Asian American Studies Commons^™

The Munemitsu Legacy: The Japanese American Family Behind Mendez V. Westminster: California’S First Successful Desegregation Case, Annie Tang

Library Articles and Research

"Many Orange County, California schoolchildren know the name 'Mendez.' After all, the iconic name is front and center of the landmark civil rights case that desegregated several of the county’s public schools in 1947, preceding the 1954 Brown v. Board case on a national level. The Mendez family, one of five Latino families which challenged several school districts in the county on their practice of Mexican-only schools, had their name immortalized in history. But the Mendezes would not have been able to lead the legal charge if it was not for another family of color, the Munemitsus, the Japanese American …

The Chinese In California: Archaeology And Railroads At The Turn Of The Century, Evelyn Hildebrand

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Research on Chinese sites in California have focused on ethnicity, ethnic relations, and the material expression of ethnicity all of which are key issues in overseas Chinese archaeology. Chinatown sites produced data that helped define Chinese culture and experience in historical California. One railroad construction work camp site identified in 2016 located in the Cajon Pass in the late 1800’s offers the potential for insight into the lives of the workers. Chinese occupation in San Bernardino is not well understood, and the site may offer information on the culture, traditions, and integrations of the workers. Thousands of Chinese men left …

A Pilgrimage To Manzanar, Renee Barrera

History in the Making

No abstract provided.

Relationship Counseling For The U.S.: Understanding White America's Role In Asian American Experiences, Alison N. Lawrence

Tredway Library Prize for First-Year Research

This paper explores the relationship between White Americans and Asian Americans in an effort to discover the root of the difficulties that first and second generation Asian Americans experience while attempting to integrate into American society. Through an analysis of perspectives from Asian American literature as well as historical and current events, it highlights the racist systems that are ingrained in our everyday lives, continuously reminding Asian Americans that they are out of place in their own country. It concludes with a discussion of White America's necessary role in dismantling these systems, and offers strategies to create a more welcoming …

Finding Commonality: The First Principles Of The Leadership Thought Of Theodore Roosevelt And Traditional Chinese Culture, Elizabeth Summerfield, Yumin Dai

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

This paper argues that, while the imperative to find global solutions to complex problems like climate change and resource management is agreed, dominant ethical and intellectual thought leadership in many western nations impedes progress. The Cartesian binaries of western post-Enlightenment culture tend instead toward oppositional binary divides where each ‘side’ assumes to be the whole and not a part. And the present and future similarly assume precedence over the past. The paper points to systems thinking as both a method and a practice of wise leadership of past western and eastern societies, including their conservation of natural resources. Two historical …

Colonized Loyalty: Asian American Anti-Blackness And Complicity, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt

Faculty Publications

In this essay, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstad argues that solidarity between and within communities of color remains our only chance to fight against the brutal and insidious forces of racism, white supremacy and racial capitalism.

Racialized Tax Inequity: Wealth, Racism, And The U.S. System Of Taxation, Palma Joy Strand, Nicholas A. Mirkay

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article describes the connection between wealth inequality and the increasing structural racism in the U.S. tax system since the 1980s. A long-term sociological view (the why) reveals the historical racialization of wealth and a shift in the tax system overall beginning around 1980 to protect and exacerbate wealth inequality, which has been fueled by racial animus and anxiety. A critical tax view (the how) highlights a shift over the same time period at both federal and state levels from taxes on wealth, to taxes on income, and then to taxes on consumption—from greater to less progressivity. Both of these …

The Sounds Of Being "Un-American": Embodied Cultural Trauma Within Japanese American Musical Worlds, Kyle Przybylski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

WWII saw the forced removal of around 120,000 Japanese Americans to concentration camps across the United States. Despite being incarcerated in often unforgiving social, political, and physical environments, many incarcerees developed means of continuing Japanese cultural traditions and music. Since that time, former incarcerees have largely avoided detailed discussion of their experiences of imprisonment, and as such, there is little information to determine what kind of impact incarceration had on their individual and collective musical worlds.

This thesis explores transgenerational cultural trauma using the incarceree experiences of the Granada Relocation Center (a National Historic Landmark) in southern Colorado. The cultural …

Anna May Wong: Chinese-American Actress, Katherine Anielak

Undergraduate Research Journal

The United States’ film industry has an extensive and rich history that also offers insight into the development of American culture. However, the history of Hollywood includes many cases of discrimination, racism, and the use of stereotypes within roles. Films reflect societal constructs and beliefs, including stereotypes that European Americans had against non-white immigrants and citizens. Asian-Americans especially suffered from stereotypes and discrimination within the United States in the early 20th Century. Such stereotypes and racism appeared in both the films produced in Hollywood, and within Hollywood and the film industry itself. Anna May Wong, the first Chinese-American film actress, …

Two Poems: Stop Time Before; Forsaken Ones, Ánh-Hoa Thị Nguyễn

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This creative work features two poems: Stop Time Before; Forsaken Ones

