Co-sponsors: Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science,
English, Latina/ Latino Studies, the Program in South Asian
and Middle Eastern Studies, and the Indian Students Association.
Paid for by the Asian Pacific American Resource Committee
Illini Union Room 406
Tuesday March 20, 2001
4:00 p.m. -6:00 p.m.
Tow- hall discussion and reception to follow
Asian American Studies Committee/Asian
Educational Media Service
Spring Film Series: Asia/ America: Intervention,
Immigration, Imagination.
The Asian American Studies Committee and the Asian Educational
Media Service is proud to present a joint film festival for
the 2000-2001 academic year: Asia/ America: Intervention,
Immigration, Imagination. This theme looks at the ways in
which histories, identities, and experiences are affected
by the fluid connections between Asia and America. Videos
will explore the experiences of Asians in their homelands
and how US policies in Asia shapes Asian immigration experiences,
identity formation, and (mis)perceptions of the West.
Each showing will occur from Noon-1:00 p.m. and will be followed
by discussion.
Friday,
February 9, 2001:
Ancestors in the Americas, Part I: Coolies, Sailors, Settlers
Illini Union Room 405
The untold story of how Asians: Filipinos, Chinese, Asian
Indians first arrived in the Americas, crossing centuries
and oceans, from the 16th- century Manila-Acapulco trade to
the Opium War to 19th-century plantation coolie labor in South
America and the Caribbean.
Friday, March 2, 2001:
Becoming American: The Odyssey of a Refugee Family
Illini Union Room 209
The story of Laotian Hang Sou and his family, preliterate
tribal farmers, from their resettlement in a refugee camp
in Thailand to their migration in the U.S. As they face months
of intense culture shocks, prejudice, and gradual adaptation
to their new home in Seattle, the family provides a rare insight
into refugee experiences and cultural diversity issues.
Friday, March 30, 2001:
Knowing Her Place
Illini Union Room 407
A moving investigation of the cultural schizophrenia experienced
by Vasu, an Indian woman who has spent most of her life in
America. Vasu's relationships with her mother and grandmother
in India and her husband and teenage sons in New York reveal
profound conflicts between her traditional upbringing and
her personal and professional aspirations.
Friday,
April 13, 2001:
Doubles: Japan and America's Intercultural Children, with
filmmaker Regge Life
Illini Union Room 405
Despite orders forbidding fraternization between United States
soldiers stationed in Japan during World War II with Japanese
women, a number of children were born in and out of wedlock,
who grew up in both America and Japan. This documentary looks
at the experiences of these children in both countries and
the ways they negotiate their identities between two cultures.
Filmmaker Regge Life will be present to discuss the video
after the showing.
Friday, April 13, 2001
Struggle and Success: the African American Experience in Japan
English Building Room 160, 7pm- 9pm
This documentary chronicles the lives of African Americans
who have chosen to live in Japan, providing a historical understanding
of racism in Asia and revealing the level of success that
African Americans have been able to achieve in their second
home.
Regge Life is co-sponsored with the Afro-American Studies
and Research Program, Cinema Studies, the Center for East
Asian and Pacific Studies, Latina/ Latino Studies, Anthropology,
Sociology, East Asian Languages and Cultures, and the Illinois
Program for Research in the Humanities. Paid for by the Asian
Pacific American Resource Committee.
Spring Working
Paper Series on Asian American Studies
2000-2001 AASC Workshop Series: Working Papers in Asian American
Studies
The Asian American Studies Committee is pleased to announce
a 2000-2001 Workshop series, "Working Papers in Asian
American Studies: New Directions for the Field." This
is an interdisciplinary workshop for interested faculty and
graduate students that will meet in the fall semester, and
again over the spring semester. Each session of the Workshop
will focus on one scholar's work in progress. The piece will
be posted on a website prior to the meeting and will also
be available for copying at the AASC office. The workshop
is designed to provide an informal setting for academic discussion:
a short presentation of the work will be followed by open
dialogue and conversation. We hope that faculty and graduate
students interested in Asian American studies will use this
Workshop to become familiar with each other's research themes
and methodologies.
We have chosen this year's theme because it spans the humanities,
social and psychological sciences, education, and performing
arts. The Workshop will provide a forum to present the newest
work in the field of Asian American studies by scholars from
across the country.
Nancy Abelmann, Associate Professor, Anthropology
Yoon Pak, Assistant Professor, Educational Policy Studies
Spring 2001 Workshop Series
Friday, February 2, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Moon-Kie Jung,
Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. Jung presented his research on Hawaii's
working class in a paper entitled, "Toward a Positive
Concept of Interracialism: The Ideological Transformation
of Hawaii's Working Class." AASC building, 1003 W. Nevada.
