Rate My Professor Casey Miller

Casey Miller is an associate professor of anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. A cultural anthropologist, he specializes in the anthropology of gender and sexuality, medical anthropology, LGBT/queer anthropology, and contemporary China. Miller's academic journey began with his graduation from Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong, followed by a B.A. in philosophy, politics, and economics from Magdalen College, University of Oxford in 2004. He then obtained an M.A. in Regional Studies—East Asia from Harvard University in 2006 and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Brandeis University in 2013. His doctoral training equipped him with expertise in ethnographic methods, which he has applied extensively in his fieldwork.

Prior to joining Muhlenberg College, Miller held positions as a visiting assistant professor of anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from August 2013 to May 2016 and as a postdoctoral research fellow at Brown University's Population Studies and Training Center. At Muhlenberg, he teaches courses such as “Medicine & Culture” and contributes to departmental and campus initiatives, including leading discussions for the Center for Ethics programs. Miller's research centers on the intersections of kinship, family, gender, sexuality, civil society, and health in China, particularly queer communities in northwest China. Drawing on over a decade of ethnographic fieldwork in Xi’an, his book Inside the Circle: Queer Culture and Activism in Northwest China explores grassroots queer organizations like Tong’ai, a gay men’s HIV/AIDS NGO, and UNITE, a lesbian women’s group. The work illuminates how queer individuals form alternative families of care and engage in everyday activism while navigating traditional moral landscapes. Notable peer-reviewed articles include “We can only be healthy if we love ourselves: Queer AIDS NGOs, kinship, and alternative families of care in China” (2016) and “Dying for Money: The Effects of Global Health Initiatives on NGOs Working with Gay Men and HIV/AIDS in Northwest China” (2016). Through his scholarship, Miller challenges Western-centric queer theory by centering local histories and perspectives.