The views and opinions expressed on this site and blog posts (excluding comments on blog posts left by others) are entirely my own and do not represent those of any employer or organization with whom I am currently or previously have been associated.
Academic Version: Applying my personal experiences and academic research as a professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies to provide a more complete understanding of political, economic, and cultural issues and current events related to American race relations, and Asia/Asian America in particular.
Plain English: Trying to put my Ph.D. to good use.
Time magazine has released its annual Top 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2011. This year’s list includes a number of Asians and Asian Americans, some well-known while others not as well-known (until now I suppose):
Feisal Abdul Rauf, 63, has moderate, colloquial eloquence, still relatively rare among American Muslim religious leaders. That didn’t stop the attacks on him and his wife Daisy Khan when they teamed with a developer to propose a community center near Ground Zero. They still hope to realize that vision, knowing it won’t come without further attacks. — Rev. William M. Tully
Ambani, 54, took the firm his father founded — Reliance Industries — and turned it into India’s largest private-sector company, a $45 billion petrochemicals giant. It’s a new kind of Indian company, built through adroit manipulation of governments and the stock market but also enriching millions of shareholders. “We have taken money from ordinary Indians, and we are their trustees,” he says. As long as the money keeps coming, they may forgive his excesses. — Suketu Mehta
In 2009 the chinese government, concerned about how information could spread rapidly among millions of people over microblogs, blocked Twitter and shuttered domestic equivalents. Amid those obstacles, Charles Chao saw an opportunity. A journalist turned accountant who rose through the executive ranks to head Sina, China’s largest Internet portal, he backed the company’s own microblog service [Sina Weibo] . . . [and] Beijing approved it. . . . It reached 100 million users in March, vs. 200 million for Twitter. . . . It is censored, Chao acknowledges, but it is also one of the freest online platforms in China. — Austin Ramzy
Amy’s book is a nuanced story of how her parenting had to evolve to take into account the differences between her children. Parenting is hard and humbling for all of us. If there were a right way to raise your kids, everyone would do it. Clearly that’s not the case. In China, this book is being marketed as a tale about the importance of giving children more Western freedom. Few have the guts to parent in public. Amy’s memoir is brutally honest, and her willingness to share her struggles is a gift. Whether or not you agree with her priorities and approach, she should be applauded for raising these issues with a thoughtful, humorous and authentic voice. — Sheryl Sandberg
As a spiritual guru, Cheng Yen, 73, has an ethereal quality. Yet the Buddhist nun is also the well-grounded, no-nonsense head of a non-profit humanitarian machine with divisions in 50 countries and nearly 10 million supporters and volunteers. The Tzu Chi Foundation (tzu chi means compassionate relief) is known for the astonishing speed and efficiency with which it brings aid to victims of natural disasters. Wherever calamities occur, Tzu Chi volunteers and experts arrive promptly, dispensing food, medicine, blankets and warm clothing (as they did recently in Japan) and, in the long term, rebuilding homes, clinics and schools. — Zoher Abdoolcarim
Hu founded Caijing [and] shook up China’s media landscape with courageous investigative pieces on corruption and fraud. After a dispute with her publisher, Hu left the magazine in 2009 and set up Caixin Century, now a paragon of reporting brilliance in China. In February it ran a commentary on Egypt that any savvy reader would link to China. “Autocracy creates turbulence,” it read, “democracy breeds peace.” — Adi Ignatius
Hung spent her teenage years going to school in New York City and college at Vassar. These days Hung, 49, is hugely influential in Chinese culture, tweeting with humor and intelligence to 2.5 million people. She runs a fashion magazine called iLook, owns a store featuring Chinese designers and recently became the director of the first design museum in China. What makes Hung unique is that she understands America, its pragmatism and practices, yet she remains a true Chinese patriot. She works hard to bring her country’s culture into the 21st century. — Diane Von Furstenberg
The 31-year-old doctor was on duty at the Shizugawa public hospital in the Japanese town of Minami Sanriku when he heard the tsunami alert. He immediately began moving patients to the highest floor. . . When the wall of water arrived, Kanno watched it swallow the street in three minutes, taking the patients he couldn’t move with it. . . . Over the next two days, Kanno refused to leave those he’d helped survive. When evacuation helicopters arrived, he waited until the last of his patients had gone before he too left. Three days after the quake, he at last made it back to his wife, just hours before the birth of their second child, a boy they named Rei. The name evokes two meanings: in English, a beam of light; in Chinese and Japanese, the wisdom to overcome hardship. — Krista Mahr
Nobody’s sure if Kim Jong Un is 28 or 29. There are only a handful of photos of him in circulation. Until a couple of years ago, few North Koreans knew anything about him. But he’s been picked to succeed his dad and granddad as absolute ruler of his impoverished, nuclear-tipped nation, which means that though he may not be known, he will be feared.
Few Americans have heard of Liang Guanglie, but his name comes up a great deal in discussions within the U.S. national-security establishment. Liang, 70, is a career military officer and since 2008 has been China’s Defense Minister . . . He is presiding over the rapid rise in Beijing’s defense spending, a subject of increasing concern in Washington. — Bill Powell
A pioneer of India’s IT-outsourcing industry, Premji [is] inspired by his belief that a strong educational system is essential to sustaining the economic growth needed to pull millions of Indian citizens out of poverty, Premji, 65, is deeply involved in efforts to provide universal primary education in India. The Azim Premji Foundation supports programs that reach more than 2.5 million children. But it may be his pioneering leadership in India’s nascent field of philanthropy that will be Premji’s lasting legacy. His recent $2 billion donation to his foundation was the largest charitable contribution in the history of modern India. — Bill Gates
The South Korean pop star turned actor Rain, 28, took the top spot in the TIME 100 reader poll for the third year, trouncing competitors from Barack Obama to Lady Gaga. That’s pretty impressive online power for a guy whose main claim to Western fame is a role in the 2009 film Ninja Assassin.
