Keynote Presentation
From Princeton Classroom to New Jersey State House: AAPI Curriculum, Advocacy, and Legislation
Co-Sponsors: SMU Center for Presidential History, William P. Clements Department of History, and Asian Studies Program
In this presentation, Dr. Sadaf Jaffer will discuss the importance of teaching Asian American Studies at the K-12 and college level. She will share a story of how she successfully advocated for an AAPI curriculum in New Jersey public schools. Dr. Jaffer bolstered representation for women and minorities in politics as the first Asian American woman and the first Muslim American to serve in the New Jersey Legislature. A transformative leader with 20 years of public engagement, higher education, and government expertise, she is dedicated to mobilizing diverse stakeholders to address the needs of women, minorities, and economically under-resourced communities.
This keynote presentation is also part of the Scott Hawkins Lecture Series sponsored by SMU’s Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute, Center for Presidential History, William P. Clements Department of History, and Asian Studies Program.
Research Presentations
Moderator: Hannah Park Lee
The Experiences of Asian International Students in a Predominately White Institution During the Era of COVID-19
Presenter: Dr. Sungman (Tyler) Kim
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on Asian international students in U.S. higher education institutions. This study aimed to explore the experiences and challenges of 13 Asian international students attending Southern Methodist University (SMU), a predominantly white institution during the pandemic.
The participants shared their insights through semi-structured interviews, which revealed several challenges, such as adapting to new learning modalities and experiencing racism due to the rise of Asian hate. The findings also showed that the participants reported feelings of loneliness, and their sense of belonging has diminished during this time.
This study provides important insights into the experiences of Asian international students during the pandemic and highlights the need for more support for this population. The study concludes with recommendations for administration, faculty, and staff from the researcher and participants to address these challenges and support the well-being of Asian international students in higher education institutions.
The Complexities of AAAPI’s Identities amidst the Surge of Anti-Asian Hate Incidents
Presenter: Dr. Penchan Phoborisut
Abstract: The escalation of white supremacy in the United States has prompted people of color to internalize assimilation that forged specific ways of thinking and performative act to safeguard their survival. Often, this leads to conformity that downplays or suppresses their identities. In the wake of the surge of anti-Asian hate incidents in the United States, people identifying as Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders (AAAPI) have faced additional challenges. They have had a complicated narrative about their identities and sense of belonging in American society. This project examines the connection among the macro discourses of the AAAPI members, the rising threats to their identities, the working of their racial identities, and the fluidity of the perceived identities.
By engaging in the qualitative inquiry, this work offers a window into the complexity of the identities of the members of the AAAPI communities that are far from a model minority myth or a monolith. This work also elucidates the existing threats to identities that trigger vulnerability and segregation—the “perpetual foreigners.” The findings from this research offer suggestions for educational institutions to provide more supports and resources that promote AAAPI’s sense of belonging and inclusion and implement collective actions against racial discrimination.
From Criminalizing China to Criminalizing the Chinese
Presenter: Pei (Leo) Yu, Esq.
Abstract: Many scholars have studied the racialization of Asian Americans and found that perpetual foreignness stands at the core of their ascriptive identity, which was formed in the 19th century, closely related to the dominant society’s racial understanding of the Chinese. This study further investigates this racialization process, with a contemporary lens: What does perpetual foreignness mean to the Chinese in the 21st century?
This study argues that, for the Chinese, the foreignness in today’s America means more than just otherness, inferiority, and inassimilability; instead, the Chinese foreignness has acquired an additional specific meaning: the unquestionable linkage to China, America’s most significant geopolitical challenger.
This study uses the Justice Departments’ failed China Initiative to investigate this new ascriptive identity of the Chinese and argues that the geopolitical tension between China and the U.S. plays a vital role in this change. Today, the Chinese are not just foreign; they are foreign perpetrators. This new ascriptive identity of the Chinese resonates with the differential racialization tenet of the Critical Race Theory that the dominant society racializes different minority groups at different times in response to shifting needs and interests.
