Prof. TANG Tse Shang Denise 鄧芝珊
Associate Professor
MCS Programme Director
Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning)
Location: Room 119, Ho Sin Hang Building 何善衡樓119室
Phone: (852) 2616 7468
Fax: (852) 2572 5170
Email: [email protected]
- Biography
Denise Tse-Shang Tang is an interdisciplinary ethnographer specializing in gender, lesbian sexualities, social spaces and cultural politics in Chinese societies. Tang’s book Conditional Spaces: Hong Kong Lesbian Desires and Everyday Life (Hong Kong University Press, 2011), maps the complex relations between personal subjectivities and spatialities as they emerge and interact with various social justice movements and alternative communities. She has published in The Sociological Review, Crime, Media, Culture, Sexualities, Media, Culture & Society, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. Tang’s current book project is on inter-Asia intimacies among older lesbians and bisexual women in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Present ethnographic focus is on everyday lives of trans men in Thailand and Hong Kong. Tang is the recipient of 2023 Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship Scheme (Hong Kong) and the Hunt-Simes Visiting Chair of Sexuality Studies at the University of Sydney.
Tang is a recipient of international and local grants for inter-Asia research in the following topics: Being Trans and Masculine: A Comparative Ethnography of Trans Men in Bangkok and Hong Kong (General Research Fund, 2020-23), Building Inclusive Workplaces for Lesbian and Bisexual Women in Hong Kong’s Financial Services Industry (Knowledge Transfer Fund, 2019-20) Marriage equality in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan (Sumitomo Foundation, 2016-17), Ageing and lesbian bodies in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan (General Research Fund, 2016-19), Migration of Hongkongers to Taiwan (Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, 2016-18).
Prior to entering academia, Tang worked as program manager and HIV testing counselor for communities including LGBTQI Asian & Pacific Islander youth, survivors of sexual violence, First Nations women, HIV-affected communities and youth in juvenile justice system, in San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver B.C. She coordinated the first queer A&PI oral history exhibit, Leaving Silence: Queer Asian & Pacific Islander Oral History Exhibit (Seattle) and the first queer Asian conference in Vancouver B.C., Lotus Roots (funded under Health Canada). Upon returning back to Hong Kong, Tang became the film festival director with the Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and was a guest curator at Women Make Waves Film Festival, Taiwan. More information at https://hkwomenfilmmakers.wordpress.com/tang-denise-tse-shang/
- Education
PhD in Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
MA in Educational Studies, The University of British Columbia
BA in Women’s Studies, The University of British Columbia
- Selected Publication
Tang, DTS. Everyday Erotics: Ethnographies of Older Lesbians and Bisexual Women in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. (under contract with Duke University Press)
Tang, DTS. (2023) Tracing Dystopian Insta-Emotions Among Hong Kong Trans Men. International Journal of Communication. Link
Tang, DTS. (2022) The T Needle. In: Beyes, T., Holt, R., Steinbrügge, B. & Denny, S., (eds) Proof of Stake: Technological Claims. Mailand: Mousse Publishing. A publication for collaborative group exhibit Proof of Stake – Technological Claims with the Centre for Digital Cultures, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Museum am Rothenbaum. Kulturen und Künste der Welt and University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK). Link
Pang, B., Tang, D.T.S. & Law, S.F. (2022) Trans*, female bodybuilding and racial equality: narratives from a Hong Kong Chinese gender-fluid bodybuilder. Sport, Education and Society.. Link
Tang, S and Tang, DTS. (2021) Not Man Enough! Masculinity-in-crisis in fieldwork. Journal of Gender Studies. Link
Tang, DTS. (2021) Knowledge Production at a Critical Moment: The Case of Hong Kong. Journal of Historical Sociology. Link
Tang, DTS. (2020) Everyday Erotics in Density: An Urban Ethnography of Older Lesbians and Bisexual Women in Hong Kong. Gender, Place and Culture. Link
Tang, DTS. (2020) Of Longing and Waiting: An inter-Asia theory of love and intimacy among older lesbians and bisexual women. Sexualities. (Online First) October 13, 2020. Link
Khor D, Tang DTS and Kamano S. (2020) Global Norms, State Regulations, and Local Activism Marriage Equality and Same-Sex Partnership, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity Rights in Japan and Hong Kong. In: Bosia MJ, McEvoy SM and Rahman M (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Global LGBT and Sexual Diversity Politics (pp.283-300). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tang, D.T.S., Khor, D. & Chen, Y.C. (2019) Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Partnership: A Comparative Study of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. The Sociological Review. DOI: Link
Yan, K.C. & Tang, D.T.S. (2018) LGBT Youth in Schools: A case study of Hong Kong. In D. Marshall, M.L. Rasmussen and P. Aggleton (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook on Youth and Citizenship . London and New York: Routledge.
Tang, D.T.S. (2017). Feeling Alive: Voices of incarcerated youth in We Are Alive. Crime, Media and Culture. DOI: Link
Tang, D.T.S. (2017). All I get is an emoji: Dating on lesbian mobile phone app Butterfly. Media, Culture & Society. DOI: Link
Tang, D.T.S. (2017). Youth work in a changing society: A case study of Hong Kong youth service providers. Qualitative Social Work. DOI: 10.1177/1473325016680283
Tang, D.T.S. (2016). Essential labels? Gender identity politics on Hong Kong lesbian mobile phone application Butterfly. In L. Hjorth and O. Khoo (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of New Media in Asia (pp.263-274). London and New York: Routledge.
