CEW+ recognizes Kai for their contributions to the study of gender and religion and names them a Riecker Graduate Student Research Fellow.

Kai Ngu is a third-year doctoral student in anthropology and history at U-M Ann Arbor, specializing in Southeast Asia with a focus on Malaysian Borneo. Born in Malaysia to a Chinese Malaysian family and raised in the United States, Kai occupies a unique “inside-outsider” space when they return to their birthplace in Malaysia to conduct research. Kai’s upbringing in Sarawak and Sabah, two states in East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo, has informed and inspired their professional journey, and they have returned to Sabah for anthropological and ethnographic research on a CEW+ Fellowship. Kai is proud to be from Malaysian Borneo, and they are happy to continue representing it through their ongoing research.

Kai’s research aims to contribute an ecological and trans-informed approach to gender variance among the animist ritual specialists–”bobolians”–of the Kadazandusun indigenous groups in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. While bobolians have historically been women who are tasked with ensuring balance between humans and their environment, the past decade has witnessed a rise in apprentices of different genders who have had to learn “female rites.” Through ethnographic research in Sabah at the intersection of religion, more-than-human studies, and trans studies, Kai hopes to analyze how these apprentices are reinventing traditions and renegotiating with spirits of the environment and of their ancestors. One of Kai’s professors notes that they are a “smart, thoughtful, ethical, and profoundly creative person” whose work “promises to enlarge our understanding of gender and religion.”

In addition to Kai’s studies, they have worked as a freelance writer for the past decade. They also have several projects that advocate for LGBTQ equity in Christian spaces. Namely, they currently serve on the board of Transmission Ministry Collective, a nonprofit for transgender Christians.

CEW+ recognizes Kai for their contributions to the study of gender and religion and names them a Riecker Graduate Student Research Fellow.