Introduction

Author(s):  
Simeon Man

The introduction begins with a question many racial minorities, whether directly or indirectly, faced in the 1960s: do you want to join the army or go to jail? The question, I contend, not only reflected the austerity of racialized life in the United States at the time but also broadly reflected a governing logic that emerged globally in the post-1945 age of decolonization. The introduction lays out the book’s central arguments by explaining three important concepts: the “decolonizing Pacific,” “soldiering,” and “race war.” It situates the book within Asian American history and U.S. history, and it suggests the need to broaden our conception and approach to these fields by engaging with global histories of empire and decolonization.

Author(s):  
Lon Kurashige

I have never had the opportunity to reflect on my developing interest in Japan, so I welcome the invitation by Professors Takezawa and Okihiro to consider my positionality as a researcher of Asian American history. I do this in light of the exchange between U.S.-based and Japan-based scholars of Nikkei studies held in Shinagawa (Tokyo) in July 2012. This reflection is rooted in personal views, memories, and experiences, because these have been the most powerful influences on my thinking. Yet in focusing on the personal I will not ignore structures of colonialism and racism that have shaped my personal identity within the United States and Japan....


Author(s):  
Dan Bacalzo

Beginning in the 1960s and continuing into the present day, a wide range of performers and playwrights have contributed to Asian American experimental theater and performance. These works tend toward plot structures that break away from realist narratives or otherwise experiment with form and content. This includes avant-garde innovations, community-based initiatives that draw on the personal experiences of workshop participants, politicized performance art pieces, spoken word solos, multimedia works, and more. Many of these artistic categories overlap, even as the works produced may look extremely different from one another. There is likewise great ethnic and experiential diversity among the performing artists: some were born in the United States while others are immigrants, permanent residents, or Asian nationals who have produced substantial amounts of works in the United States. Several of these artists raise issues of race as a principal element in the creation of their performances, while for others it is a minor consideration, or perhaps not a consideration at all. Nevertheless, since all these artists are of Asian descent, racial perceptions still inform the production, reception, and interpretation of their work.


2007 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Spickard

This article offers a brief history of the Asian American coalition and suggests how possible new directions for the coalition in the future may affect the scope and preoccupations of Asian American history as it will be written. ““Asian American”” was an idea invented in the 1960s to bring together Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino Americans for strategic purposes. Soon other Asian-origin groups, such as Korean, Vietnamese, and South Asian Americans, were added. The article considers four groups who some people have suggested have strategic links with the Asian American coalition——Pacific Islander Americans, multiracial people of part-Asian descent, international adoptees from Asian countries, and Arab and other Middle Eastern Americans. It examines whether and how each group might be considered part of the Asian American coalition, and what impact their inclusion might have on the writing of Asian American history.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-153
Author(s):  
Adolphus G. Belk ◽  
Robert C. Smith ◽  
Sherri L. Wallace

In general, the founders of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists were “movement people.” Powerful agents of socialization such as the uprisings of the 1960s molded them into scholars with tremendous resolve to tackle systemic inequalities in the political science discipline. In forming NCOBPS as an independent organization, many sought to develop a Black perspective in political science to push the boundaries of knowledge and to use that scholarship to ameliorate the adverse conditions confronting Black people in the United States and around the globe. This paper utilizes historical documents, speeches, interviews, and other scholarly works to detail the lasting contributions of the founders and Black political scientists to the discipline, paying particular attention to their scholarship, teaching, mentoring, and civic engagement. It finds that while political science is much improved as a result of their efforts, there is still work to do if their goals are to be achieved.


2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-32
Author(s):  
ShiPu Wang

This essay delineates the issues concerning AAPI art exhibitions from a curator’s perspective, particularly in response to the changing racial demographics and economics of the past decades. A discussion of practical, curatorial problems offers the reader an overview of the obstacles and reasons behind the lack of exhibitions of AAPI works in the United States. It is the author’s hope that by understanding the challenges particular to AAPI exhibitions, community leaders, and patrons will direct future financial support to appropriate museum operations, which in turn will encourage more exhibitions and research of the important artistic contribution of AAPI artists to American art.


Author(s):  
Bo Yun Park

In the United States, political consumerism has evolved alongside the country’s racial struggles. Throughout American history, ethnoracial minority groups have used different forms of racialized political consumerism in order to advance their rights. White supremacist groups have also taken part in boycotts to promote their cause. Addressing the need to assess the meaning and significance of a tactic that is considered to be a longstanding political tradition, this chapter provides an analytical guide for the study of racialized political consumerism in democratic societies. It does so by (1) illustrating the historical and contemporary uses of political consumerism in racial struggles in the United States, (2) examining the different forms of political consumerism used by ethnoracial minorities, and (3) discussing the theoretical value of the concept of racialized political consumerism.


2012 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yujin Yaguchi

This article investigates the relationship between Asian American and modern Japanese history by analyzing the image of Japanese Americans in postwar Japan. Based on a book of photographs featuring Japanese immigrants in Hawai‘i published in 1956, it analyzes how their image was appropriated and redefined in Japan to promote as well as reinforce the nation’s political and cultural alliance with the United States. The photographs showed the successful acculturation of Japanese in Hawai‘i to the larger American society and urged the Japanese audience to see that their nation’s postwar reconstruction would come through the power and protection of the United States. Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i served as a lens through which the Japanese in Japan could imagine their position under American hegemony in the age of Cold War.


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