Pheng Cheah

Research Bio

Pheng Cheah is completing a book entitled The Politics and Rights of Life: Toward a Biopolitical Theory of Human Rights and a collection of essays on the changing character of power in contemporary globalization and the role of culture and comparison in these transformations with special reference to postcolonial Asia. Also in progress is a book on globalization and world cinema from the three Chinas that focuses on the films of Jia Zhangke, Tsai Ming-liang and Fruit Chan and includes interviews with the three directors.

Research Expertise and Interest

world literature, human rights, nationalism, legal philosophy, feminism, 18th-20th century continental philosophy & contemporary critical theory, postcolonial theory & anglophone postcolonial literatures, cosmopolitanism & globalization, social & political thought

Teaching

Courses taught during the three most recent terms
2026 Spring
  • Discourses of Colonialism and Postcoloniality  [RHETOR 155]  

  • Contemporary Rhetorical Theory and Practice  [RHETOR 205]  

  • Honors Thesis  [RHETOR H190B]  

2025 Fall
  • Rhetoric of the Political Novel  [RHETOR 156]  

  • Rhetorical Theory and Criticism: Rhetorical Theory  [RHETOR 240G]  

  • Honors Thesis  [RHETOR H190A]  

2025 Spring
  • Approaches and Paradigms in the History of Rhetorical Theory II  [RHETOR 103B]  

  • Rhetorics of Sexual Exchange and Sexual Difference  [RHETOR 182]  

  • Honors Thesis  [RHETOR H190B]