Wednesday, March 21, 10:00 a.m.- Noon. Valerie Ooka Pang,
Professor of the School of Teacher Education, San Diego State
University. Pang discussed contributions Asian American Studies
can make to the field of schooling and education in her paper,
"Building Linkages Between Asian American Studies and
Education." Location 17 Education Building
Friday, April 20, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Josephine Lee, Associate
Professor of English, University of Minnesota. Lee discussed
the ways that contemporary Asian American theater artists
share common political concerns and artistic vocabularies
with other artists of color and the controversies around cross-racial
casting in her paper, "Disappointing Othellos: Cross-Racial
Casting and the Baggage of Race." Location 232 International
Studies Building.
Friday, May 4, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Clark Cunningham, Professor
Emeritus of Anthropology and AASC Vice Chair, University of
Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Cunningham discussed the study
of Asians in the Americas outside of the United States and
how this study is illuminating Latin American and Caribbean
studies in his paper, "Asian Migrations to the Americas:
Beyond Asian American Studies." Location 232 International
Studies Building..
FALL 2000 EVENTS
Asian American Studies Committee Welcome
Reception
The UIUC Asian American Studies Committee invited all interested
to participate in a reception welcoming faculty, staff, and
students in Asian American Studies to campus on Thursday,
September 14, 2000 from 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. at the AASC
Building, 1003 W. Nevada. The program began at 4:30 p.m. with
remarks by speakers Richard H. Herman, Provost and Vice Chancellor
for Academic Affairs and Jesse G. Delia, Dean of the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The event provided the opportunity
to learn more about new courses and academic resources offered
in AAS on campus.
Stan Sue Brown
Bag lecture, "Asian American Studies: Where Do We Go
From Here?"
Stan
Sue, clinical psychologist and director of the Asian American
Studies Program at UC Davis, gave a brown bag lecture, "Asian
American Studies: Where Do We Go From Here?" on Tuesday,
September 26, 2000 at Noon. Dr. Sue's research is on mental
health and personality issues as they pertain to ethnic communities,
especially Asian Americans. The talk was held at the AASC
building, 1003 W. Nevada.
AASC Library
Display
Due
to the success of the Asian American Studies Committee Library
display last year, the AASC has decided to continue the display
again this year. This year's exhibit entitled "Asian
American Experiences: a History of Asians in the United States"
runs through the month of October in the Main Library central
hallway. The exhibit includes a time line of important events
in Asian American history and glass cases holding information
on anti- Asian sentiment, American American activism, Asian
Americans in popular culture, multiracial Asian Americans,
and Asian American Artists. There is also a glass case with
information on the AASC, other campus resources, and student
organizations.
The exhibit was created by the AASC interns Monica Zarazua,
Emily Wu, and Stephanie Moy; Staff associate Sharon Lee; and
graduate assistant Ida Fadzillah. Additional help was provided
by Jocelyn Yin.
Asians and Asian Americans make up 14% of the incoming freshman
population and are 12% of the total student population. As
such a sizable percentage, the AASC felt it was timely to
present a collection about Asian Americans that would interest
and educate the general student body.
Asian American
Studies Committee/Asian Educational Media Service Film Series
Asia/ America: Intervention, Immigration, Imagination.
The Asian American Studies Committee and the Asian Educational
Media Service is proud to present a joint film festival for
the 2000-2001 academic year: Asia/ America: Intervention,
Immigration, Imagination. This theme looks at the ways
in which histories, identities, and experiences are affected
by the fluid connections between Asia and America. Videos
will explore the experiences of Asians in their homelands
and how US policies in Asia shapes Asian immigration experiences,
identity formation, and (mis)perceptions of the West.
FALL FILM SERIES
Friday, September 15, 2000:
Sentimental Imperialists: America in Asia
Asian American Studies building, 1003 W. Nevada
This documentary chronicles America's involvement in Asia
through the twentieth century, highlighting U.S. images of
Asians as needing spiritual and economic "uplift."
U.S. intervention set the stage for Asian immigration to America
and played an integral role in shaping the expectations that
both Americans and Asians held toward each other.
Friday,
October 13, 2000:
Dreaming Filipinos
Asian American Studies building, 1003 W. Nevada
Since the 1898 Spanish-American War and the subsequent control
of the Philippine education system by the U.S., Filipinos
have often perceived America as superior to their homeland.
A continuation of the themes highlighted in Sentimental Imperialists,
this comedy satire explores cultural imperialism and identity
by asking the colonial question, "What's wrong with the
Filipino?"
