Asian American / Asian Research Institute
The City University of New York
Join this special lunch with Ava Chin—author, performer, and professor—as she performs and talks about her new in paperback book Mott Street (Penguin Books), about the impact of the country’s first immigration restrictions on four generations of her family in New York City’s Chinatown.
Based on his new book, this presentation explores the recent history of Chinese immigration within the United States and the fundamental changes in spatial settlement that have relocated many low-skilled Chinese immigrants from New York City’s Chinatown to new immigrant destinations.
Skyler Chin will present on Illegal, a poetry-rap-rock musical based on his grandfather’s immigration documents from when he was detained on Angel Island in 1923. The lyrics are inspired by poetry carved into the walls by Chinese Angel Island detainees. Chin wrote Illegal to give voice to Asian Americans like his grandfather whose stories had been left out of history, and to convey the fighting spirit of the people who began to define what it takes to become American.
Taking into account considerations of immigration, race, gender, and diaspora, AAARI’s 2019 annual conference asks: What does the meteoric rise of Trumpian racist white nationalism say about the nature of systemic racism in our country today? Why is it now primarily and explicitly rooted in anti-Mexican and anti-Muslim nativist racism, and where do Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) — their diverse ethnic groups — fit (or not fit) in these citizenship orders? How has the higher education research community and the activist community collaborated and how can they continue to strategically collaborate together?
Filmmaker Alvin Tsang will screen and discuss his documentary, Reunification, a personal tale of confronting the delicate images of a once intact family affected by immigration. Alvin examines the legacy of his family’s immigration to Los Angeles from Hong Kong through family photos, old videos and interviews. Synopsis: When his mother and two siblings first … Read more
The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by 2060, 57 percent of the United States will be made up of people of color, but how prepared is the country to deal with a majority-minority United States? That’s the question Indian-American racial-justice activist Deepa Iyer sought to answer in her new book, “We Too Sing America: South … Read more