Lunch & Book Talk
Redefining the Immigrant South
Presenter: Dr. Uzma Quraishi
Moderator: Rashida Shafiq
Published in 2020 by the University of North Carolina Press in their New Directions in Southern Studies series, Redefining the Immigrant South examines the significance of immigration from South Asia as a window into the post-Jim Crow American South. The book reframes our understanding of twentieth century migration, the changing character of the U.S. South, and the tangled politics of race, class, and ethnicity in the United States. Quraishi takes a long view of the immigration process, bridging the global with the local—from the state-driven formation of migration linkages overseas during the Cold War to the final years of immigrants’ lives in Houston’s suburbs.
AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS
- 2021 Theodore Saloutos Book Prize, Immigration and Ethnic History Society
- 2022 Association for Asian American Studies Award for Best Book in History
- Honorable Mention, 2021 Pacific Coast Branch Book Award, American Historical Association, Pacific Coast Branch
Moderated Discussion
The Future of Asian American Studies: Activism, Community, Solidarity
Presenter: Dr. Eric Tang
Moderator: Dr. LaiYee Leong
Co-Sponsor: SMU Office of Diversity and Inclusion
American Studies is embarking on its sixth decade in higher education. What does its future hold? To answer this question, this session looks back upon its three original pillars: Activism, Community, Solidarity. We will explore the possibility and limitations of Asian American political activism, what it means to be community-focused, and the terms of “showing up” in solidarity with others. This moderated discussion is part of the Bridge Builder Lecture Series sponsored by SMU’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
Workshop
Implicit Biases and Microaggressions in U.S. College Settings: Applying a C.H.A.NG.E. Approach to Communication with AAPI and “Immigrant” Women Faculty
Presenters: Dr. Yea-Wen Chen and Dr. Brandi Lawless
Co-Sponsors: SMU Women and LGBT Center and Women and Gender Studies Program.
The purpose of this workshop is to expand participants’ understanding of what implicit biases and microaggressions are, how they manifest in academic spaces, and how to address microaggressions and improve communication with AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) and “immigrant” women faculty. Specifically, this workshop focuses on the particular ways in which AAPI folks and “immigrant” women become targets for microaggressions on college campuses and offers a C.H.A.N.G.E approach to promote more inclusive communication practices. We place the term “immigrant” in quotation marks intentionally and strategically to be inclusive of varying immigrations statuses: F-1 student visas, H1B work permit holders, green card holders, and naturalized U.S. citizens. Based on our own research (Chen, 2014, 2018, 2020; Chen & Lawless, 2016, 2018; Lawless & Chen, 2015, 2017; Lawless, 2018), we offer some tips, tools, and recommendations.
Vietnamese Refugee Photography Exhibition
Becoming Texans, Becoming Americans: Voices and Images of Vietnamese North Texans
Creators: Dr. Betsy Brody and Byrd Williams IV
The “Becoming Texans, Becoming Americans” Oral History project documents the stories of Vietnamese refugees who arrived in North Texas following the fall of Saigon in April 1975. The oral history interviews, conducted by Dr. Betsy Brody, are archived at Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History and illuminate particular challenges faced by Vietnamese refugees in the post-Vietnam War era, the process of starting a new life in a new country, and what it means to “become American.”
Fourth generation Texas photographer, Byrd Williams IV collaborated with Brody to create portraits of each of the narrators in the “Becoming Texans, Becoming Americans” Oral History Collection. Williams and Brody asked narrators to bring with them to the studio objects that were meaningful or significant to their stories. The narrators were photographed, with their objects, using a large format camera built in the early 1900s. The black and white photographs, processed using a technique called “swift-toning,” have a 3D effect and, because of a layer of selenium and gold added during the printing stage, will last five hundred years or longer.
Dr. Brody and Mr. Williams IV presented this project on the SMU campus on April 10, 2023 and are kind enough to let the exhibit remain available in the Dallas Hall for the pleasure of our symposium participants and in celebration of the AAPI Heritage Month at SMU.