politics

“We’re the New Citizenship”: LA’s Asian and Latin@ Immigrant Activists on Politics as Embodied and Emotional

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In recent decades under runaway neoliberalism, “foreignized” and unauthorized immigrants have increasingly made political inroads by way of grassroots community activism and by sidestepping the need for formal political channels and, at times, even dismissing them. By way of nearly four years of ethnographic observation, 49 in-depth interviews, and extensive document analysis, Prof. Nadia Kim … Read more

The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race

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In this talk, based on her new book The Limits of Whiteness (2017, Stanford University Press), sociologist Neda Maghbouleh shares the under-theorized and sometimes heartbreaking story of how Iranian American young adults and teenagers move across a white/not-white color line. By contextualizing her ethnographic data with a century’s worth of neglected historical and legal evidence, she offers new evidence for how a “white” American immigrant group might become “brown,” and what such a transformation says about race in North America today.

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Between Mao and McCarthy: Chinese American Politics In The Cold War

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During the Cold War, Chinese Americans struggled to gain political influence in the United States. Considered potentially sympathetic to communism, their communities attracted substantial public and government scrutiny, particularly in San Francisco and New York. Between Mao and McCarthy looks at the divergent ways that Chinese Americans in these two cities balanced domestic and international … Read more

Destroy All Dogmas: The Politics of Daikaiju Eiga

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On November 3, 1954, Ishiro Honda’s original Gojira was released in Japan.  In the sixty years since, this creation has inspired twenty-seven sequels, as well as decades of spinoffs and satires; books and blogs; and T-shirts and toys.  Meanwhile, other cinema monsters, from favorites like King Kong and Mothra to newcomers like Cloverfield and The … Read more

New Modern Chinese Women and Gender Politics: The Centennial of the End of the Qing Dynasty

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Dr. Ya-chen Chen will discuss her new book, New Modern Chinese Women and Gender Politics: The Centennial of the End of the Qing Dynasty. The book takes a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on film, history, literature, and personal experience. The past century witnessed dramatic changes in the lives of modern Chinese women and gender politics. Whilst … Read more