Asian American Studies Commons^™

Introduction To Roots Of Justice: A History Of Race And Racism In Nebraska, M. Dewayne Mays, Paul Olson

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

Nebraska has made racism a way of life through most of its history. It is still the way of life for many. In 2020, a Nebraska columnist wrote the following about Nebraska: “[T]he issues stemming from racism can seem like foreign concepts, confined to the larger cities (or the American South) and relics of a distant past.”2 The column goes on to show that these issues were not confined to large cities or to the South; they rested on our back door in Nebraska. Yet, one often heard back as far as one could remember that Nebraska is not and …

Recent Arrivals: Refugee Resettlement In Nebraska, Emira Ibrahimpašić, Julia Reilly

Truth and Reconciliation History Project

One of the stories Nebraskans tell themselves is that the story of Nebraska is a story of immigration. One of the most recent versions of this story is that Nebraska is one of the best and most welcoming places in the country to be a resettled refugee. In many respects, this narrative is true, but as with all narratives, reality is more complicated. This chapter attempts to paint a fuller picture by providing a detailed history of the foundation of Nebraska’s refugee resettlement program, and an overview of five of the most populous refugee communities in Nebraska. First, we survey …

Racial Identity And Belonging Among Asian American Undergraduate Students In The Midwest, Seema M. Dahlheimer

Dissertations

Asian American students are often deemed overrepresented in higher education, leading to inequities in admissions, scholarships, and student support. This perception feeds and is fed by the model minority stereotype, which characterizes Asian Americans as hard-working and high-achieving and creates intense pressure to succeed academically (Poon et al., 2016). In addition, Asian American college students often experience racism and xenophobia, which can undermine their sense of belonging on campus. However, in the Midwest, where their immigration is more recent and conversations about race are often framed in terms of Black and white, Asian Americans often feel invisible and othered (Lee, …

Left Or Right, Loyal Or Disloyal: Ideology, Partisanship, And Empire In The Construction Of Interwar Japanese American Politics, Vivian Yan-Gonzalez

Asian American Studies Faculty Articles and Research

This article examines the first cohort of Japanese American voters in California in the interwar years, in order to explore the construction of racialized parameters on Japanese American political agency. Inter-imperial competition between the United States and Japan over the future of the Pacific, along with the popular and legal linkage of race and citizenship, produced a persistent distrust of Japanese American voters. Although Japanese Americans shaped their political strategies to appease these suspicions, militarized state demands for loyalty after the attack on Pearl Harbor sharply contracted their options from a range of diverse ideologies and partisanship to a narrow …

Where Did All The Democrats Go?, Reese Adkins

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Following the reelection of President Obama in 2012, many political scientists such as Ruy Teixeira and John B. Judis, believed that this signaled the beginning of many Democratic electoral victories to come. They published their argument in their book, The Emerging Democratic Majority, in which they explained the Democratic Party’s plan to gain a systemic advantage in presidential elections. This was to be achieved by winning elections through winning the vote of minority groups, white women, and young college-educated people. This has been far from the case. Donald Trump, with political experience, shocked the world after winning the 2016 election …

Exploring Racial Identity Among East And Southeast Asian Transracial Adoptees In The United States Through Communication Theory Of Identity, Brooke Marie Hoá Hornberger

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to understand how East and Southeast Asian transracial adoptees (ESATA) in White adoptive families conceptualize and communicate their racial identity. ESATAs endure various challenges surrounding race that makes it important to understand how ESATAs understand their racial identity, the tensions they might experience, and how they management the tensions surrounding racial identity. Using the theoretical framework Communication Theory of Identity (Hecht, 1993), 25 ESATAs were interviewed about different frames of identity and potential identity gaps they experience surrounding racial identity. In addition, ESATAs were asked about how they communicatively manage identity gap tensions mapping …

A Queer Feminist Response To The Racist Reception Of Halle Bailey’S The Little Mermaid: Misogynoir And Anti-Fan Facebook Users In Vietnam, Trung M. Nguyen

