Friday, May 17, 2024 | 9:30am to 4pm
CUNY School of Law
2 Court Square, Long Island City, NY 11101
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, the Asian American / Asian Research Institute has invited 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,” including:
- AAPI Identities through Education
- Storytelling and Research
- Diversity in the AAPI Diaspora
Program
9:30am to 10am – Registration and Breakfast (Catered by Lucky Pizza and Cafe)
10am to 11:30am – Welcome & Keynote
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- Yung-Yi Diana Pan, Interim Executive Director, AAARI-CUNY
- Dean Sudha Setty, CUNY School of Law
- Keynote Speaker: Betty Yu, Native New Yorker Educator, Artist & Activist
11:30am to 11:45am – Break
11:45am to 12:45pm – Concurrent Panel Sessions
As the saying goes, “representation matters.” AANHPI representation is often missing in the classrooms, in organizations, and in mainstream storytelling. This morning session features current progress and challenges to K-12 curriculum, how schools and immigrant generation shape and affect identities. This session also explores other presentations and preservations of identities through understanding Greek Letter and Online identity activation, and documenting oral histories.
1) NYS AANHPI K-12 Curriculum and Beyond
Moderator: Shreya Sunderram (CUNY Graduate Center)
Presenters:
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- Christian-Joseph Macahilig (UCLA Asian American Studies Center), “Foundations and Futures: Advancing AAPI History and Narratives in All Classrooms”
- Jake Xie (Macaulay at Brooklyn College/CUNY) and Eva Schmidt (Hunter College/CUNY), “AAARI/CACF NYS K-12 Curriculum Research”
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2) Identities in K-12 Education
Moderator: Lili Shi (Kingsborough Community College/CUNY)
Presenters:
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- Vicki Zheng (Baruch College/CUNY), “AAPI Students and Model Minority Myth in Specialized High Schools”
- Zuobin Tang (NYC Men Teach), “Asian American Teachers and Student Identities”
- Syed Ali (Long Island University-Brooklyn), “The Second Generation and Changes in Identity Construction Over Time”
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3) Belonging and Connectedness of Asian American Greek-Letter Organizations (AAGLOs) at Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs)
Moderator: Clifford Robin Temprosa (Dare to Change, Inc.)
Panelists:
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- Bryan Dosono (National APIDA Panhellenic Association)
- Bilal Badruddin (Delta Epsilon Psi Fraternity, Inc.)
- Elizabeth Kwong (National APIDA Panhellenic Association)
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4) A Voice Memo to You for Tomorrow and After: Archiving Stories of AAPI Resilience in NYC
Moderator: Chaumtoli Huq (CUNY School of Law)
Presenter: Janggo Mahmud (Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College/CUNY)
12:45pm to 2pm – Lunch (Catered by Adda Indian Canteen) & Networking
2pm to 3pm – Lightning Talks/Workshops
This afternoon session examines identities in action. Structured as lightning talks, participants can choose two sessions to attend. Presenters will engage with two separate set of audience members in 25-minute increments. This more intimate session allows participants to not only dialogue but also deep dive into identity work. Featured topics include storytelling as research, undocumented AAPIs, intersecting LGBTQ and AANHPI identities, and a self-defense workshop.
Session 1 (2pm to 2:30pm)
A) Empower Others and Become the Solution: Self-Defense Technique Sharing as Community Care
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- Henry Zhang (Dragon Combat Club)
- Lorraine LaPrade (Dragon Combat Club)
- Katrina Quijano (Dragon Combat Club)
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B) Storytelling/Research/
Moderator: Chaumtoli Huq (CUNY School of Law)
Presenter: Christine Balance (CUNY Thomas Tam Visiting Professor/CUNY Graduate Center)
C) “They don’t think I’m an illegal.” Relational experiences of racialized illegality from precariously legal and documented Filipinos.
Moderator: Francisco Delgado (Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY)
Presenter: Daniela Pila (Southern Connecticut State University)
D) DiversiTEA
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- Chris Won (Brooklyn College AANAPISI Project)
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Session 2 (2:30pm – 3pm)
A) Empower Others and Become the Solution: Self-Defense Technique Sharing as Community Care
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- Henry Zhang (Dragon Combat Club)
- Lorraine LaPrade (Dragon Combat Club)
- Katrina Quijano (Dragon Combat Club)
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B) Storytelling/Research/
Moderator: Chaumtoli Huq (CUNY School of Law)
Presenter: Christine Balance (CUNY Thomas Tam Visiting Professor/CUNY Graduate Center)
C) “They don’t think I’m an illegal.” Relational experiences of racialized illegality from precariously legal and documented Filipinos.
Moderator: Francisco Delgado (Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY)
Presenter: Daniela Pila (Southern Connecticut State University)
D) DiversiTEA
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- Chris Won (Brooklyn College AANAPISI Project)
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3pm to 3:15pm – Break
3:15pm to 4pm – Close Out Session
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- Performance – “I Flew Your Kite, Habibi”
Rohan Zhou-Lee, Dancer, Writer & Organizer
- Performance – “I Flew Your Kite, Habibi”
Co-Sponsor
CUNY School of Law
Planning Committee
Chaumtoli Huq, Ann Matsuuchi, Yung-Yi Diana Pan & Lili Shi
Acknowledgements
Payal Doctor; Unapologetic Foods; Dean Sudha Setty and the CUNY School of Law; Karyn Manocchia and the Events Department Team at CUNY School of Law; Jerome Krase; South Asian Youth Action