Tang, D.T.S. (2014). Perspectives on same-sex sexualities and self-harm amongst service providers and teachers in Hong Kong. Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning, 14(4), 444-456.
Tang, D.T.S. (2012) An Unruly Death: Queer Media in Hong Kong. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 18(4), 597-614.
Tang, D.T.S. (2012) Branding Satire, Being Alternative: Locating Queerness in the videos of Hong Kong Media Artist Yuen Pui-Man. Berliner China-Hefte, 40: 111-126.
Tang, D.T.S. (2011) Conditional Spaces: Hong Kong Lesbian Desires and Everyday Life. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
- Research Grants
Digital Intimacy, Young Women, and Social Transformation in Asia (亞洲的社會轉型與年輕女性的數位親密關係)
Research Grants Council – General Research Fund
(Co-Investigators: Tejaswini Niranjana, Ahmedabad University. Ritty Lukose, NYU Gallatin. Audrey Yue, National University of Singapore. Nitya Vasudevan, Azim Premji University. Holly Hou, South China Agricultural University. Bai Meijiadai, Liaoning University.)
HKD $ 854,040Being Trans and Masculine: A Comparative Ethnography of Trans Men in Bangkok and Hong Kong (2020-2023)
Research Grants Council – General Research Fund, HKD$437,500Same-Sex Partnership in Hong Kong and Japan: Where Family Studies Meets Queer Studies (2019-2022)
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Principal Investigators: Saori Kamano (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research), Diana Khor (Hosei University)
Collaborator: Denise Tang (Lingnan University)
Funding amount: ¥7,900,000 (approximately HKD$565,373)Building Inclusive Workplaces for Lesbian and Bisexual Women in Hong Kong’s Financial Services Industry (2019/20)
Innovation and Impact Fund – Knowledge Transfer Programme, HKD$80,000Now We Hear Them: A qualitative study of older lesbians in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan (2016-2019)
Research Grants Council – General Research Fund, HKD 304,426A Comparative Study of Marriage Equality in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan (2016/17)
Sumitomo Foundation Grant, JPY 700,000.Hongkongers’ Taiwan Dream: Exploring Life Experiences of Hong Kong Immigrants Living in Taiwan (2016-2018)
Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, USD 40,000 - Media and Public Engagement
MCS對談節目的第一集 —— 對話鄧芝珊(Denise Tang) 教授 Link
The Cornell Contemporary China Initiative: Everyday Erotics: Older Chinese Lesbians February 21, 2022 Link
Tang, D.T.S., Teng, S., Tan, C., Lam, B., & Yuan, C. (2021) Building Inclusive Workplaces for Lesbians and Bisexual Women in Hong Kong’s Financial Services Industry. Link
Past Festival Director & Curator for Hong Kong Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Guest Programmer for Women Make Waves Film Festival Taiwan and Speaker on Panels Organized by OUT Leadership Asia Summit 2021, 1a space, Mill6 Foundation, The Queer Imaging & Riting Kollective for Elders (Quirk-e), Community Business, Moody’s Analytics, Consulate General of Canada, Hong Kong Sex Cultural Festival, Po Leung Kuk (Victim Support Programme for Victims of Family Violence), Pink Dot.
- Postgraduate Research Supervision
I am available for postgraduate research supervision in the areas of gender and sexualities, queer studies, inter-Asia cultural studies and Hong Kong studies.
Co-supervision at Lingnan University:
2020 Qu Chang (PhD) “Feels A Lot Like Love”: Love-in(g) China in Post-Reform China
2021 Jose Kervin Cesar B. Calabias (PhD)Transgressive Indigeneity: The Igorot Domestic Workers of Hong KongPrimary supervision, HKU:
2015 – 2017 Leung, Kei Yan (MPhil) Good Farmers’ in Traditional and Contemporary Sense: An Ethnographic Study of Farmers in Lai Chi Wo
2013 – 2014 Kok, Yuen Han (MPhil) Negotiating Hong Kong Identity in the Post-80s GenerationCo- supervision of research postgraduate students, HKU:
2016 – 2020 Luk, Ka Wing (PhD) Agency in youth crisis: a study of stay-at-home adults and the intergenerational relationship in prolonged transition
2012 – 2017 Yeung, Sin Sin (PhD) Doing families & parenting practices : An exploratory study of Chinese families in Hong Kong and Singapore
2016 – 2018 Yan, Kin Cheung (MPhil) Emotional labour amid social turmoil: a study of liberal studies teachers in Hong KongPrimary supervision (MA), Shih Hsin University, Taiwan:
2012 Chiang, Ying-Fan. Masculine Female Athletes’ Survival Strategies and the Gender Culture in Sports Field.
2011 Wu, Yu-Jie. The Multiple Sexual Practice of Butch-Identified Lesbians in the Lesbian Relationship.
Yeh, Ching-Yi. The Everyday Life and Survival Strategies of Masculine Women in Taiwan.
2010 Lai, Cheng-Hung. Taipei Knot: Gay Urban Imaginations and Everyday Life of Taiwanese Gay Men.
Peng, Hsin-Yun. In the Face of Marriage: Survival Tactics of Taiwan’s Nutongzhis
2009 Huang, Ting-Jing. Repressed in Practice? Gender Roles in Taiwan’s Independent Rock Bands: A Case Study of Ten Women Guitarists.