Ramachandran, 59, is best known for developing a therapy for phantom-limb pain in which a mirror is used to reflect the intact limb, creating the illusion that the missing one is still there. That persuades the brain that all is well, and the pain subsides. With his simple, creative and innovative ideas, V.S. Ramachandran is changing how our brains think about our minds. — Thomas Insel
The former chancellor of the Washington, D.C., school system and the founder of the Students First advocacy group, Rhee . . . . set a goal to improve the lot of the nation’s students, and she has stuck to that. And she paid dearly for it, stepping down from her D.C. post in 2010 after Mayor Adrian Fenty lost his bid for re-election, a public rejection that some saw as a repudiation of the tough steps Rhee took to raise the standards of the city’s public schools. Subsequently, she shunned any high-salary job offers that resulted from her high-profile tenure and instead founded her organization. — Davis Guggenheim
Starting from a tiny village in the deserts of Rajasthan in the 1980s, Aruna Roy began a long campaign to bring transparency to India’s notoriously corrupt bureaucracy. Its signal achievement is the 2005 Right to Information (RTI) Act, a law that has given the nation’s poor a powerful tool to fight for their rights and has influenced similar measures in other countries. It has also inspired thousands of RTI activists, who have exposed everything from land scams to bank embezzlement to the misuse of public funds meant for the poor. . . . Roy doesn’t just condemn a broken system; she changes it. — Jyoti Thottam
Within weeks of Lieut. General Ahmed Shuja Pasha’s becoming head of Pakistan’s top intelligence agency, ISI, in 2008, terrorist attacks in Mumbai seriously roiled already stressed U.S.-Pakistani relations. Pasha, 59, has grown progressively more suspicious of U.S. motives and staying power. . . . Pasha, a Pakistani patriot and American partner, now must find these two roles even more difficult to reconcile. — Michael Hayden
[A]s radiation wafted from the earthquake- and tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant toward the city of Minami Soma, some 15 miles (25 km) away, Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai . . . posted an 11-min. video on YouTube two weeks after the March 11 natural disaster [and] lashed out at Japan’s political and economic establishment, which had ignored his frantic calls and, as a result, left thousands of local residents stuck in a nuclear no-go zone. “With the paltry information given by the government and [plant operator] TEPCO, we are left isolated … and are being forced into starvation,” Sakurai charged. “I beg you from my heart to help us.” His plea resonated across the world, leading many to ask how a country so celebrated for efficiency had failed its most vulnerable citizens. — Hannah Beech
As the leader of Burma’s democracy movement and winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, Aung San Suu Kyi, 65, is an Asian hero and global inspiration. . . Last November she was released from her latest stint of more than seven years under house arrest. In March her banned party, the National League for Democracy, called again for talks with Burma’s rulers. Even after spending most of the past two decades in detention, Suu Kyi is determined to return to the front lines of the battle for democracy. — Wang Dan
Dhoni is now universally acknowledged as India’s best [cricket] captain ever. He’s also its most likable, exuding both cool confidence and down-to-earth humility. As astonishing as Dhoni’s talent is his background. Indian success stories are usually associated with pedigree, connections and power. Dhoni, from a small-town family of modest means, had none of these, but he’s shown India that you can make it with only one thing: excellence. Dhoni doesn’t just lead a cricket team; he’s also India’s captain of hope. — Chatan Bhagat
Ai Weiwei is the kind of visionary any nation should be proud to count among its creative class. He has drawn the world’s attention to the vibrancy of contemporary Chinese culture. More important, Ai, 53, has shown compassion for his fellow citizens and spoken out for victims of government abuses, calling for political reforms to better serve the people. It is very sad that the Chinese government has seen a need to silence one of its most innovative and illustrious citizens. For the world, Ai continues to represent the promise of China. — John Huntsman
You can make the case that Xi has reformist impulses. His father, once a comrade of Mao Zedong’s, was purged three times. Xi is an engineer, like most of China’s leaders, but he also has a law degree and a breadth of knowledge that many of his colleagues lack. His wife is one of China’s most famous singers. His daughter is at Harvard. Who knows? Maybe he even likes jazz and scotch. — Fareed Zakaria
As part of this blog’s ongoing mission of making academic research and data more easily accessible, understandable, and applicable to a wider audience, and for readers who like to keep on top of the latest academic research, I highlight new research and studies in academic journals about Asian Americans and other racial/ethnic groups as I hear about them. An article’s inclusion is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily mean an endorsement of its contents.
The widely-respected Asian American Pacific Islander Nexis journal has just released a special issue that focuses on various dimensions of mental health among Asian Americans:
The UCLA Asian American Studies Center announces the publication of Asian American Pacific Islander Nexus Journal: Policy, Practice and Community, Special Issue on Mental Health. This issue features select papers presented at the first “State of AAPI Mental Health” conference held in 2010, which was a transdisciplinary gathering on mental health research, treatment, and practice among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). The release of the Special Issue on Mental Health is in conjunction with the second conference on Friday, April 22, 2011.
The goals of the two conferences and this special issue are to increase the understanding about mental health and service needs of AAPIs. Research has shown that AAPIs have unique economic, linguistic, and cultural characteristics that require specific mental health services that can adequately address their needs. This issue on Mental Health highlights some of the emerging research for AAPIs with topics ranging from current policies, new research paradigms, to personal and cultural
roadblocks in relation to mental health.
Contextualizing the challenges of addressing AAPI mental health, guest editors, Gilbert C. Gee (UCLA), Phillip D. Akutsu (CSU Sacramento), and Margaret Shih (UCLA), in their introduction illustrate how cultural, historical, and community diversity have led to underutilization of services and a lack of data. They call for new research that seriously considers the theories related to differences among diverse AAPI populations.
Marguerite Ro and Wendy Ho then provide an overview of the current California and Federal policies and legislation related to mental health in “Aligning Policy to the Mental Health Needs of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.†The authors propose recommendations on how to better address issues of data and research, culturally competent services, and accountability of existing policies.