Finding Place In Eureka, Ryan A. Sendejas

Toyon: Multilingual Literary Magazine

N/A

Japanese American Internment, 1942-1946 (Book Chapter), Ann Matsuuchi

Publications and Research

This book chapter ("Japanese American Internment, 1942-1946") appears in 25 Events that Shaped Asian American History: An Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic. Edited by Lan Dong. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC/CLIO, 2019. Pages 191-202. ISBN: 9781440860881 Copyright © 2019 by ABC--CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. Posted in 2022 as per contract, “with proper credit to the original publication of the Entry in the Project, including reproducing the exact copyright notice as it appears in the Project, to deposit a copy of the Entry in a noncommercial data repository maintained by an institution of which you are a member, after an embargo …

Toward Culturally Competent Archival (Re)Description Of Marginalized Histories, Annie Tang, Dorothy Berry, Kelly Bolding, Rachel E. Winston

Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials

Influenced by the radical archives movement, panelists discuss their (re)processing projects for which they wrote or rewrote descriptions in culturally competent approaches. Their case studies include materials regarding underrepresented peoples and historically oppressed groups who are marginalized from or maligned in the archival record. Targeted to processors, this session aims to teach participants to apply their cultural competencies in writing finding aids through an introduction to cultural competency framework, the case study examples, and a short audience-participation exercise.

The Taiko Connection: Reclaiming History, Activating Equality, Tamiko Cavey

History

Taiko drumming has been a Japanese cultural art form from as early as the fifth century. A taiko "boom" in which ensemble groups gained popularity took off in Japan post-WWII, and in the United States during the late 1960s-early 1970s amid the Asian American Civil Rights Movement. In discussing the historical experiences of the burakumin outcastes of Japan and Japanese Americans, this paper explores how taiko has been used as a form of social activism for these marginalized groups, and how this cultural reclamation facilitates the process of developing self-identity.

Bloody Bay: Grassroots Policeways, Community Control, And Power In San Francisco And Its Hinterlands, 1846-1915, Darren A. Raspa

History ETDs

“Bloody Bay: Grassroots Policeways, Community Control, and Power in San Francisco and its Hinterlands, 1846–1915” follows the history of San Francisco’s spectrum of formal and informal policing from the American takeover of California in 1846 during the U.S.–Mexico War to Police Commissioner Jesse B. Cook’s nationwide law enforcement advisory team tour in 1912 and San Francisco’s debut as the Jewel of a new American Pacific world during the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915. These six decades functioned as a unique period wherein a culture of popular justice and grassroots community peacekeeping were fostered. This policing environment was forged in …

Notable Women Of Portland, Tracy J. Prince, Zadie Schaffer

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

The story of Portland, Oregon, like much of history, has usually been told with a focus on male leaders. This book offers a reframing of Portland’s history--starting from 10,000 years of Native American women, to pioneer women, to women of the Progressive Era, WWI, WWII, post-war women, and chapters on Women in the Arts and Women in Politics. Many women made their mark and radically changed the Oregon frontier, including Native Americans Polly Johnson and Josette Nouette; pioneers Minerva Carter and Charlotte Terwilliger; doctors Marie Equi, Mary Priscilla Avery Sawtelle, and Bethina Owens-Adair; artists Eliza Barchus and Lily E. White; …

Sonic Intolerance : Aural Yellowface During The Golden Age Of American Radio., Greyson Perry Neff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The position of the Asian in the American popular imagination has a long history, stretching back to nineteenth century vaudeville theatrical performances and remaining largely unchanged throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. Portrayed as simultaneously cunning and ignorant, spiritual and corrupt, or submissive and sexualized, Oriental stereotypes have remained firmly entrenched in popular culture. While perceptions of race exist largely in a visual sense, a closer look at how people heard racial differences opens up new avenues for scholarly interpretation of the social construction of race and the shifting notions of citizenship. This thesis will investigate how listeners …

The Intersection Of Culture And Activism In The Filipino Community In Soma, Ericka J. Martynovych

Master's Theses

My research analyzes the intersection between culture and activism, through oral histories with participants and organizers of SoMa Pilipinas, the Filipino cultural heritage district in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco. I analyzed the impact of the establishment of the Filipino cultural heritage district on the Filipino community in the South of Market neighborhood. I examined what motivates members of this community to be politically active by organizing and attending protests and rallies, speaking at Planning Commission hearings at City Hall, attending planning meetings for SoMa Pilipinas, building relationships across organizations and fields, and providing resources for community …

Theories Of The Self, Race, And Essentialization In Buddhism In The United States During The “Yellow Peril,” 1899-1957, Ryan Anningson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation is an intellectual history tracing developing notions of the Self in Buddhism through Buddhist publications during the years from 1899-1957. I define this time period as the Era of the Yellow Peril, due to common views in the United States of an Asian “other” which formed a larger clash of civilizations globally. 1899-1957 was marked by pessimism and dread due to two World Wars and the Great Depression, while popular and academic cultures argued for the validity of race sciences, and the application of these “sciences” through eugenics. Buddhism in the United States was created through a global …

The Japanese Experience In Virginia, 1900s-1950s: Jim Crow To Internment, Emma T. Ito

