Asian American / Asian Research Institute
The City University of New York
Asian Americans are the fastest growing group in the United States and include approximately 50 distinct ethnic groups, but their stories and experiences have often been sidelined or stereotyped. Smithsonian Asian Pacific American History, Art, and Culture in 101 Objects offers a vital window into the triumphs and tragedies, strength and ingenuity, and traditions and cultural identities of these communities.
The entry of Cambodians in the United States was not simply a migration, but a crash-landing as refugees after an incredible loss of population, humanity, culture & arts, religion, and thinkers. How, then, do the diasporic inheritors of this history respond via cultural production? And how does artist-scholar Sokunthary Svay’s own work including her newly published memoir, Put It On Record, address this question?
Vicki Zheng (Baruch College) aims to support Asian American commuter students’ transitions to college by addressing mental health and cultural challenges. She partnered with Apex for Youth to launch a Discord channel for academic and social support, with plans to expand to more campuses in 2023-2024.
Observations of contemporary life that make monkeys of us: this existential disbelief thrums through speculative stories and essays in Xu Xi’s latest collection, Monkey in Residence & Other Speculations.
Dr. Khánh Lê’s talk draws from his doctoral project with Vietnamese American youth in the Philadelphia area. During Fall 2020, the youth participated in eight workshops to learn about their Vietnamese history, culture and language, as well as their history in the U.S. The eight workshops utilized the arts and storytelling to guide the youth to collectively narrate their experiences living in the diaspora. The careful examination of the youth’s narratives during the workshops helped him develop a theory of what he called “transtrauma.”
Kaitlyn Chan, a sophomore at Brooklyn College double-majoring in biology and psychology, interviewed AAPI activists and supporters about the actions that they were taking to combat the recent rise in anti-Asian hate; their experiences with discrimination, racism, and prejudice in school and the workplace; and their thoughts on the lack of Asian American representation in politics and media.