Frederick T.L. Leong and Zornitsa Kalibatseva, in “Comparative Effectiveness Research on Asian American Mental Health: Review and Recommendations,†provide an overview of the latest research paradigm called comparative effectiveness research (CER), which evaluates the efficacy of one or more interventions for a specific group. The authors urge researchers to use CER methods in order to stimulate more funding and foster a research environment that is responsive to the various issues in AAPI communities.
In the third manuscript, Phillip Akutsu and his colleagues discuss the issue of clients not showing up to their initial appointment to see a mental health provider in “Pre-Intake Attrition or Non-Attendance of Intake Appointments at an Ethnic-Specific Mental Health Program for Asian American Children and Adolescents.†Their findings show that key factors in motivating attendance involve matching the client’s language and ethnicity with the provider as well as fostering a personal connection between the provider and the client.
Van M. Ta et al. provide an ethnographic study in “Cultural Identity and Conceptualization of Depression among Native Hawaiian Women.†The authors seek to understand the correlation between cultural identity and depression among Native Hawaiian women. Their study across various age groups suggests that stressors resulting from U.S. occupation of Hawai’i such as acculturation, oppression, marginalization, and financial difficulties are important factors related to depression.
The issue closes with a non-theme article by Paul Ong and Albert Lee entitled, “Asian Americans and Redistricting: Empowering through Electoral Boundaries.†The authors contextualize the difficulties of building “communities of common interest†which ultimately helps preserve Asian American neighborhoods. They advocate for the need to bridge gaps and form coalitions to foster political empowerment for the AAPI community.
AAPI Nexus copies are $13.00 plus $4.00 for shipping and handling and 8.25% sales tax for California residents.
Here are some more announcements, links, and job postings about academic-related jobs, fellowships, and other related opportunities for those interested in racial/ethnic/diversity issues. As always, the announcements and links are provided for informational purposes and do not necessarily imply an endorsement of the organization or college involved.
The National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) seeks a hard-working, highly-skilled, talented, and committed individual to serve as the Program Associate (Civic Engagement Program) to coordinate projects related to community organizing, civic engagement and voter empowerment in its Washington D.C. office.
NAKASEC is a dynamic grassroots-based organization founded in 1994 by local community centers to project a progressive voice and promote the full participation of Korean Americans within the social justice movement. NAKASEC has offices in Los Angeles and Washington, DC. NAKASEC has affiliates in Los Angeles (The Korean Resource Center) and in Chicago (The Korean American Resource & Cultural Center) and works in partnership with local community based organizations across the nation. Major program areas: Civic Engagement (Redistricting, Elections and Census), Civil Rights (LGBTQ, Hate Crimes, Language Access, Voting Rights), Financial Empowerment, Immigrant Rights (Immigration Reform, Immigrant Integration, and Enforcement), Youth Organizing, and Technical Assistance.
Major Responsibilities:
Coordinate a national, non-partisan civic engagement campaign including voter education and research as well as supporting local efforts in voter mobilization and assistance
Advocate for policies and measures to protect voting rights and increase access and participation of minority, new, minority, and Limited English Proficient voters
Represent NAKASEC at constituent and coalition partner meetings, events, and conferences. Develop and maintain strong relationships with key national and local groups
Oversee and manage the NAKASEC internship program including recruiting, training and creating a network
Develop learning projects to build youth leadership and awareness
Develop core curriculum on grassroots organizing, movement building and the Korean American/Asian American & Pacific Islander progressive community for training purposes
Work with executive director to develop the NAKASEC organizational membership program. Strengthen and systematize NAKASEC volunteer component
Speak on behalf of NAKASEC at conferences and events. Help coordinate relevant media activities
Provide ongoing technical assistance and program support to NAKASEC affiliates and partners
Work with NAKASEC staff as a team to create a strategic plan for developing new programs and building organizational capacity that will advance the organization’s mission and objectives
Produce and maintain relevant work & grant reports and other documentation
Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree and 2 or more years experience working on Korean American, Asian American & Pacific Islander, or immigrant civic engagement initiatives. Excellent writing, editing, and oral communication skills. Strong research and analytical capacity. Ability to work independently, meet deadlines, think creatively, and prioritize multiple tasks. Ability to work collaboratively in local-national partnerships or with multi-ethnic or multi-sector communities. Some experience in working with ethnic and/or mainstream media desirable. Experience in community organizing and electoral campaigns an asset. This position requires occasional travel and ability to work some weekends.
To apply: Send cover letter, resume, writing sample, and salary history and requirement to Yeon-Ok Suh, NAKASEC, 1628 16th Street, Suite 306, Washington D.C. 20009 or via email at jobs@nakasec.org. For more information, please visit our website.
Mr. Edward C. Tang established this award in 2007 to provide financial assistance to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (l/g/b/t) Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) for post-secondary Education. This scholarship is to help LGBT youth proudly achieve educational pursuits and dreams without shame. This scholarship awards up to two outstanding students annually, a combined scholarships totaling up to $15,000. These scholarships are renewable for a maximum of three more years (a total of four years) provided each student annually meets the renewal requirements.
Each applicant must meet all of the following eligibility requirements:
Self-identified as Asian/Pacific Islander and gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender; (at least 25% API ancestry); and involved in the GLBT community
Graduate from a high school in one of the nine Bay Area counties; Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara County, Napa, Sonoma or Solano
Scholarship will be awarded for full-time (minimum 12 units for all semesters/quarters) enrollment in an accredited two, four-year university or graduate school; (college, university, community college or vocational school)
United States citizen or legal resident
Demonstrated financial hardship
Demonstrated academic promise
Minimum grade point average 3.0 (on a scale of 4.0)
Be between the age of 17 and 25 on 30 April 2011
To apply, visit the scholarship information site to download the online application form, include all supporting materials listed, and submit by April 30, 2001.
The mission of AAGEN is to promote, expand and support Asian Pacific American (APA) leadership in the Federal, State and Local governments. In accordance with AAGEN’s mission, the scholarship program has been designed for students in their continuing education to better prepare themselves for positions of leadership and trust in the Federal, State and Local governments.
