UCLA Asian American Studies Department

2021 Asian American Studies Research Symposium
2021-04-02 10:30 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
Join us for the 2021 Asian American Studies Research Symposium, Friday, April 2nd at 10:30 a.m.!

RSVP: tinyurl.com/AASRESEARCHRSVP

S'21 Undergraduate Check-In: Spring Forward
2021-04-14 17:00 - 18:30 | Online via Zoom
Join us for our quarterly Asian American Studies Undergraduate Check-In!

“Spring Forward” will be an evening focused on moving forward through the guidance of the Asian Am Department’s faculty and mentors. Resources to help you develop your academic, research, and career endeavors will be discussed! Don’t miss out!

RSVP to receive a link to the event:
https://forms.gle/uZpUozQ8JVB4hW9G6

Department of Anthropology's "Culture, Power and Social Change" Colloquium
2021-04-22 12:15 - 13:45 | CA
Professor Jennifer Chun, a faculty member in the Department of Asian American Studies and the International Institute at UCLA, will be guest speaking at this event.
She will be covering the study of protests and how they call attention to rare events that have changed the course of history. She argues that ” the challenges of protesting and sleeping in public space have made indispensable questions of collective care and social reproduction.”
We hope that you can attend this event in support of our faculty here at the Asian American Studies Department.
You can join this event here.

A Book Talk By Joyce Mariano
2021-04-29 16:00 - 17:00 | CA
Join Professor Mariano in a talk inspired by her book, “Giving Back: Filipino America and the Politics of Diaspora Giving.”
The book explores transnational giving practices as political objects that shape the Filipino diaspora.
“Giving Back shows how integral this system is for understanding Filipino diaspora formation. The book “follows the money” to investigate the cultural, social, economic, and political conditions of diaspora giving. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to reveal how power operates through this charity and the ways the global economic and cultural dimensions of this practice reinforce racial subordination and neocolonialism. Giving Back explores how this charity can stabilize overlapping systems of inequality as well as the contradictions of corporate social responsibility programs in the diaspora.”
If you would like more information about this event, you can click here.
To RSVP for this event, you can click here.
We hope to see you there!

Talk by Professor Kyeyoung Park
2021-04-30 12:00 - 13:30 | Online via Zoom
Please mark your calendars for this upcoming CCIS/CSIM webinar event on Friday, April 30th. Professor Kyeyoung Park will be discussing her book entitled, “LA Rising: Korean Relations with Blacks and Latinos after Civil Unrest.” Please note that the time listed is Pacific Time. Please see registration link.

Transferpalooza
2021-04-30 16:00 - 18:00 | CA
The UCLA Asian American Studies Department is hosting its first-ever “Transferpalooza” to offer support and celebrate the transfer student community! This virtual event is open to any student who is interested in learning more about social justice and Ethnic Studies, transferring to UCLA with a major or minor in Asian American Studies, or would like to learn more about the M.A. program.

The info session (4 PM) will consist of current students and alumni speakers that will share insight about their experiences, transfer tips, and possible career paths.

The Q&A session (5 PM) will offer guests an opportunity to interact with all the student speakers along with staff and faculty.

If you are interested, please on this link to register: https://bit.ly/3camZDO. For further questions, you may contact the Community College Outreach Team via misscarinalee@ucla.edu

Ethnic Neighborhoods in Asian American Cultural Imaginaries: A Film Screening Event
2021-05-04 12:30 | CA
Join us on May 4th, 2021 at 12:30 PM for the screening of Janet Chen’s Phoenix Bakery, Akira Boch and Tad Nakamura’s Atomic Cafe, and Jeff Liu’s film adaptation of David Henry Hwang’s play Trying to Find Chinatown, followed by artists’ discussion.
If you would like to join us for this event, you can register for the Zoom meeting here.

Art & Politics: Asian American Artivists in the Movement for Social Justice
2021-05-06 09:30 - 10:45 | CA
“Two generations of artist-activists/ “artivists” will talk about their role as artists who were active in the grassroots social movements of Asian American communities from the 1960’s to today. This program connects two filmmakers and two songwriter performance artists who will talk about how they use their medium to tell the stories of and engage Asian American communities. This program is for Asian American Studies Department Lecturer Kelly Fong’s ASIA AM 40: Asian American Movement class.”
Date: Thursday, May 6, 2021
Time: 9:30am – 10:45am
Location: Zoom
Please register for webinar: https://asianamartivistsinmovement.eventbrite.com/
This event is co-sponsored by UCLA Asian American Studies Department, Asian American Studies Center, and East Wind Ezine.

