2024 CUNY Thomas Tam Visiting Professor

By

Christine Bacareza Balance
Spring to Fall 2024: CUNY Graduate Center, American Studies

During this fellowship year, Prof. Christine Balance will continue working on her single-authored manuscript, Making Sense of Martial Law, which analyzes how former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and First Lady Imelda employed the sensorial and sensational during their 21-year dictatorial rule and how U.S.- and Philippines-based performances, films, cultural objects and events extend, critique, engage with the “Marcosian imaginary.” She will also begin collaborations with Prof. Lucy San Pablo Burns and Jessica Hagedorn on Renaissance Renegade, an archival/critical companion to Hagedorn’s performance work. Prof. Balance looks forward to learning from and studying alongside CUNY faculty, students, and community members, particularly in exploring “global Asias,” as well as methods of documenting and teaching the history and activism of Asian American studies in U.S. higher education.

The CUNY Thomas Tam Visiting Professor will perform teaching, research, and guidance duties in area(s) of expertise as noted below; and share responsibility for committee and department assignments, performing administrative, supervisory, and other functions as assigned.

The Tam Visiting Professor will be based at one of the four CUNY campuses participating in the search, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, Queens College or the Graduate Center. They will teach one class a semester at that campus and will engage with students and faculty members during the appointment. The Tam Visiting Professor will participate in public events designed to raise the visibility of scholarship in Asian American studies. This will include working closely with the Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI).

This distinctive position presents an opportunity for a leading scholar to work in New York City’s diverse and dynamic environment while also working with AAARI and CUNY faculty to develop and enrich the CUNY research agenda in Asian American studies. Visiting faculty are individuals with a primary commitment to another accredited college or university who possess advanced scholarship or professional achievement.

Author Bio

Christine Bacareza Balance is associate professor of performing & media arts and Asian American studies at Cornell University, where she is core faculty with the Southeast Asia Program (SEAP), and former director of Asian American studies. Prof. Balance is the 2024 CUNY Thomas Tam Visiting Professor at the CUNY Graduate Center. She received her Ph.D. in performance studies at New York University.

Prof. Balance’s first book, Tropical Renditions: Making Musical Scenes in Filipino America (2016) received the Best First Book award from the Filipino Studies caucus of the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS). Along with Prof. Lucy San Pablo Burns, she is co-editor of the artist-scholar anthology, California Dreaming: Movement and Migration in the Asian American Imaginary (2020). Prof. Balance’s articles on the production history of Apocalypse Now, former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos, Asian American YouTube artists, OPM and Filipino phonography culture, Jessica Hagedorn's West Coast Gangster Choir, and spree killer Andrew Cunanan have been published in various academic journals.

Prof. Balance’s public humanities projects have included: "Critical Moves: Performance in Theory & Movement," an incubator for university-wide conversations on racism, inequity, and diversity, with art-making as an engine (co-organized with Karen Jaime, Cornell University); "Afterlives of Martial Law," a multi-site, multi-program public partnership with Visual Communications to archive and document the history of Philippine anti-martial law organizing in Los Angeles; and "The Songs We Carry," a traveling interactive pop-up exhibit of songs and stories of migration (commissioned by the Music Center, Los Angeles and in collaboration with Search to Involve Pilipino Americans/SIPA).

Prof. Balance is the recipient of fellowships from the Consortium for Faculty Diversity (CFD), UC President’s Postdoctoral program, Ford Foundation Postdoctoral program, and Society for the Humanities at Cornell University. She has served on the board of KulArts and continues to serve as a board member for CinemaSala, the Pop Music conference, and the AAPI Victory Alliance think tank.