One (1) award for $1,500.00, one (1) award for $1,000, and two (2) awards for $500.00 each will be made annually. AAGEN scholarships are one-time awards — former AAGEN scholarship winners are not eligible. Scholarship checks will be made out to the college or university the recipient will be attending. These checks will be directly deposited into the student’s account.
Applications will be evaluated based on five (5) criteria listed below:
Relationship of courses to be taken (or field of study) with service at the local/state and/or federal government levels
Demonstration of academic achievement and excellence with a copy of either standardized test scores (SAT, ACT, GRE) and/or a 3.3 or better grade point average
School, employment or extra-employment activities that demonstrate a seriousness of purpose in serving at leadership positions in the local/state and/or federal government levels
Letters of nomination and recommendation from a school counselor, teacher, public official or an AAGEN member, who knows the applicant well and is qualified to recommend the applicant. The letters should convey information about the applicant and his/her ability to serve in leadership positions at the local, state or federal government. These letters should not be written by a family member of the applicant
Each applicant is required to respond to at least three of five questions listed below. Each essay must be typed or submitted on a disk or a flash drive or by e-mail; double-spaced, and contain no more than 500 words
Five Essay Topics
Please respond to any three of the five questions listed here. Each essay should contain no more than 500 words. Please submit these with your application.
What does public service mean to you and how does it relate to your future goal of serving in leadership positions at the local, state and/or federal level?
What experience from your own life has influenced your development into ethical leadership?
What are the two special attributes or capabilities that set you apart from other applicants in leadership situations?
What would make public service more attractive to the youth of this country? How could that be accomplished?
What leader at the local, state or federal level has inspired you to public service?
Please send the complete electronic application package to:
Scholarship Awards Committee
Chair: Dr. Glenda Nogami
Glenda.nogami@streufert.net
If you have any questions or for additional information, please leave a message at 717-215-9782.
Postdoc: Vietnamese American Oral History, U.C. Irvine
2011-2012 Vietnamese American Oral History Project at University of California, Irvine Postdoctoral Fellowship
The University of California, Irvine (UCI) Department of Asian American Studies, in collaboration with the UCI Libraries Southeast Asian Archive, invites applications for a postdoctoral fellowship to develop, conduct, organize, and publicize a three-year Oral History project that documents the experiences of Vietnamese Americans in Southern California. The fellowship includes a stipend of $50,000, research and travel support up to $5000, and health benefits. This is a one-year fellowship with the possibility of renewal up to three years. The position will begin on September 1, 2011.
The fellow will be expected to teach one 10-week seminar per academic year for the Department of Asian American Studies, based on the Oral History project. The fellow will work closely with a faculty mentor and will consult with an advisory group to the project. It is expected that by the end of the three-year term of the fellowship that the oral histories assembled and recorded will be made available and accessible for public use, and that the postdoctoral fellow will serve as the principal coordinator for the public unveiling of the project.
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, identifying and selecting interviewees, conducting oral histories, supervising transcriptions, and producing formats to highlight the oral histories. The fellow will work to create standardized metadata of interviews for inclusion in an online database. Working knowledge of preservation practices and standards for digital video and audio equipment, files and formats, and editing software is preferred. The fellow will also create publicity for the project online, in printed formats, and at community events or exhibits. The fellow will manage the project budget, which includes hiring, training, and supervising research assistants.
Fellows must have valid U.S. work eligibility and hold a Ph.D. from an accredited college or university at the time of appointment. Vietnamese language proficiency is required. Preference will be given to candidates who have subject expertise on Vietnamese Americans, experience conducting Vietnamese American oral histories, and knowledge of principles and practices in oral history methodologies.
Please include with your application: 1) cover letter with your qualifications 2) curriculum vitae 3) three letters of reference under separate cover and 4) writing sample limited to 30 pages. Email application as .doc or .pdf files by May 15, 2011 to:
Ms. Roberta Geier
roberta.g@uci.edu
Manager, Department of Asian American Studies
University of California, Irvine
Job title: Program Coordinator
Monthly salary: starts at $1875 but is negotiable depending on qualifications.
Hiring department Center for Asian American Studies
Essential functions:
Work with the Director, Center staff, UT administrators, faculty and students to develop, plan, implement and evaluate a wide range of programs promoting better understanding of Asian American issues and increasing participation and support for these programs. Help to develop and implement fundraising programs and activities and assistance in grant writing for Center. Advise students about the Asian American studies major and career options. Administer course scheduling and registration for the Center. Participate in campus and community outreach programs by representing the Center at meetings with students, faculty, community members, and administrators.
Coordinate associated programming with community groups and manage co-sponsorship activities. Help to develop, design, and disseminate outreach and publicity materials to students, campus communities, and local and national APA organizations. Update the Center Facebook page and website. Option to teach one course per year in area of expertise, preferably service learning. Possible supervision of student interns, including hiring, evaluation, discipline, discharge, and management of work assignments.
Required qualifications:
BA degree and two-years experience staffing a program or project: developing and running community outreach programs; grantwriting and other forms of development work; teaching, advising or counseling students in an academic program setting or in a student personnel program. Ability to take initiative and work independently. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Demonstrated ability to work with a variety of individuals and groups in a diplomatic and sustained manner. Experience producing promotional materials. Equivalent combination of relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.
Barbara Jann
Center for Asian American Studies
University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station A2200
Austin, TX 78712
barbaraj@austin.utexas.edu
Phone: (512) 232-6427
Fax: (512) 232-7136
Internship: API Domestic Violence Resource Center
Spring/Summer 2011 Internship at the Asian/ Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project.
The Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project (DVRP) is seeking a spring/summer intern. Founded in 1995, DVRP is a 501c (3) nonprofit organization that works to prevent domestic violence in the Asian and Pacific Islander (A/PI) communities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. DVRP is a small, non-hierarchical organization supported by a collaborative style of leadership.
Recognizing that A/PI survivors of domestic violence have a variety of needs in order to attain safety for themselves and their children, DVRP Advocates Program provides direct assistance on an individual level, with special consideration for cultural and linguistic needs. The intern will provide assistance to DVRP’s Advocates Program, Community Outreach Program, and the Board of Directors.
