Program, June-August 2021
Language Completed: Advanced Vietnamese I & II
Service
Graduate Representative, Vietnam Studies Group, Association for Asian Studies, January 2024–Present
Co-organizer and Participant, Transpacific Research Cluster, Department of American Studies & Ethnicity at USC, August 2021–May 2023
Organizer, Archipelagic/s Symposium, University of Southern California, April 5, 2023
Invited scholars: Candice Fujikane, Keith Camacho, Jodi Kim, Evyn Le Espiritu Gandhi
Employment
Short-Term Consultant, Orange County School District, June 2023–August 2023
• Designed and co-wrote “The Vietnamese American Refugee Experience” model curriculum and lesson plans for K-12 Freelance Writer, Vietcetera, September 2021–December 2021
• Created storytelling content with original angles and cultural relevance to a Vietnamese American reading audience Outreach Fellow, Department of English, Texas Christian University, Fall 2019–May 2020
• Managed social media and publicity for the Created storytelling content with original angles and cultural relevance to a Vietnamese American reading audience department
• Designed posters, flyers, and PowerPoints for events and important news
Writing Intern, Magacin Kabare, Bosnia and Herzegovina, June 2019–July 2019
• Conducted research and composed documents with terminology for grant proposals
• Designed student-led workshops and discussions for art and activism projects
Download CV here: