Asian American Studies across CUNY: Reflections, Connections, Futures

By

Friday, May 12, 2023 | 8am to 7pm

Borough of Manhattan Community College – Fiterman Hall
245 Greenwich Street, Manhattan

2023 Symposium on Asian American Studies across CUNY: Reflections, Connections, Futures

The City University of New York (CUNY) has a long history of efforts that engage Asian American studies and communities but these activities have rarely been sustained over time. Yet, despite an overall lack of institutionalization, CUNY has been the home to vibrant student activism and organizing, collaborative networks built of scholars and practitioners, and creative interventions made to support Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students, staff, and faculty across the university and beyond. The Asian American / Asian Research Institute is hosting a day-long symposium to reflect upon the histories of this work, build connection and community, and collectively vision the future possibilities and directions for Asian American studies at CUNY.

Our work in Asian American studies at CUNY takes place in the context of New York City, home to one of the largest and most diverse AAPI communities in the U.S., and made up of groups that have a long history of migration to the U.S.  (i.e., Chinese, Indians, Filipinos, Koreans) as well as newer migrant groups (i.e., Nepali, Burmese, Tibetan, Bangladeshi), refugee communities (e.g. Cambodian, Laotian, Vietnamese), and diasporic communities (e.g. Indo-Caribbean). AAPIs are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in New York City (and the U.S.), currently making up 18% of the population.  This demographic shift has been reflected at CUNY, with an increase to 22% of students identifying as Asian.

At this symposium, students, scholars, and/or practitioners, within and outside of CUNY, will share their innovative research and creative works, pedagogical projects, programmatic efforts, models for organizing and activism, and other activities at CUNY that address critical issues in Asian American studies and/or communities.

Program

8am to 9am – Registration & Breakfast (Room 1306/7)

9am to 9:15am – Welcome (Room 1306/7)

    • Erwin J. Wong, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Borough of Manhattan Community College
    • Soniya Munshi, Interim Executive Director, AAARI-CUNY

9:15am to 10:15am – Roundtable: Asian American Studies Futures (Room 1306/7)

Moderator: Caroline K. Hong (Queens College)

Speakers:

    • Francisco Delgado (Borough of Manhattan Community College)
    • Tarry Hum (Queens College)
    • Aleah Ranjitsingh (Brooklyn College)
    • Zohra Saed (Macaulay Honors College)
    • Sokunthary Svay (City College/CUNY Graduate Center)

10:15am to 10:30am – Break

10:30am to 11:30am – Concurrent Panel Sessions

1) Taking Time: Examining Asian American Communities through Assimilation and Voting Pattern Changes (Room 1301)

Moderator: Linta Varghese (Borough of Manhattan Community College)

Presenters:

      • Nazreen S. Bacchus (Farmingdale State College), “Muslim Caribbean Indians and American Assimilation”
      • Annie Wang & John Mollenkopf (CUNY Graduate Center), “Analyzing New York’s Chinese Voters Over Time”

2) Hunter College AANAPISI Project Student Panel (Room 1302)

Presenters:

      • Linh An (Hunter Collge AANAPISI Project)
      • Gabriela Fullon (Hunter College AANAPISI Project)
      • Nabil Shah (Borough of Manhattan Community College)
      • Brittany Moreno (Hunter College)
      • Rachel Tieu (Hunter College alumnae)
      • Shuhong Jiang (Hunter College)
      • Michael Tamsuriyamit (Hunter College)
      • Adid Rahman

3) Empowering Asian American Communities through Research, Language, and Media Access (Room 1304)

Moderator: Ann Matsuuchi (LaGuardia Community College)

Presenters:

      • Lulu Song (Brooklyn College), “Engagement and Effects of Chinese Dual Language Learners’ Language and Literacy Activities”
      • Kavitha Rajagopalan (Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism/CUNY), “Learning the Asian Media Ecosystem: How In-Language and Community Based Media for and by Asian Americans can Inform Asian American Studies at CUNY”
      • Undo Poverty: Flushing – Thomas Chung (The Research Center for Korean Community, CUNY), “Undoing Poverty One Neighborhood at a Time: A Multi-Tiered Collaborative Approach”

4) Roundtable Discussion on Transnational Filipino Activism Against Labor Trafficking (Room 1306/7)

Presenters:

      • Amanda Katapang (Anakbayan Manhattan)
      • Jackelyn Mariano (Hunter College)
      • Emlyn Dy-cok Medalla (CUNY School of Law)
      • Dana Ysabel Dela Cruz (Anakbayan Manhattan)