Tasks related to the Advocates Program include:
Find resources for Advocates Training and Women’s Group
Assist in administering evaluation surveys
Assist with coordinating Advocates Training
Update resource lists for the Advocates Program
Perform administrative tasks
The Community Outreach Program insures that the A/PI communities in DC/MD/VA area, as well as service providers, know about DVRP’s services by circulating our materials to groups and at events, and offering workshops and trainings. Task include:
Maintaining organization contact list
Identifying opportunities for workshops and training
Assisting with curriculum and attending trainings and events (some evenings and/or weekends)
Circulating DVRP materials in community, at businesses, schools etc.
Assist with recruitment and coordinating Community Outreach Volunteer training
The Board of Directors focuses on fundraising and identifying funding sources to keep DVRP going strong! Tasks include:
Identifying funding resources
Assist with small and large scale fundraisers in October
Perform administrative tasks
Rolling interviews. To apply, please submit your resume, cover letter describing your interest, and one non-personal
reference to betty@dvrp.org.
Since the 1990s, incremental changes in U.S. immigration laws and policies have dramatically changed and complicated migration from Asia and the Pacific Islands to the United States. While the U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics counted over 6.3 million new permanent residents from Asia and the Pacific Islands, even this staggering figure is a poor indicator of the actual volume of Asian-Pacific immigration, for it leaves out persons who are out of status, or persons who are admitted as non-immigrants.
Even though people in these two categories are often represented in the opposite ends of the migration spectrum — former as “illegal” and “invisible” immigrants and the latter as the wealthy investors and skilled workers — the two groups are interrelated: they both live in the same communities; the professional Asian immigrants often depend on the labor of unskilled co-ethnics; and sometimes they are in the same family.
In addition, over the past two decades, we’ve witnessed a significant re-migration to Asia and the Pacific Islands — AAPIs of all generations have “gone back” to continue their education, to pursue a career or to manage investments, or to rejoin their families. Sometimes they stay, sometimes they come back: once exotic terms such as “parachute kids,” “Chinese sea turtles,” and “Korean goose families” are now part of the common lexicon to describe some of the transpacific complexities.
In all these instances, governments have developed immigration policies to pursue a variety of goals — U.S. policies that seek to attract wealthy investors and skilled workers, admit more workers on a temporary or contingent basis, discourage the poor, and facilitate removal and deportation have been adopted by other countries.
In this context of dynamic change, we invite new work that contributes to our understanding of contemporary Asian American and Pacific Islander migrations in all of their complexity, from scholars, activists, and practitioners. Professor Edward Park, Loyola Marymount University and Professor John Park, University of California, Santa Barbara, will be the consulting Guest Editors working with the editorial staff on this volume. The Special Issue is scheduled for publication in Spring 2012.
We encourage paper submissions that provide perspectives of practitioners, academic researchers, and applied policy analysts. If you are interested in submitting a manuscript, please send or email a letter of intent with the title and a very short descriptive paragraph or abstract of the proposed paper to the editors for review. If you have a prepared paper, you may also submit the paper at the same time. For submission guidelines, please visit and click on STYLE SHEET for Article Submissions (PDF Document) at: http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/aascpress/pressresources.asp
AAPI Nexus is a peer-reviewed, national journal published by UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center focusing on policies, practices and community research to benefit the nation’s burgeoning Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. The journal’s mission is to facilitate an exchange of ideas and research findings that strengthens the efforts through policy and practice to tackle the pressing societal problems facing Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities.
Since the inception of ethnic studies, the goal of “serving and mobilizing the community” has been at the heart of Asian American Studies and Pacific Islander Studies. Previous issues have focused on Community Development, Civil Rights, and Voting. The table of contents and editors’ notes can be found at: http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/aascpress/nexuscollection.asp
Deadline for Letter of Intent for Immigration issue: June 15, 2011. Deadline for Manuscript Submissions for LA-NY issue: September 15, 2011. Earlier submission of a Letter or Manuscript is encouraged. Internet communication is preferred.
Please address to Managing Editor Melany De La Cruz-Viesca and send to AAPI Nexus Journal at:
Melany De La Cruz -Viesca (nexus@aasc.ucla.edu)
and send an electronic copy to:
Senior Editor Marjorie Kagawa-Singer (mkagawa@ucla.edu)
Guest Editor Professor Edward Park (edward.park@lmu.edu)
Guest Editor Professor John Park (jswpark@asamst.ucsb.edu)
Co-Managing Editor Christina Aujean Lee (aujean@gmail.com)
For regular mail, send all correspondence to:
Christina Aujean Lee, Managing Editor
AAPI Nexus Journal
UCLA Asian American Studies Center
3230 Campbell Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1546
Here are some more announcements, links, and job postings about academic-related jobs, fellowships, and other related opportunities for those interested in racial/ethnic/diversity issues. As always, the announcements and links are provided for informational purposes and do not necessarily imply an endorsement of the organization or college involved.
Lecturer Positions: Asian American Studies, UC Irvine
The Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine invites applications for a part-time Non Senate Faculty position with primary responsibility in teaching an upper division interdisciplinary course in Asian American Studies for academic year 2011-12. Minimum base salary per course is $5579. The appointment dates would be as follows: Fall Quarter 2011 (09/19/11 to 12/9/11) or Winter Quarter 2012 (01/04/12 to 03/23/12). We are looking for applicants who can teach the following courses:
Applicants with a Ph.D. preferred. Applicants who are ABD or have a M.A., M.F.A., or equivalent will be considered. UC graduate students must have filed their dissertation or have a degree in hand by mid-August 2011 to be eligible to teach in Fall 2011 and by mid-December 2011 to be eligible to teach in Winter Quarter 2012. Preference will be given to applicants who can teach in the Fall quarter. You may apply for one, some, or all courses, but please note that all course availability is subject to budgetary approval.
The Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine offers a major, minor, a graduate emphasis, and contributes to the Ph.D. Program in Culture and Theory. Applications will be accepted until positions are filled. However, to ensure fullest consideration, all applications materials should be submitted by May 6, 2011. Send materials via e-mail attachment to Jim Lee at jkl@uci.edu to include:
Cover letter
Curriculum vitae
Teaching evaluation summaries (no raw data needed)
Two letters of recommendations sent directly from the recommender
Complete sample syllabi of the course(s) you are proposing
Indicate quarters available (Fall/Winter)
The University of California, Irvine is an equal opportunity employer committed to excellence through diversity and has an ADVANCE Program for Faculty Equity and Diversity.
James Kyung-Jin Lee
Chair, Department of Asian American Studies
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-6900
o: 949.824.8716
f: 949.824.7006
Check us out on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/uciasianam and Twitter @UCIAsianAm
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) invites applications for the inaugural competition of its Public Fellows program. The program will place eight recent Ph.D.s in staff positions at partnering agencies in government and the non-profit sector for two years, beginning in some cases as early as September 2011. Fellows will participate in the substantive work of these agencies and receive professional mentoring. Compensation will be commensurate with experience and at the same level as new professional employees of the hosting agency and will include health insurance.
This program, made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, aims to demonstrate that the capacities developed in the advanced study of the humanities have wide application, both within and beyond the academy. ACLS seeks applications from recent Ph.D.s who wish to begin careers in administration, management, and public service by choice rather than circumstance. Competitive applicants will have been successful in both academic and extra-academic experiences.
Fellowship Details:
Stipend: $50,000 – $78,000 dependent on position. Health benefits will also be provided
Tenure: Two years; start dates will vary but range from September 2011 to as late as February 2012 (if security clearance is necessary)
Summer Youth Career Exploration Program Project Coordinator
Boat People SOS, Inc. (BPSOS) is a national Vietnamese-American community-based organization with 30 years of service. Our mission is to empower, equip and organize Vietnamese-American individuals and communities in their pursuit of liberty and dignity. Our local branch provides programs and services are in the areas of community development, immigration and translation services, health programming, youth programming, and workforce readiness programming.
BPSOS-Delaware Valley seeks a highly motivated, enthusiastic and responsible individual for our part-time Project Coordinator position for our Summer Youth Career Exploration Program (SYCEP). This position will be based out of our Philadelphia office in the BPSOS-Delaware Valley Branch. The SYCEP Project Coordinator is part of a seasonal team designed to provide citywide access to Southeast Asian immigrant youth, ages 16-21, who are interested in exploring career opportunities in a broad array of fields over a six week period. This position requires a flexible schedule and the ability to work nights and weekends from May to August.
Responsibilities:
Recruit, interview and support 25 Southeast Asian immigrant youth in SYCEP Program
Conduct parent/youth informational sessions for the program as needed
Recruit and maintain relationships with employers throughout the program
Conduct youth enrollment sessions in accordance with applicable labor laws and practices
Assess youth readiness for program referrals
Review the quality of youth enrollment files
Enter data files into proprietary database
Maintain filing system for youth and provider files, including payroll, timesheets, and other HR paperwork as necessary
Organize, plan and carry out six professional development for youth on WorkReadiness
Embody and integrate excellent customer service into daily work
Serve as an example of professionalism
Travel to worksites throughout the City of Philadelphia
Translation of brochures, flyers and pamphlets of information as needed
Requirements:
Must have experience in working with immigrant communities and/or high needs communities
Excellent organization skills
Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment
Highly-developed interpersonal abilities
Flexible work schedule (some nights and weekends required)
Bilingual in Vietnamese/English preferred
Access to transportation preferred
PC computer literacy, proficient in Word, Excel and Internet usage
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Salary: Negotiable, depending on experience and qualifications. Seasonal position. To apply: Send cover letter, resume and list of three professional references to:
Human Resources
Fax: 703-538-2191 – hr@bpsos.org
Hyphen and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop are very excited to present the 2011 Asian American Short Story Contest – the only, national, pan-Asian American writing competition of its kind. Prize: $1,000, publication in Hyphen magazine and the honor of “Short Story of the Year.”
Now in its fourth year, the 2011 Asian American Short Story Contest will name 10 finalists and one grand prize-winner who will win a cash prize of $1000 and have the winning story published in an upcoming issue of Hyphen. Judges for the 2011 contests include renowned Asian American writers:
Yiyun Li, a 2010 MacArthur Genius Award winner; author of “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,” and, “The Vagrants,” winner of the gold medal of California Book Award for fiction
Porochista Khakpour, author of “Sons and Other Flammable Objects,” a New York Times “Editor’s Choice,” Chicago Tribune “Fall’s Best,” and a 2007
California Book Award winner
Our first contest winner Preeta Samarasan was discovered based on her contest-winning story. She went on to write the acclaimed novel Evening is the Whole Day (Houghton Mifflin), which was long-listed for the Orange Prize.
The deadline for this contest is May 16th. Open to all writers of Asian descent living in the United States and Canada. Please visit http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/shortstory or http://www.aaww.org for more information.
Held in collaboration between San Francisco-based Hyphen, a non-profit news and culture magazine, and The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, the preeminent literary arts organization devoted to Asian American literature — the 2011 Asian American Short Story contest is a unique competition highlighting the amazing literary talent coming out of our communities. Garnering hundreds of submissions from all parts of the country and representing all peoples of Asian America, this contest has proven itself as a major cultural event.
Lecturer Position: Hmong American Studies, Wisconsin – Madison
Visiting Assistant Professor in Hmong American Studies
Asian American Studies Program
University of Wisconsin-Madison
2011-2012
Application Deadline: June 10, 2011 or until filled. PhD required.
Disciplines sought: Hmong Studies, Sociology, American Studies, Asian American Studies, Counseling Psychology, Education, Human Development and Family Studies, Nursing, Community Studies, Public Health, Psychology, Communication Arts, or an interdisciplinary or related discipline.
