Betty Lee Sung, co-founder of the Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI), Professor Emerita, City College of New York, and recipient of the 2017 Association for Asian American Studies Lifetime Achievement Award, established an endowment of $100,000 at the City University of New York to create a research fund under the auspices of AAARI. The fund is intended to support the research by providing funds for a research assistant, copywriter, research travel, acquisition or access to research material and similar costs so that the researcher can complete the project.
2024 Recipients
Project: Hear Me Roar: East Asian American Women in NYC Politics
Larry Tung (Fashion Institute of Technology/SUNY) & Mehrunnisa Wani (York College/CUNY)
Hear Me Roar (working title) is a PBS-style documentary that highlights the lives and careers of five East Asian American women currently serving in New York City politics: Councilmembers Sandra Ung, Linda Lee, and Susan Zhuang; State Senator Iwen Chu; and State Assemblymember Grace Lee. The film explores their personal backgrounds, paths to public service, and efforts to break race and gender stereotypes while advocating for their communities. It also contextualizes the rise of East Asian American representation in New York City politics, which began in 2002 and has seen significant growth in the last two decades. The documentary aims to inspire greater civic engagement among Asian Americans and others, fostering a more inclusive and active democracy.
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Larry Tung is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and media educator based in New York City, currently an assistant professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. With an M.F.A. in TV Production from Brooklyn College/CUNY and an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, he has taught at several universities, including Hofstra and York College/CUNY. His films, focusing on social justice and human rights, have been featured in over 70 global film festivals. Notable works include Daughters from China, Welcome to My Queer Bookstore, From Leonard to Leona, and Children of Drum, with his latest film, Not Just Another Pageant, premiering at the Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival in September 2024. |
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Mehrunnisa Wani is a scholar and educator at York College/CUNY, where she teaches courses on global studies, international relations, and South Asian politics. With a focus on post-colonial studies and conflict resolution, her research explores the intersections of identity, power, and justice in South Asia, particularly in relation to Kashmir. Wani has contributed to various academic publications and has been an advocate for promoting a deeper understanding of global issues through education. Her work seeks to amplify underrepresented voices and offer nuanced perspectives on complex geopolitical matters. |
Project: Queen of Spring
Ava Chin (College of Staten Island/CUNY & CUNY Graduate Center)
Queen of Spring is a follow-up to Ava Chin’s award-winning memoir Mott Street. The new book explores the ongoing impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act on multiple generations of the author’s family in New York City’s Chinatown, particularly focusing on the 1950s-1970s. Prof. Chin aims to trace the roots of Chinese immigration by researching the historical context of the Opium Wars, British colonialism in Hong Kong, and the influence of their great-grandmother, a trained midwife. As a Visiting Scholar at Oxford University in Spring 2025, Prof. Chin will delve into archives related to the East India Company, the Treaty of Nanking, and colonial Hong Kong. This research will illuminate the historical forces shaping Chinese American identity and the ongoing challenges in the face of contemporary anti-immigrant sentiments.
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Ava Chin, a 5th generation Chinese American New Yorker, is the author of Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming (2023), which explores the impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act on her family. She is also the author of Eating Wildly (2014), winner of the MFK Fisher Book Award, and editor of Split: Stories from a Generation Raised on Divorce (2002). A professor of Creative Nonfiction and Journalism at the CUNY Graduate Center and nonfiction writing at the College of Staten Island/CUNY, Chin has written for publications including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Saveur, and has appeared on NPR, PBS, and C-SPAN. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, an M.A. from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University, B.A. from Queens College/CUNY, and been a fellow at institutions like the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center and the U.S. Fulbright Scholars program. |
Project: Poetic Justice: How Asian/American Literature Responds to the Immigration Law
Tiayun Hua (University of California, Davis)
This project examines the intersection of immigration law and Asian American literature, exploring how literature has responded to the emotional and social impacts of changing U.S. immigration laws. It traces five key moments in U.S. immigration history, from the Exclusion era to the present, and analyzes how writers have used literary forms to reflect, respond, and react to these laws. The project considers how Asian American writers, through works like Bharati Mukherjee’s The Tiger’s Daughter, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, and the recent film Everything Everywhere All at Once, have engaged with themes of alienation, resistance, and solidarity, while critiquing racial stereotypes and advocating for justice. By exploring the relationship between law, literature, and social activism, the project aims to highlight how literature serves as a channel for justice and a reflection of immigrant experiences in the U.S.
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Tianyun Hua is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Davis. Her research examines the entanglements of migration, labor, and media landscapes in global Asias in the twentieth century. Tianyun’s dissertation, Coolie Crossings: Transnational Labor Migration and Modern Chinese Literature, 1900-1947, investigates the agencies and representations of labor in diaspora, shedding light on a neglected aspect of modern Chinese/Sinophone literature and its co-constitutive engagement with racial politics, labor movements, imperial cartographies, and colonial economies. Her work has appeared and is forthcoming in the Journal of American-East Asian Relations and Victorian Studies. |
AAARI’s mission supports research and scholarship on policies and issues that are relevant to Asia, Asian America and other Asian diasporas, including timely concerns that pertain to New York’s diverse ethnic subgroups of Asian descent. We welcome applications from scholars working on contemporary issues in Asian American Studies, Asian Studies, and other relevant fields.
Submissions are open to researchers within and outside of CUNY, and for projects already started and/or near completion. The amount awarded will range from $1,000 to $3,000. In addition to the award, recipient agrees to the following:
- Acknowledge the Betty Lee Sung Research Endowment Fund and Asian American / Asian Research Institute – City University New York in all versions of the finished work/research/article/book.
- Present their work at an upcoming lecture/conference/workshop at the Asian American / Asian Research Institute in-person/online.
- Allow or obtain permission for the Asian American / Asian Research Institute to feature an excerpt of recipient’s work/research/research/article/book for the Institute’s academic journal, CUNY FORUM: Asian American / Asian Studies, with all appropriate copyright/acknowledgement to the recipient.
Recipient of the research award will be announced sometime in late January 2025.
Submission Guidelines
Click here for Submission Form
In your proposal:
- Please complete contact information on submission form.
- Provide 500-word description of your project, detailed budget on what your requested funds will be used for, and timeline for completion of project.
- Include relevant backup documentation/materials on work completed to date on the project.
Award Committee: John J. Chin, Carol Huang & Russell C. Leong
