MOUNTAIN MOVERS: Student Activism & The Emergence of Asian American Studies Edited by Russell Jeung, Karen Umemoto, Harvey Dong, Eric Mar, Lisa Hirai Tsuchitani, Arnold Pan (Los Angeles: UCLA Asian American Studies Center, 2019, 276 pp., $22, paperback) Those of us who are involved in Japanese American and Asian American Pacific Islander causes and organizations […]
CSU faculty administrators at odds over ethnic studies requirement
California State University took another step Nov. 17 toward requiring students to take an ethnic studies class as part of their lower-division coursework, a move that would also have significant implications for the state’s 115 degree-granting community colleges. During the 23-campus system’s Board of Trustees meeting Nov. 17, the educational policy committee voted 9-2 to […]
From the strike for ethnic studies to the movement for Black lives
INTRODUCING A NEW COLUMN: We are proud to announce Amy Sueyoshi, the dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University, whose new column Nikkei Q seeks to answer the Nikkei community’s most pressing questions on queer topics, such as same-sex sexuality, non-binary gender, and discussion items that are broadly disconcerting or […]
Reflecting on 50 years of ethnic studies at where it all started
Over the course of five months, from November 1968 to March 1969, protesters from the Black Student Union and the Third World Liberation Front chanted, “On strike, shut it down!” The protesters wanted to expose the autocracy and issues of racism found on the university campus. They also wanted a more inclusive environment for people […]
SFSU reaches joint agreement with hunger strikers May 11
San Francisco State University President Leslie Wong and student hunger strikers signed a joint letter May 11 regarding funding for the College of Ethnic Studies, the university said in a statement. The letter also states that “all parties have agreed to honor a silent period through the end of the year.” The university said the […]
Brenda Wong Aoki to present true ‘Forbidden Love’ story in San Francisco
Storyteller and writer Brenda Wong Aoki will perform “Uncle Gunjiro’s Girlfriend: A True Story of Forbidden Love” with Emmy Award-winning composer Mark Izu and koto artist Shoko Hikage as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival starting Thursday, May 19 at the Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture in San Francisco. “In my […]
Don Nakanishi, pioneer in Asian American studies, dies at 66
Don Nakanishi, a UCLA scholar who gained national recognition for establishing Asian American studies as a viable and relevant field of scholarship, teaching, community service and public discourse, died March 21 in Los Angeles at the age of 66. A faculty member at UCLA for 35 years, he served as the director of the Asian American […]
Asian American Movement study showcases U.S. cultural radicalism’s robust tradition
CHAINS OF BABYLON: The Rise of Asian America By Daryl J. Maeda (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009, 224 pp., $20, paperback) At California State University, Fullerton, I taught history, Asian American studies and American studies courses. My favorite was an American studies offering developed in the mid-1970s: “American Cultural Radicalism.” If now teaching it, […]
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