The Asian American Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is hiring a visiting assistant professor for 2011-2012 who will teach courses about Hmong in the United States with a contemporary focus. We are interested in someone who has already completed their PhD and who already has experience teaching at least one college level course. Experience or strong interest with community based research or service learning is desirable but not required.
A critical race, race relations, or ethnic studies perspective is preferred. This position also includes providing consultation about the future of Hmong Studies as a field and involvement in programming (e.g., speakers, conferences, research institute, etc.) in the Asian American Studies Program. The teaching load will be 2 courses per semester.
This will be the fourth year that we are hiring a visiting assistant professor in Hmong American Studies. It is part of a longer term strategy to identify and promote the development of new scholars in this area, with the hope that we will have a pool of scholars to select from for a permanent tenure line in the future.
During the Visiting Assistant Professor’s year at UW, we provide mentoring, professional development support, and opportunities to strengthen one’s academic profile. The visiting assistant professor will have an office in the Asian American Studies Program and have opportunities to meet and work with members of the academic and local Hmong community. Previous visiting assistant professors have gone on to post-docs and tenure track positions.
We have already put two courses in the timetable for the Fall (generically titled so that they can be tailored to the interests of the instructor).
Asian Am 240 Hmong Experiences in the U.S.
Asian Am 540 Hmong American Studies
This is a 33.33% appointment for the Fall 2011 semester, beginning on August 29, 2011 and ending on January 12, 2012. The salary is $5,700 for the one course (33.33% of the full time academic rate of $34,202.) If you are interested in being considered for this position, please send the following:
Your curriculum vita, including names and phone numbers of teaching references listed
A letter describing:
Your teaching perspective
A sample syllabi for either of the two courses listed above
Discussion of your specific area of expertise in teaching about Hmong Americans and what the course content for a topic specific course in this area might be
Please apply BY EMAIL by June 10, 2011 to both:
luttal@wisc.edu
aasp@mailplus.wisc.edu
with the subject line: VAP 2011-2012 YOUR FULL NAME
If you have any questions about this position, please contact: Lynet Uttal, Director, Asian American Studies Program, luttal@wisc.edu
Below are a few more recently-released books that highlight Asian Americans, immigration, and/or other racial/ethnic groups along a variety of historical and contemporary sociological issues. A book’s inclusion is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily mean a full endorsement of its contents.
These new titles explore various dimensions of cultural assimilation among Asian Americans and illustrate different ways in which Asian Americans are integrated into the rest of U.S. society and its institutions.
The 1965 Immigration Act altered the lives and outlook of Chinese Americans in fundamental ways. The New Chinese America explores the historical, economic, and social foundations of the Chinese American community, in order to reveal the emergence of a new social hierarchy after 1965. In this detailed and comprehensive study of contemporary Chinese America, Xiaojian Zhao uses class analysis to illuminate the difficulties of everyday survival for poor and undocumented immigrants and analyzes the process through which social mobility occurs.
Through ethnic ties, Chinese Americans have built an economy of their own in which entrepreneurs can maintain a competitive edge given their access to low-cost labor; workers who are shut out of the mainstream job market can find work and make a living; and consumers can enjoy high quality services at a great bargain. While the growth of the ethnic economy enhances ethnic bonds by increasing mutual dependencies among different groups of Chinese Americans, it also determines the limits of possibility for various individuals depending on their socioeconomic and immigration status.
Fob (noun)-derived from the acronym F.O.B. (“Fresh off the Boat”). Does your mom still make Peking duck instead of turkey on Thanksgiving, own a giant cleaver, or take twenty-four more napkins than she needs at Chipotle? Your mom may be a fob.
Through their hit blog “My Mom Is a Fob,” Teresa and Serena Wu have seized ownership of this formerly derogatory term, applying it instead to the heartfelt, hilarious, and thoroughly unique ways that Asian mothers adapt to American culture, from the perspective of those who love them most: their children. Through texts, emails, phone calls, and more, My Mom Is a Fob showcases the stories of a community of Asian-American kids who know exactly what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that amazing, unconditional, and sometimes misspelled love.
It’s about those Asian mothers who refuse to get in the car without their sun-protective arm sheaths, the ones who send us passive-aggressive text messages “from the dog” in hopes that we’ll call home, and email us unsolicited advice about everything from homosexuality to constipation. In these pages you’ll find solace in the fact that thousands of moms out there are as painfully nosy, unintentionally hilarious, and endearingly fobby as yours is.
Since the 1990s, young Asian Americans including Doo-Ri Chung, Derek Lam, Thakoon Panichgul, Alexander Wang, and Jason Wu have emerged as leading fashion designers. They have won prestigious awards, been chosen to head major clothing labels, and had their designs featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and other fashion magazines. At the same time that these designers were rising to prominence, the fashion world was embracing Asian chic. During the 1990s, “Asian†shapes, fabrics, iconography, and colors filled couture runways and mass-market clothing racks.
In The Beautiful Generation, Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu explores the role of Asian American designers in New York’s fashion industry, paying particular attention to how they relate to the garment workers who produce their goods and to Asianness as a fashionable commodity. She draws on conversations with design students, fashion curators, and fashion publicists; interviews with nearly thirty Asian American designers who have their own labels; and time spent with those designers in their shops and studios, on their factory visits, and at their fashion shows. The Beautiful Generation links the rise of Asian American designers to historical patterns of immigration, racial formation, and globalized labor, and to familial and family-like connections between designers and garment workers.
Helen Heran Jun explores how the history of U.S. citizenship has positioned Asian Americans and African Americans in interlocking socio-political relationships since the mid nineteenth century. Rejecting the conventional emphasis on ‘inter-racial prejudice,’ Jun demonstrates how a politics of inclusion has constituted a racial Other within Asian American and African American discourses of national identity.
Race for Citizenship examines three salient moments when African American and Asian American citizenship become acutely visible as related crises: the ‘Negro Problem’ and the ‘Yellow Question’ in the mid- to late 19th century; World War II-era questions around race, loyalty, and national identity in the context of internment and Jim Crow segregation; and post-Civil Rights discourses of disenfranchisement and national belonging under globalization.
