About

I’m Theresa N. Kenney (she/her/siya), a Pilipinx of mixed Kapampangan and white European descent. She is a settler from Mohkinstsis (Calgary, Alberta) in Treaty 7 Territory.

I hold a PhD in English and Cultural Studies from McMaster University, where I specialized in asexual, aromantic, and platonic intimacies within queer Asian North American cultural production. My research centers how asexual, aromantic, and platonic forms of intimacy can resist colonial, capitalist, and compulsory sexual logics. Across my projects, I explore how diasporic and queer relationalities open up possibilities for living otherwise.

My scholarship has been published in journals and collections such as Feminist Formations, IDEAH: Interdisciplinary Digital Engagement in the Arts and Humanities, decomp journal, and the latest edition of Asexualities from Routledge. I am also featured in the CBC Gem documentary series The Big Sex Talk, where I speak on asexuality and the nuances of desire, intimacy, and representation.

Throughout my academic and activist work, I am committed to building more accessible, relational, and anti-colonial futures. My mentorship and teaching practices are grounded in feminist, queer, and anti-racist pedagogies, with a deep emphasis on collective knowledge-making, access, and care. I have developed and taught courses on Asian American literature, feminist and queer theory, digital cultures, and critical race studies.

My academic journey has been supported by several awards, including the SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, the Ontario Graduate Fellowship, the Lyons Humanities OGS in New Media and Communication, and the Don Goellnicht PhD Memorial Award. I have also served as an Educational Development Fellow, a Graduate Resident in Digital Scholarship, and an organizer of student-led anti-racism coalitions.

When I am not writing or teaching, you can often find me reading, making zines, doomscrolling on Tiktok or thinking about the politics of food, diasporic memory, and tenderness as resistance.