"140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother" screening and Q&A with Susan Lieu
2021-05-07 16:00 | CA
Please join us for the screening of Susan Lieu’s “140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother,” on Friday, May 7, 2021, at 4:00pm (PST).
Please register here for the Zoom webinar information. Please note that while the number of registrants is not restricted, Zoom webinar capacity is capped at 500 participants. Only the first 500 attendees who sign into the Zoom webinar on May 7 will be able to attend.

UC Asian American Studies Research Colloquium
2021-05-10 12:30 - 2021-05-14 15:00 | Online via Zoom
Please join us for the first UC-wide, student led research colloquium for undergraduates in Asian American Studies. With support from the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, Asian American Studies Department, and Asian Pacific Coalition, the colloquium will showcase research and creative projects pertaining to a topic in Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Desi Studies.
The colloquium will be hosted on a curated website from May 10-14, 2021, where visitors can explore the various projects in which undergraduates are engaged. The colloquium will culminate with a virtual live event on May 14, 2021, from 12:30pm – 3:00pm where undergraduates will have the opportunity to present their research over Zoom. We will also feature a panel of graduate students to speak on the importance of research in the humanities and social sciences. All attendees within the continental US will be eligible to receive prizes shipped to them.
RSVP here.
For more information click here.

Radical Storytelling Workshop with Susan Lieu
2021-05-12 16:00 | CA

Policing Asian Massage Work And Abolitionist Possibilities: A Conversation with Red Canary Song
2021-05-14 15:00 | CA
Yves Tong Nguyen is a queer disabled abolitionist organizer with Red Canary Song and Survived and Punished NY.
Elena Shih is the Manning Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University and she received her PhD from the Department of Sociology, UCLA. Her forthcoming book, “Manufacturing Freedom: Trafficking Rescue, Rehabilitation, and the Slave Free Good,” is a global ethnography of the transnational social movement to combat human trafficking in China, Thailand, and the United States. She is the author of “How to Protect Sex Workers,” New York Times, March 26, 2021.
Introduction by Jennifer Chun, Associate Professor, Asian American Studies and the International Institute.
We hope you can join this for this very important conversation talking about policing massaging work and abolitionist possibilities. If you would like to join us, you can register here.

Diasporic Micronesians: Chamoru and Marshallese Communities in California and Washington
2021-05-15 14:00 - 15:30 | Online via Zoom
“Chamorus and Marshallese comprise two of the six largest Pacific Islander ethnic groups living in California and Washington. As Micronesians, they share similar cultural and historical experiences, all of which have shaped their diasporas to the continental United States. By featuring Chamoru and Marshallese activists and scholars in California and Washington, this roundtable will highlight their expertise in dance, public health, education, language, and public history as they navigate the impacts of climate change, militarism, and settler colonialism.”
Please join us for this community forum. Please RSVP here.

Healing from Within: A Workshop on Radical Care and Abolition in the Midst of Anti-Asian Violence
2021-05-19 17:30 - 19:30 | CA
This workshop will focus on radical care in the midst of anti-Asian violence through tangible practices for self-preservation and communal healing. Recognizing the intersections of interpersonal and state violence, this workshop will also underscore the importance of abolition as a central part of the healing process for activists during these moving times. Join us for this critical conversation as we develop the interior knowledge and mindfulness necessary to sustain our organizing efforts, caring for ourselves as we build toward a future of collective liberation.

About Rita
Rita Phetmixay (pronouns: she/they/boo) is a Lao Isaan American womxn/femme dedicated to a life-time of trauma-informed healing work, with the intentions to co-create an inclusive, safe, and enriching experience for communities to thrive. For years, Rita has worked on healing herself as a trauma-survivor and is proud to have witnessed her own personal growth and transformation through various integrative modalities. Her personal connection to this work elicits her passion to bring healing back home to the Lao diaspora and queer communities of color.

Rita applies a variety of healing-centered, liberation-based healing modalities through the practices of mindfulness coaching, meditation, movement/breath, somatics, Cognitive Reappraisal, Ego Psychology, comedy and laughter.

Rita’s formal degree credits include a Master’s of Arts in Asian American Studies, a Master’s of Social Welfare, and is currently a Registered Associate Clinical Social Worker (#87669).
Zoom Webinar: Register at https://tinyurl.com/hfwwkshp
Sponsored by AASD, APC, VSU, IVP, EVP

BOOK TALK: "We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration," by Frank Abe
2021-05-25 09:30 - 10:45 | Online via Zoom
Please join us for this book talk by Frank Abe where he will be discussing his book entitled, “We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration.” This will take place on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, from 9:30am – 10:45am via Zoom. Please register here.
Program moderator/host is Kelly N. Fong, Lecturer, ASIA AM 40: Asian American Movement. Co-sponsored by the George and Sakaye Aratani CARE Award, UCLA Asian American Studies Center, Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience.
For more information on his book, please click here.

