Michael Tristano Jr., Ph.D.

Biography

Dr. Michael Tristano Jr. (he/him/el) earned his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Communication Studies from the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University, along with a graduate certificate in Gender Studies from the School of Social Transformation at ASU. A performance ethnographer, Michael’s work is at the intersection of performance studies, critical/cultural studies, and queer intercultural communication. His research focuses on the material conditions of queer and trans people of color and the means by which queer and trans communities of color engage in worldmaking practices and perform joy in light of oppressive conditions. Michael’s scholarship has been recognized as outstanding by several regional, national, and international associations. In 2023, the Ethnography Division of the National Communication Association recognized the strong, critical contributions of his scholarship by awarding him their Early-Career Award.Michael’s work can be found in Text and Performance Quarterly, Sexualities, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, and on the pages of several edited books. He currently serves as an associate editor, book reviews, of Text and Performance Quarterly. When Michael is not teaching and writing, he can be found in a bookstore, watching marvelous reality television, or at a drag show. 

Selected Publications

Tristano, M. Jr. (2024). Lingering longer: Performance, queer of color joy, and Baltimore’s VERSION. Sexualities. Advanced Online Publication.

Tristano, M. Jr. (2024). Banal precarity: Performing queer of color lives in contemporary times. Women’s Studies in Communication, 47(2), 161-180.

Tristano, M. Jr. (2024). Shitsex: Recontaminating queer sex and theory. Text & Performance Quarterly, 44(2), 101-116.

Tristano, M. Jr., & Terminel Iberri, A. I. (2023). Dancing with Data: A collaborative and critical qualitative inquiry. International Review of Qualitative Research, 16(2), 146-162.

LeMaster, L. & Tristano, M. Jr. (2023). A sense of healing: A relational mediation in queer (and trans) of color communism. In T. Nakayama & R. Halualani (Eds.) Handbook of Critical Intercultural Communication, Second Edition (pp. 337-349). Wiley.

Tristano, M. Jr. (2023). En/flesh: Embodying queer of color theory / performing jotería worldmaking and abolition. Border-lines: Journal of the Latino Research Center, 14, 15-29.

Tristano, M. Jr. (2022). Performing queer of color joy through collective crisis: Resistance, social science, and how I learned to dance again. Cultural Studies<-->Critical Methodologies, 22(3), 276-281

Rowe, D. & Tristano, M. Jr. (2022). Performance as method. In S. M. Croucher & D. Cronn-Mills (Eds.) Understanding Communication Research Methods, 3^rd Edition (pp. 307-320). Routledge.