11:30am to 11:45am – Break

11:45am to 12:45pm – Concurrent Panel Sessions

1) Practice, Programs, and Modalities of AAPI Storytelling (Room 1301)

Moderator: Caroline K. Hong (Queens College)

Presenters:

      • Yao Xiao, “Everything is Beautiful, And I’m Not Afraid, a first-generation immigrant story in comic form”
      • Larry Tung (York College), “Asians and Asian Americans in Hollywood Diversity Programs”

2) “Why am I here again? Incorporating Identity, Purpose, & Belonging in the Asian American Studies Classroom (Room 1302)

Facilitators: Paul McPherron & Marcia Liu (Hunter College AANAPISI Project)

Co-Presenters:

      • Gabriela Fullon (Hunter College AANAPISI Project), Alexander Ho (Borough of Manhattan Community College) & Jackelyn Mariano (Hunter College)

3) Growth and Precarity: Complicating Asian American Communities in NYC (Room 1304)

Moderator: Lili Shi (Kingsborough Community College)

Presenters:

      • Linying He & Dena Li (Asian American Federation), “One in Six: Asian American Growth Fuels Challenge and Opportunity in New York City”
      • Daniela Pila (Southern Connecticut State University), “‘They don’t think I’m an illegal.’ Relational experiences of racialized illegality from precariously legal and documented Filipinos”
      • Amy Hsin (Queens College), “The Violence of Asylum: Undocumented Chinese Migration in the United States”

4) Asian American Studies at LaGuardia: Curriculum, Programming, and Student Initiatives (Room 1306/7)

Presenters:

      • Anita Baksh (LaGuardia Community College)
      • Thomas Cleary (LaGuardia Community College)
      • Karlyn Koh (LaGuardia Community College)
      • Tomonori Nagano (LaGuardia Community College)
      • Kyoko Toyama (LaGuardia Community College)

12:45pm to 1pm – Boxed Lunch, catered by TAGMO (Room 1306/7)

1pm to 2pm – Lunch Plenary: Brooklyn College Students and Alumni on Asian American Activism (1306/7)

Moderator: Yung-Yi Diana Pan (Brooklyn College)

Speakers:

    • Cherry Lou Sy (Brooklyn College)
    • Kaitlyn Chan (Brooklyn College)
    • Annie Ho (Brooklyn College alum)
    • Nabil Islam (Brooklyn College)
    • Xiaoen Liang (Brooklyn College)
    • Rhema Mills (Brooklyn College)

2pm to 3pm – Roundtable: Reflections on Asian American Studies at CUNY (Room 1306/7)

Moderator: Soniya Munshi, Interim Executive Director, AAARI-CUNY

Presenters:

    • Kandice Chuh (CUNY Graduate Center)
    • Madhulika Khandewal (Queens College)
    • Vivian Louie (Hunter College)
    • Yung-Yi Diana Pan (Brooklyn College)
    • Linta Varghese (Borough of Manhattan Community College)

3pm to 3:15pm – Break: Coffee/Tea & Cookies (Room 1302)

3:15pm to 4:15pm – Working Groups – Asian American Studies at CUNY: Next Steps

Facilitators:

    1. Caitlin Ho (Hunter College AANAPISI Project) – AANAPISIs at CUNY (Room 1302)
    2. Chang-Han Liu (Borough of Manhattan Community College) – Pedagogy (Room 1301)
    3. Catherine Ma (Kingsborough Community College) – Mentorship (Room 1304)
    4. Ann Matsuuchi (LaGuardia Community College) – AAFSAs at CUNY (Room 1306)
    5. Linta Varghese (Borough of Manhattan Community College) – AAS Scholarship (Room 1307)
    6. Other Working Groups TBD (TBD)

4:15pm to 4:30pm – Break

4:30pm to 5:30pm – Rajiv Mohabir, in conversation with DJ Rekha (Room 1306/7)

    • Introduction by Marissa Laikhram (AAARI-CUNY)

5:30pm to 5:45pm – Closing Remarks: Frank H. Wu, President, Queens College (Room 1306/7)

    • Introduction by Linta Varghese (Borough of Manhattan Community College)

5:45pm to 7pm – Book Signing with Rajiv Mohabir & Reception, catered by TAGMO (Room 1306/7 & Rooftop)

Co-sponsors
Borough of Manhattan Community College | Queens College | Department of Ethnic and Race Studies at BMCC | Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU

Author Bio