Troubling Borders Panel
2021-05-26 16:00 | CA

Asian American Studies Department Virtual Commencement 2021
2021-06-13 10:30 - 12:00 | Online via Zoom
Please join the Asian American Studies Department for this momentous event as we celebrate our graduating students of 2021, which will be taking place virtually via Zoom.
Date: Sunday, June 13, 2021
Time: 10:30am – 12:00pm (PDT)
Location: Virtual Event using Zoom

Fall 2021 Asian American Studies M.A. Orientation
2021-09-20 11:00 - 15:15 | Online via Zoom
Date: Monday, September 20, 2021
Time: 11:00AM – 3:15PM
Location: Online via Zoom

Fall 2021 Asian American Studies T.A. Orientation
2021-09-21 00:00 | Online via Zoom
Date: Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Time: TBD
Location: Online via Zoom

Empire's Mistress: Gender, Sex and Imperial Intimacies by Vernadette Gonzalez
2021-10-18 16:00 - 17:15 | Online via Zoom
Vernadette Gonzalez is a Professor of American Studies and Director of the Honors Program at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She is the author of Empire’s Mistress, Starring Isabel Rosario Cooper (2021) and Securing Paradise: Tourism and Militarism in Hawai‘i and the Philippines (2013) and co-editor of Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai’i (2019).
Talk Abstract: How does attention to the intimate help us understand the gendered and sexualized dynamics of empire, and the ways in which they continue to shape how we tell our stories in the present? Empire’s Mistress pieces together the life story of Isabel Rosario Cooper, a mixed-race vaudeville and early cinema star in Manila who became infamous for her liaison with General Douglas MacArthur during the height of American colonialism in the Philippines. It tracks the mobilities and relationships generated by the United States’ desire for the Philippine archipelago—and the ways in which colonized subjects—particularly women—turned those to their own advantage. The scattered and ephemeral archive of “women like her” whose cosmopolitan itineraries ranged from Manila, to Washington, D.C., and Hollywood, outline a life lived on the edges of power but always at the center of imperial desire.
Register here.

Co-sponsored by the UCLA Asian American Studies Department and Center for Southeast Asian Studies

Queer Dis/inheritance: Vietnamese Radical Activism on Intergenerational Trauma, Refugee Lineage, and Chosen Future
2021-11-01 09:30 - 10:45 | Online via Zoom
Queer Dis/inheritance Talk with Professor Ly Thuy Nguyen
Date: Monday, November 1, 2021
Time: 9:30AM
Location: Online via Zoom
Zoom registration link: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUude2grDgsGt3-EgjCOcRHkP9ujAYB8M2e

Co-sponsored by UCLA Asian American Studies Department and UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies

Institute of American Cultures (IAC) Fall Forum
2021-11-09 15:00 - 16:00 | CA
IAC Fall Forum: Tuesday, November 9, 2021, 3–4 PM (PST)
Brief description: You are invited to the UCLA Institute of American Cultures (IAC) annual Fall Forum, featuring the 2021–22 IAC visiting researchers and scholars, graduate and predoctoral fellows, and research grant awardees at UCLA’s four ethnic studies centers. Featured speakers will be interviewed by faculty experts, followed by a Q&A.
Fall Forum Registration link: https://uclaea.zoom.us/webinar/register/5816343257350/WN_k2pSc104RciBB2KmU1jaJw

Playing with No Consequences: A Conversation with Michelle Krusiec
2021-11-12 15:00 - 17:00 | Online via Zoom
Actress and filmmaker Michelle Krusiec has sustained a 25-year career working as a woman of color in an industry that has both tokenized her and given her visibility. In this frank, funny and transparent discussion, Dean Brian Kite speaks with Krusiec about the lessons of invisibility and how it forces us to delve deeper into our work as storytellers. Register here.
Date: Friday, November 12, 2021
Time: 3:00PM – 5:00PM PST
Location: Online

Sponsored by UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, with support from the Center for the Study of Women, Asian American Studies Center, and the Asian American Studies Department.