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay examines the ways anti-Blackness is manifested in Vietnam through Facebook anti-fans’ reactions to Disney’s The Little Mermaid (2023) starring Halle Bailey, a Black American actress, in the role of Ariel. Analyzing the racist and colorist remarks within Facebook users’ comments and posts about the movie and utilizing misogynoir as the main concept of critique, the author demonstrates the phenomenon of anti-Black misogyny in Vietnam and focuses on the “I’m not racist, but…” trope. Uncovering the queer history of Hans Christian Andersen’s work, this essay adopts a queer feminist lens to defend the filmmakers’ choice to depict Ariel as …

Transnational Politics Of Cambodian American Ethnic Organizations: Strategies, Motivations, And Impacts, Simin Tan, Wen Chen

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Since several large-scale migrations to the U.S. in the 1970s, Cambodian Americans have established a number of ethnic organizations aimed at intervening in the political landscape of their homeland. These organizations span from subversive groups seeking to overthrow the Cambodian government through armed insurgency to reformist groups advocating for human rights improvements and peaceful political transformation. The refugee experiences of first-generation Cambodian Americans have served as a key motivator for their involvement in transnational politics, while the degree of social integration shapes the extent to which different generational cohorts engage in these political activities. In addition, both the Cambodian government’s …

Inappropriate Attire: Fashion, Nationality, And Shame In Quicksand And Pachinko, Minyoung Park

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article, Minyoung Park examines how fashion in Quicksand by Nella Larsen and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee functions not simply as a visual strategy for passing but as a site where the wearers’ conflicting feelings—shame, desire, and defiance—emerge and persist. Rather than evaluating the success or failure of passing, the article shifts focus to the process of dressing—selecting, maintaining, and reflecting on clothing—through which identity is negotiated and feelings are embodied. The protagonists, Helga and Sunja, often dismissed as failures, are reconsidered as figures whose attention to their inappropriate or excessive fashion reveals their emotional labor and strenuous …

Everyday Life In The U.S.: An Intersectional Approach To A North Korean Refugee Woman’S Identities, And Experiences, Lyounghee Kim

Communication ETDs

This dissertation examines everyday experiences of a North Korean refugee woman in the U.S., centering her narratives as sites of critique, resistance, and meaning-making. Grounded in Critical Refugee Studies, Asian American Studies, and Critical Intercultural Communication and framed by intersectionality, it explores how interlocking structures of power shape and are shaped by her life. Rather than focusing solely on trauma or assimilation, this study highlights her digital storytelling, faith, and mutual aid practices as acts of survival, dignity, and moral agency. Using a qualitative, narrative inquiry approach grounded in critical reflexivity, it thematically analyzes her stories to reveal how she …

Remaking Life: The Culture Of Chinese Transcontinental Railroad Workers, Caroline Jordan

The Purdue Historian

This paper examines the methods by which Chinese immigrants involved with the construction of the first transcontinental railroad maintained cultural ties to their native China, as well as the changes they made to adapt to their new surroundings. The United States’ first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, primarily at the hands of Chinese immigrants. Despite their massive contribution, no primary documents from Chinese workers themselves are known to exist. Their role in the railroad’s construction was largely forgotten until relatively recently. Chinese workers faced hostile living and working conditions during their life on the railroad. This paper covers multiple …

How Stereotypes And Labor Shortages Lured Asians To The Sunshine: A Brief Historical And Demographic Review Of Asian Americans In Florida., Wenxian Zhang

Faculty Publications

Asians began to arrive in Florida in the years after the Civil War, concentrated mainly in railroad construction, agriculture, and service sectors such as laundry, restaurant, and grocery business. Their population grew very slowly until after World War II, when the discriminatory immigration policies were finally lifted. The 1965 immigration reform act, openings of the Walt Disney World and other tourist attractions, the end of the Vietnam War, the thriving sunbelt economy, and the rapid population growth have all brought numerous new Asian immigrants to the southernmost state in America. Shaped by multiple waves of immigration and various socioeconomic factors, …

Book Review Of The Squad By Christina Soontornvat And Joanna Cacao, Simon Boonsripaisal

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

The Squad by Christina Soontornvat and illustrator Joanna Cacao is a follow-up to the indie bestseller The Tryout (2022). The graphic memoir is written for educators, parents, and students in K-12. The illustrations are beautifully drawn, the dialogue is humorous, and the facial expressions describe how the characters are feeling. The main character, Christina, is now an 8^th grader in Texas. Set in the 1990s and the cover page shows her friends lifting her up as she strikes a cheerleading pose. Christina tries out for cheer again, encounter’s identity conflict, and grapples with her parents’ divorce. This review discusses …