Taking up a range of cultural texts—the 19th century black press, the writings of black feminist Anna Julia Cooper, Asian American novels, African American and Asian American commercial film and documentary—Jun does not seek to document signs of cross-racial identification, but instead demonstrates how the logic of citizenship compels racialized subjects to produce developmental narratives of inclusion in the effort to achieve political, economic, and social incorporation. Race for Citizenship provides a new model of comparative race studies by situating contemporary questions of differential racial formations within a long genealogy of anti-racist discourse constrained by liberal notions of inclusion.
In her research on popular culture of the Vietnamese diaspora, Nhi T. Lieu explores how people displaced by war reconstruct cultural identity in the aftermath of migration. Embracing American democratic ideals and consumer capitalism prior to arriving in the United States, postwar Vietnamese refugees endeavored to assimilate and live the American Dream. In The American Dream in Vietnamese, she claims that nowhere are these fantasies played out more vividly than in the Vietnamese American entertainment industry.
Lieu examines how live music variety shows and videos, beauty pageants, and Web sites created by and for Vietnamese Americans contributed to the shaping of their cultural identity. She shows how popular culture forms repositories for conflicting expectations of assimilation, cultural preservation, and invention, alongside gendered and classed dimensions of ethnic and diasporic identity.
The American Dream in Vietnamese demonstrates how the circulation of images manufactured by both Americans and Vietnamese immigrants serves to produce these immigrants’ paradoxical desires. Within these desires and their representations, Lieu finds the dramatization of the community’s struggle to define itself against the legacy of the refugee label, a classification that continues to pathologize their experiences in American society.
2009: Kimchi Quesadillas and Korean BBQ Tacos The fusion of Korean and Mexican food in Los Angeles represents another melding of different cultures in contemporary American society.
2008: Chinese Students Lashing Back A resurgence of national and ethnic pride by Chinese students around the world has the danger of reinforcing the criticisms against them.
2006: Hines Ward’s Effect on Korean Society Hine Ward’s visit to his mother’s homeland of South Korea prompts many people there and in the U.S. to rethink mixed-race identities.
2005: Hollywood Remaking Asian Cinema Major Hollywood studios are increasingly remaking Asian movies for U.S. audiences — is this a good or bad thing?
Believe it or not, this month marks the 10 year birthday of my website and blog, Asian-Nation.org. I hope you’ll forgive me if I take a few minutes to reflect on where Asian-Nation has been as it enters its second decade on the internet.
The Origins of Asian-Nation
Around 10 years ago, I was finished with my graduate school course work and was trying to finish my dissertation (‘ABD’ or ‘all but dissertation’ in grad school lingo). My wife, daughter, and I had just moved from the hustle and bustle of New York City to the calmer and less expensive environs of Albany NY where I lived previously when I was doing my graduate course work at SUNY Albany.
I just started a full-time job as a Research Associate at the Center for Technology in Government (an applied research center at SUNY Albany) in which I analyzed how state government agencies used information technology to improve their public services. The internet was also just beginning to realize its potential as a medium for groups and individuals to express themselves and to claim their voice in U.S. society.
I was also eager to kick start my dissertation-writing and my research on different forms of assimilation among Asian Americans. Also, I was (and still am) a firm believer in doing “public sociology” — making academic research and data relevant and directly applicable to addressing important real-world issues that people and our society face and in the process, not being afraid to take a stand on controversial issues, as long as I used objective data and examples to support my viewpoints.
With these factors in mind, I also saw a need for Asian Americans to represent ourselves in mainstream U.S. society, rather than allowing others to represent us however they wanted. In other words, I wanted to directly educate people about the Asian American experience myself instead of having them rely on distorted portrayals and ignorant stereotypes that were unfortunately common.
Throughout my life, I frequently found myself in the position of being one of the few Asians (or even pople of color) around. In those situations, I sometimes had to be a “spokesperson” for the entire Asian American community and educating people a little bit about Asian American history, culture, and issues at a time. So I figured, why not leverage the power of the internet to create an online resource where I can do just that as many people and as wide of an audience at once?
Putting It All Together
So I decided to create a website and on April 26, 2001, I registered the domain name Asian-Nation.org. Why did I name the site “Asian-Nation?” There was not one specific reason and actually, I chose that name somewhat on a whim and as a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. Basically I liked the sound of it and it generally represents the contributions that Asians have made to the history and culture of U.S. society.
My initial plans were modest — I was only going to put up a few articles on different aspects of Asian American history and culture. But the more I got into it, the more material and information I decided to include until I organized them into the structure that currently exists right now — roughly six main categories of static HTML articles (the articles in the “Ethnic Groups” category were added in 2008). Here’s one of the earliest versions of my front page banner:
Back in 2001, blogs were not as common and popular as they are now but nonetheless, in my “Issues” category, I had an article that I titled “Behind the Headlines” in which I regularly updated and commented on current events and news items related to Asians and/or Asian Americans, so it was basically an early form of blogging. In fact, the first such entry I wrote was in April 2001 titled, “War and Conscience” about Kansas Senator Bob Kerry’s participation in the Viet Nam War. In 2004 I switched my blogging from just static HTML entries over to the WordPress software that I use now.
Here’s to the Next 10 Years and Beyond
Over these past 10 years, I have received approximately 4,000,000 visitors (that averages to about 33,000 a month). My site statistics tell me that on average, each visitor stays a little less than 4 minutes on the site and views about 3.5 pages. But what is more important than the numbers are the reactions and messages I get from visitors, a few of which I list in the “What Others Are Saying” section of my main page. I always feel invigorated when readers from all backgrounds tell me not just how much they like my site but also that it’s opened their eyes to stuff they’ve never heard or learned about before.
As I celebrate Asian-Nation’s 10th birthday, I hope to continue to educate people one at a time about the history, experiences, culture, and contemporary issues of Asian Americans (and immigrants and people of color as well) and hope that people will still find it to be a useful information resource and perhaps even an enlightening experience for them.