Asian American Studies Undergrad Spring Check-In
2022-05-11 16:00 - 18:00 | Rolfe Hall Quad
Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month with us Week 7 Wednesday, May 11th from 4-6pm in the Rolfe Hall Quad!
RSVP for the 🌸Asian American Studies Undergrad Spring Check-In🌸 here:tinyurl.com/AASspring22
We invite AAS majors, minors, and prospective students to mix and mingle during our check-in! We will be serving Thai food 🇹🇭 and Filipino dessert 🇵🇭 to all students and faculty who attend!
We will feature additional activities including a faculty panel and have the chance to learn from AAPI orgs on campus. Be sure to RSVP by Sunday, 5/9/22 so we can have plenty of food + snacks to go around!

IAC Fall Forum 2022 – Thursday, October 20, 3-4 PM (PST) via Zoom
2022-10-20 15:00 - 16:00 | CA
You are invited to the UCLA Institute of American Cultures (IAC) annual Fall Forum, featuring the 2022–23 IAC visiting researchers and scholars, graduate and predoctoral fellows, and research grant awardees at UCLA’s four ethnic studies centers. Featured speakers will be interviewed by faculty experts, followed by a live Q&A.

“Unsettling Domesticity: Native Women and the SF Bay Area Outing Program” by Caitlin Keliiaa, Assistant Professor of History at UC Santa Cruz. Interviewer: Juliann Anesi, Assistant Professor of Gender Studies.
“Getting Away with and Getting Rid of Yellowface: Contemporary Musical Theatre and Asian Americans” by Donatella Galella, Associate Professor of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production at UC Riverside. Interviewer: Sean Metzger, Professor and Head of PhD program in Theater and Performance Studies.
“Peeling Apart Impressions: Investigating the Factors that Influence HBCU and PWI Perceptions” by Kiana Foxx, PhD Candidate, Higher Education and Organizational Change. Interviewer: Walter R. Allen, Allan Murray Cartter Chair in Higher Education, Distinguished Professor of Education, Sociology and African American Studies.
“Indigenous Blackness in the Américas: The Queer Politics of Self-Making Garifuna New York” by Paul Joseph López Oro, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Smith College. Interviewer: Maylei Blackwell, Professor of Chicana/o and Central American Studies.

IAC Fall Forum 2022 registration link: https://bit.ly/3SpRiu1
IAC Fall Forum Flyer

Asian American Studies Mentorship Program
2022-10-21 | CA
Looking for a mentor in the Asian American Studies community? Seeking advice on which courses to take and went to take them? Well you’re in luck! This year, you can sign up for our Mentorship Program and get matched with another student in the Asian Am community! The deadline to sign up is this Friday, October 21st. Visit tinyurl.co/AASDMentor22 to apply.

Podcasting as a Tool For Social Change
2022-10-24 11:00 - 12:00 | CA
Love listening to podcasts🎧? Interested in beginning your own🤔? Professor Sangalang’s AAS M161 class invites you Week 5 Monday, October 24th at 11am to an online Zoom talk “Podcasting as a Tool for Social Change” with creator and host, Rita Phetmixay, of “Healing Out Lao’d.”🇱🇦
RSVP by Sunday, 10/24: https://tinyurl.com/rita1024
*This event is hosted by the UCLA Asian American Studies Department and Asian American Studies Center. @ucla_aasd @uclaaasc

The Southeast: A Curatorial Atmosphere, a talk by Dr. Patrick D. Flores
2022-11-03 12:00 - 13:30 | CA
📚Educational Talk & Giveaway🎉 The Southeast: A Curatorial Atmosphere, a talk by Dr. Patrick D. Flores
Event Date & Time: Thursday, November 3, 2022 @ 12pm noon
Event Location: 11372 Bunche Hall
Event webpage & RSVP: www.international.ucla.edu/cseas/event/15833
*Giveaways for the first five students who rsvp to the event! Prizes will be distributed after the event. Patrick Flores Southeast Asian Atmosphere November 2022

"Elemental Cartographies: Mapping Winds in Indigenous Economies of Abundance in the Era of Climate Change" with Candace Fujikane
2022-11-08 12:00 - 13:00 | CA
Stop by Young Research Library on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 12pm to attend the public lecture by Candace Fujikane on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 as she covers the topic, “Elemental Cartographies: Mapping Winds in Indigenous Economies of Abundance in the Era of Climate Change.”
This event is cosponsored by the UCLA Department of English, Asian American Studies, Center for the Study of Women, Center for Asian American Studies, and the Laboratory of Environmental Narrative.

Death & Dying in Diaspora, a talk by Allan P. Isaac
2022-11-08 16:00 - 17:30 | CA
📚Educational Talk📚 Death & Dying in Diaspora, a talk by Allan P. Isaac
Event Date & Time: Tuesday, November 8, 2022 @ 4pm
Event Location: 10383 Bunche Hall
Event webpage & RSVP: https://www.international.ucla.edu/cseas/event/15834
