Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI) 2024 Symposium
Interrogating AAPI Identities: Intersectional Scholarship, Organizing and Transformative Solidarities
CUNY Law School
May 17, 2024
Coined in 1968, “Asian American” captures a vast and heterogenous racialized group that includes diverse ethnicities, religions, and cultures. The addition of “Pacific Islander” recognizes shared sociopolitical, historical, and phenotypic similarities among those who fall under the category, AAPI. The communities that encompass this racialized label include immigrants to the U.S. with origins from South (e.g. India, Bangladeshi, Pakistani); Southeast (e.g. Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia); and East (e.g. Korea, Japan, China) Asia; and also include members from broader Asian diasporic communities (e.g. Indo-Caribbean, Japanese-Peruvian, Chinese-Mexican), as well as those who are indigenous to the Americas (e.g. Native Hawai’ian, Samoan, Saipanese); become Americans through international adoption from Asian countries; or are mixed race.
What is AAPI? There are differences among separate communities, but there are also similarities that bind us as a people. In recent years, differences, including religions, political ideology, color, class, and citizenship status among Asian Americans in the United States and Asia have created notable fissures. It is thus ever timely for scholarly and community-based interventions to help us revisit the questions of who are Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders; the complicated sociohistory and current iteration of AAPI studies; and broad concerns that affect “AAPIs” as a racialized entity. Because CUNY is in New York City, home to the most diverse AAPI population in the U.S., we are well-situated to not only examine but critically interrogate what it means to be AAPI, and the separate identities that comprise this larger umbrella identity. As a whole, inclusive of mixed race individuals, AAPIs are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in New York City (and the U.S.), currently making up a combined 11% of the city. This racial and ethnic demographic shift has been reflected at CUNY, with an increase to 23% of students identifying as Asian.
For this symposium, we invite students, scholars, community organizers, and/or practitioners to share their innovative research and creative works, pedagogical projects, programmatic efforts, and other activities that address the broad scope of “AAPI Identities.” Proposals can take the form of individual presentations, themed panels, roundtable discussions, workshops, or other formats. The committee has particular interest in proposals from cultural workers. Potential topics surrounding AAPI identities include but are not limited to:
- AAPI families, inclusive of intergenerational dynamics, family formation, adoption, religiosity, etc.
- Storytelling, research methods, and community building
- Issues and needs that concern broad AAPI identities, including laws and legislation
Please submit your proposal through this Google Form by March 31, 2024.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent out in early April 2024.
Questions? Contact AAARI at info@aaari.info