East Asian And “Extraordinary”: Intersecting Racial And Musical Identities In The Classical Music Solo Career, Audrey Chen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A performer’s success within the classical music industry is reliant not only on musical merit but also on extramusical factors like race, gender, class, and culture, all of which influence a musician’s upbringing. For East Asian musicians, distinctions of merit can be accompanied by racialized and often paradoxical narratives about Asian identity that essentialize their performance, personality, and background. This dissertation examines how Asian and Asian-American performers of Western classical music navigate this interplay of racial and musical identity within their careers, with a specific focus on string players and pianists.

Chapter 2 introduces five major racialized narratives used to …

Tradwives: The Housewifization Of The Girl Boss, Gagan Kaur

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the reemergence of a particular performance of domesticity in the post-pandemic era, focusing on the rise of the "tradwife" (traditional wife) movement alongside the normalization and spread of Alt-Right ideology through popular social media platforms. It argues that the tradwife is not a return to tradition, but a commodified performance of domesticity built on the erasure of social reproductive labor. Tracing the lineage of the “housewife” from the enclosure of the commons to imperial domesticity and from the “girl boss” to tradwife influencer culture, this project situates the tradwife within a longer history of "housewifization"—wherein women's labor …

For The Time Beings, Tori Hong

Masters Theses

For the Time Beings is a socially engaged installation and artist book exploring the material consequences and future possibilities of sociocultural time theories. Time, in the West, is typically associated with Newtonian linearity, while in the East, time theory relies on Buddhist principles. These epistemologies reinforce hierarchical and patriarchal structures. Centered on Indigenous Asian and Asian American perspectives, For the Time Beings challenges dominant ideologies of existing in time and space.

For nearly a year, I’ve burned handwritten prayers on new and full moons. The ashes of these prayers are incorporated into reverential drawings of chosen ancestors, made with charcoal …

A Seat At The Schoolhouse Table: Reimagining Education Through Afrofuturist And Womanist Theory, Natasha M. Capers

Student Theses

“A Seat at the Schoolhouse Table: Reimagining Education Through Afrofuturist and Womanist Theory” critically examines how curriculum, even when well-intentioned, can perpetuate harm by excluding the lived experiences of marginalized communities—especially Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQIA+ students. Using a real middle school immigration assignment given to the author's son as a case study, this capstone deconstructs the structural biases embedded in curriculum design and proposes a radical reimagining through the liberatory lenses of Afrofuturism and Womanism. Blending scholarly inquiry, personal narrative, and community-based interviews, this project offers a restructured assignment that centers joy, identity, and speculative storytelling as tools for educational …

Drone Strikes In Pakistan, Muhammad Shumail

Capstones

my capstone maps all the drone strikes in Pakistan from 2004 to 2018. it show how many drone strikes were conducted during each president tenure and how many civilians were killed.

https://techman96.github.io/drone-strikes/

Seven Themes About Substance Use Among Asian Americans, Carolyn Wong, Sun S. Kim Phd, Aprn-Bc

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

This research brief summarizes the findings from a study on improving services for Asian Americans at risk for substance use problems that was conducted by the Institute for Asian American Studies in collaboration with the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. The full report, Exploring Substance Use Among Asian Americans: Seven Themes from Interviews with Service Providers and Community Residents by Drs. Carolyn Wong and Sun S. Kim is available here: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/iaas_pubs/51/

Reviving Baybayin: The Pre-Hispanic Writing System Of The Philippines, And Raising Awareness In The United States, Richana K. Stone

Honors Thesis

Baybayin is an Indigenous system of writing in the Philippines that has been preserved, but has seen rapid decline in usage throughout the centuries. This paper explores the history of Baybayin and the methods of reviving the written script that have been suggested and used to reimplement Baybayin into the daily lives of Filipinos. Furthermore, this paper will look at how Lakota and Peruvian recording systems, the winter count and the khipu, respectively, have been preserved and used in modern times. Viewing the history of these groups and how they preserved these writing systems sparks a potential for the adoption …