Friday,
November 3, 2000:
The Future of the Pacific Basin and
Who Killed Vincent Chin?
Asian American Studies building, 1003 W. Nevada
This documentary highlighted the rise of Japan as an economic
power in the late twentieth century, as well as the rise of
anti-Japanese sentiment during a U.S. recession. The first
part of Who Killed Vincent Chin? was shown following
the documentary.
Friday, December 8, 2000:
Who Killed Vincent Chin?
Asian American Studies building, 1003 W. Nevada
The conclusion of this Academy Award nominated film relates
the stark facts of Vincent Chin's brutal murder by disgruntled
auto workers in Detroit who assume he is Japanese and the
cause for their employment frustrations.
Working Paper
Series on Asian American Studies
2000-2001 AASC Workshop Series: Working Papers in Asian American
Studies
The Asian American Studies Committee is pleased to announce
a 2000-2001 Workshop series, "Working Papers in Asian
American Studies: New Directions for the Field." This
is an interdisciplinary workshop for interested faculty and
graduate students that will meet in the fall semester, and
again over the spring semester. Each session of the Workshop
focused on one scholar's work in progress. The workshop was
designed to provide an informal setting for academic discussion:
a short presentation of the work will be followed by open
dialogue and conversation. We hope that faculty and graduate
students interested in Asian American studies will use this
Workshop to become familiar with each other's research themes
and methodologies.
We have chosen this year's theme because it spans the humanities,
social and psychological sciences, education, and performing
arts. The Workshop will provide a forum to present the newest
work in the field of Asian American studies by scholars from
across the country.
Nancy Abelmann, Associate Professor, Anthropology
Yoon Pak, Assistant Professor, Educational Policy Studies
FALL WORKSHOPS
The first presenter in the workshop series for the Fall 2000
semester was Gayatri Gopinath, Assistant Professor of Women's
Studies, University of California Davis. Gopinath presented
her research on the work of queer South Asian diasporic writers
Shani Mootoo and Shyam Selvadurai in a paper entitled, "Nostalgia,
Desire, Diaspora: Contemporary South Asian Diasporic Literature"
on Monday, September 18 from Noon - 2:00 p.m.
The second presenter will be Emily Ignacio, Assistant Professor
of Sociology at Loyola University, Chicago. Ignacio presented
her paper entitled, "Mapping Cyberspace: An Analysis
of Discussions about Location, Citizenship, and Membership
in the Filipino Diaspora," on Thursday, October 26 from
Noon - 2:00 p.m.
Fall 2000
Asian American Studies Committee Council Meeting
The Wen Ho Lee Case
On Tuesday, October 17, 2000, from 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m, the
AASC had its Fall council meeting which featured a panel discussion
on the Wen Ho Lee Case. The panel featured:
Shau-Jin Chang, Professor Emeritus, Physics
Daria Roithmayr, Professor of Law
Ron Yates, Professor of Journalism
Augusto Espiritu, Professor of History
Moderated by Yoon Pak, Professor of Educational Policy Studies
Wen Ho Lee, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratories,
was terminated from his job in March of 1999 due to allegations
that he was a spy who had passed on to China the "crown
jewels" of the Pentagon's nuclear arsenal. He was arrested
in December and kept in solitary confinement for 278 days
despite the lack of evidence of his espionage. Lee's mistreatment
sparked countless protests from the scientific community,
Los Alamos employees, concerned citizens, and the Chinese
and Asian Americans communities. Lee was released on September
13 after reaching an agreement to plead guilty to only one
count of mishandling nuclear secrets out of the original 59
counts charged against him.
(left to right: Moderator Yoon Pak and panelists: Ron Yates,
Shau-Jin Chang, Daria Roithmayr, Augusto Espiritu
Committee on Institutional
Cooperation Meeting, "Asian American Studies in the Big
Ten."
On November 12, 2000, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign's
Asian American Studies program sponsored the first ever meeting
of AAS program faculty, staff, and students to discuss the
State of Asian American Studies in the Big Ten. The meeting
was funded in part by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation
(CIC). The idea for a CIC meeting had been discussed in the
past at other national conferences. The meeting was convened
in the hopes of strengthening networks in the field of AAS
among the Big Ten Universities.
Participants at this meeting included UIUC, University of
Illinois at Chicago, Indiana University, University of Michigan,
Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Pennsylvania State,
Purdue, and the University of Wisconsin Madison. Representatives
from the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa
could not attend.
Proceedings were generated from the meeting as well as a
list serv and web site. To view the web site and for more
information, go to: www.uiuc.edu/unit/aasincic.
