Lessons from Ethnic Studies

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Fong ◽  
Clement Lai
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Historical Archaeology ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Chinese Americans ◽  
Chinese Diaspora ◽  
Asian American Studies ◽  
Archaeological Work ◽  
Nuanced Understanding

This chapter argues for interdisciplinary collaboration between historical archaeology and Asian American Studies/Ethnic Studies, and it articulates a Chinese American historical archaeology. Both fields stand to benefit from collaboration, with the potential for contributions to archaeological work in the Chinese diaspora more broadly. Ethnic Studies brings to historical archaeology a more nuanced understanding about race, specifically with regard to theories of racialization and racial triangulation, as well as decades of experience doing politically conscious, community-engaged, anti-racist work. Historical archaeology provides Ethnic Studies with a framework for studying material culture, something that Ethnic Studies scholars have yet to study in depth, in conjunction with oral histories and the documentary record. Furthermore, interdisciplinary collaboration has the potential for reorienting Ethnic Studies towards researching community social histories. The chapter argues for continued interdisciplinary collaboration to promote historical archaeologies of Chinese Americans and of Asian Americans more broadly.

Toward Engaged and Critical Archaeologies of the Chinese Diaspora

2020 ◽  
pp. 59-82
Author(s):  
Kelly N. Fong 方少芳‎
Keyword(s):  
Asian American ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
American Woman ◽  
Chinese American ◽  
Chinese Americans ◽  
Chinese Diaspora ◽  
Interdisciplinary Work ◽  
Critical Reflexivity ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Black Feminist Archaeology

Drawing upon the work of other archaeologists of color and the author’s personal experiences as an Asian American woman in archaeology, this chapter explores potential future directions for Chinese American / diaspora archaeologies as a community-oriented field that is critically engaged with issues of race, racism, racialization, power, capitalism, politics, and white supremacy. Particularly inspired by black feminist archaeology and interdisciplinary work with Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies, this chapter outlines five areas for building engaged and critical archaeologies of Chinese Americans and the Chinese diaspora: recruiting and retaining more Asian American archaeologists; conducting interdisciplinary work with Ethnic Studies; engaging in collaboration with community partners; practicing critical reflexivity of positionality and privilege; and participating in contemporary politics. The chapter uses examples from Isleton Chinatown and Chinese American community cookbooks to demonstrate what community-engaged, community-collaborative critical archaeologies by archaeologists of color might look like.

Epistemic Decolonization

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-224
Author(s):  
Bao Lo
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Asian American ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Asian American Studies ◽  
Curriculum And Pedagogy ◽  
The University

This article extends critical discussions on decolonization and settler colonialism specifically as it relates to Asian American Studies. The author argues for a centering of settler colonialism in Asian Americans Studies as epistemic decolonization of the imperial practices of the university. Focusing on the curriculum and pedagogy in courses she teaches in Asian American Studies, the author offers meaningful suggestions for engaging settler colonialism in the implementation of Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies in higher education.

Planned Obsolescence, Strategic Resistance: Ethnic Studies, Asian American Studies, and the Neoliberal University

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy J. Schlund-Vials
Keyword(s):  
Asian American ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
Asian American Studies ◽  
Planned Obsolescence ◽  
Starting Point

This chapter takes as a starting point the ways in which Ethnic Studies, as university/institutional initiative, was rendered precarious from the outset via joint appointments, soft funding lines, and non-binding budget commitments. The chapter then shifts to a reading of neoliberal university logics and provides strategies to subvert disciplinary “obsolescence” via a turn to critical/comparative Asian/Asian American studies.

Muncie, India(na)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Himanee Gupta-Carlson
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
South Asians ◽  
Diaspora Studies ◽  
Asian American Studies ◽  
South Asian American ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Auto Ethnography ◽  
Racial Ethnic

The book is a study of South Asian Americans in Muncie, Indiana – the author’s hometown. Muncie is the small Midwestern city made famous for being “typical America” through the Middletown studies. The book is among the first studies of the South Asian American community in Muncie as well as small-town middle America more generally. It situates the experiences of Muncie’s South Asians within the larger context of scholarship in Asian American Studies, racial and ethnic studies, postcolonial/diaspora studies, and the Middletown archive. At the heart of the book is the question: What does it mean to call one’s self an American is one is non-white, non-Christian, and/or non-U.S. born? It uses an interdisciplinary blend of auto-ethnography, and discourse analysis to argue that a failure to account for the racial, ethnic, and religious diversity of America has left behind a false legacy of what defines an American. It shows how the Muncie South Asian American community has sustained itself through extraordinary friendship and resilience, qualities which allowed the members of the community to negotiate internal differences among Indians and other South Asians to make a home in a city – and a nation – that renders them non-American.

Ethnic Studies on its Fiftieth Anniversary

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-67
Author(s):  
Harvey Dong
Keyword(s):  
Asian American ◽  
Third World ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
Fiftieth Anniversary ◽  
Asian American Studies ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Third World

The author reflects on his participation in the Asian American Political Alliance and involvement in the Third World Strike at UC Berkeley in 1969, as well as the development and challenges with Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies.

Chinese Diaspora Archaeology in North America

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Chinese Diaspora ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Asian American Studies ◽  
Mining Communities ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Future Direction ◽  
Future Work

Chinese diaspora archaeology in North America is at a tipping point. On one hand, archaeologists have collected tremendous amounts of data and made significant contributions to our understanding of Chinese immigrant life; on the other, the field remains slow to move past outdated approaches that rely on dichotomies of continuity and change that essentialize Chinese immigrants. This volume will challenge tired approaches and provide models for future work by bringing together chapters from scholars working on new and more nuanced approaches for interpreting Chinese diaspora archaeological sites in North America. Chapters will address the conceptualization of the field (as diaspora, in relation to Asian American studies, etc.), highlight the diversity of Chinese contexts in North America (urban and rural Chinatowns, mining communities, railroad camps, etc.), foregrounding the understudied aspects of Chinese migrant life (entrepreneurialism, cross–cultural interaction, creativity, etc.). Rather than being a report on the state of the field, our goal is that this volume will instead actualize change and shape the future direction of the sub–discipline, as well as bring Chinese diaspora archaeology into broader discussions about topics such as race and migration.

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