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses how Japanese and Japanese Americans may have lived and been perceived in Virginia from 1900s through the 1950s. This work focuses on their positions in society with comparisons to the nation, particularly during the “Jim Crow” era of “colored” and “white,” and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. It highlights various means of understanding their positions in Virginia society, with emphasis on Japanese visitors, marriages of Japanese in Virginia, and the inclusion of Japanese in higher education at Roanoke College, Randolph-Macon College, William and Mary, University of Virginia, University of Richmond, Hampden-Sydney College, and Union …

Similar Experiences, Unique Perspectives: How Japanese American Experiences Influenced Their Participation During World War Ii, Julia K. Deros

Student Publications

During World War II, Japanese Americans had to endure racist federal government policy in the form of relocation to internment camps around the country. Of the 120,000 people that were interned, a large number were citizens of the United States who protested that their 5th and 14th Amendment rights had been violated by their placement into the camps. The way Japanese Americans reacted to their experiences during the war differed depending on their experiences as Nisei or Kibei. These reactions materialized in different forms of participation in the war, usually involving the decision to serve in the military as a …

Japanese American Internment (Encyclopedia Entry), Ann Matsuuchi

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Encyclopedia Entries: "Lgbtq Asian Americans" & "George Takei", Ann Matsuuchi

Publications and Research

Encyclopedia entries on "LGBTQ Asian Americans" & "George Takei" pages 491-498. Originally published in: Asian American Culture: From Anime to Tiger Moms. Edited by Lan Dong. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. March 2016. Copyright© 2016 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Inclusion in this institutional repository is permitted by the publisher's contract: "Publisher grants to …

Pre-1900s Chinese Placer Mining In Northeastern Washington State: An Archaeological Investigation, Lindsey M. Evenson

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"The lack of organized historical and archival documentation regarding the pre-1900s Chinese placer miners in northeastern Washington has left the historical and archaeological records fragmented. Documentation of the Chinese placer mining activities in the region is poor, at best, and the scars left on the landscape by these miners are often inundated by the damming of the Columbia River (and other major waterways), or the sites are heavily eroded and damaged. The available historic and archival data has been organized and synthesized to create an historical context regarding the pre-1900s Chinese placer miners in the region. Furthermore, archaeological sites previously …

A Portrait Of Chinese Americans: From The Perspective Of Assimilation, Wei Bai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With more than 40 million immigrants, the United States is the major destination for most international migrants. It has always been so because America is a nation of immigrants. The United States has been shaped by four waves of immigration, and unlike previous waves, in the past 50 years immigrants have come from Latin America and Asia more than other regions of the world. Chinese immigration is the focus of this thesis. Chinese people have been present in this society from before the Revolutionary War, and their story is a complex one--one marked by rapid growth, discrimination, exclusion, acceptance, more …

Altered Lives, Altered Environments: Creating Home At Manzanar Relocation Center, 1942-1945, Laura W. Ng

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis seeks to understand how individuals exiled from their homes due to racial prejudice cope with institutional confinement. Specifically, this study focuses on the World War II mass incarceration of individuals of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast of the United States after Japan's attack on the American naval base Pearl Harbor. Under the guise of national security and without due process, the United States government forcibly removed over 110,000 Japanese Americans from their homes and imprisoned them in camps spread throughout the country. This thesis examines institutional confinement at one Japanese American carceral site: an incarceration camp …

Kompha Seth Interview About The Cambodian Association Of Illinois, Matthew Mrozinski

Asian American Art Oral History Project

About the Organization:

“Founded in 1976, the Cambodian Association of Illinois (CAI) serves some 5,000 Cambodians in Illinois via senior health intervention; child and youth services; family health, citizenship and employment. CAI enables refugees and immigrants from Cambodia residing in Illinois, especially those in metropolitan Chicago, to become self-sufficient, productive participants in American society while preserving and enhancing their cultural heritage and community.”

About the co-Founder:

“Kompha Seth, co-Founder and Executive Director of CAI since 1981. He was a Buddhist monk in Cambodia for 23 years before emigrating to the U.S. in 1975. He has received numerous national, state and …

Honoring Mt. Hope Cemetery’S Chinese Burial Grounds: Asian American Studies Program With The Coalition For Asian Pacific American Youth (Capay) And The Chinese Historical Society Of New England (Chsne), Asian American Studies Program, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Chinese Historical Society Of New England

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Honoring the Chinese burial grounds of Boston’s Mt. Hope Cemetery has been the signature focus of the Chinese Historical Society of New England (CHSNE) for two decades. Throughout that time, students from the Asian American Studies Program and the Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth (CAPAY) at UMass Boston have been deeply involved with service-learning, documentation, and education projects to connect younger generations with the site’s historical importance and contemporary meaning.

From An Ethnic Island To A Transnational Bubble: A Reflection On Korean Americans In Los Angeles, Edward J.W. Park

Asian and Asian American Studies Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Immigration And Belonging: Nation, Class, And Membership In New Migration Policies, Edward J.W. Park

Asian and Asian American Studies Faculty Works

No abstract provided.