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Bruin Day 2023

Bruin Day 2023 Set Up

Asian American Studies Department Solidarity Statement

We, the undersigned faculty of the UCLA Asian American Studies…

May 3, 2024/by Justin Dela Cruz

Meet Kelly Fong

Check out Voyage LA's piece highlighting one of AASD's continuing…

March 21, 2024/by asianamworkstudy

Students Rising Above: Emily Taing

Check out CBS Bay Area's profile of one of our amazing alumni,…

August 9, 2023/by Justin Dela Cruz

2022-23 Don T. Nakanishi Award for Outstanding Engaged Scholarship Awarding

The Asian American Studies Center at UCLA awarded this year's…

July 7, 2023/by asianamworkstudy

AASD Graduate Students Recipients of CSW Awards

On May 19, 2023, the Center for the Study of Women | Streisand…

June 16, 2023/by Justin Dela Cruz

Building Historical Empathy: A classroom resource conveys personal stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Kelly Fong, Continuing Lecturer in Asian American Studies, was…

June 6, 2023/by Justin Dela Cruz

In LA, Asian Americans Can Sway Elections But Can’t Decide Them

Natalie Masuoka, chair of UCLA’s Asian American Studies Department,…

June 2, 2023/by asianamworkstudy

UCLA Newsroom: Bringing migrant and refugee stories – and connections – to light

UCLA Newsroom recently published an article on UCLA Asian American…

May 22, 2023/by asianamworkstudy

Undergraduate Leadership Committee Applications Now Open

May 2, 2023/by asianamworkstudy

King-Kok Cheung Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award

King-Kok Cheung, professor emeritus of English and Asian American…

April 21, 2023/by asianamworkstudy

Spring 2023 Course Offering: AAS 88S – Oceanic Filipinx Studies

February 23, 2023/by asianamworkstudy

Spring 2023 Course Offering: AAS 187B – Special Courses in Asian American Themes: Asian American Foodways

February 22, 2023/by asianamworkstudy

JOIN OUR FACEBOOK GROUPS

MAJORS, MINORS, & ALUM

MA ALUM AND CURRENT STUDENTS

ucla_aasd

Come to this book talk on "Carceral Entanglements"

Come to this book talk on "Carceral Entanglements" with author Wendi Yamashita! Light lunch will be served. Seating is first come first served. We would love to see you there.
Where: 2125 Rolfe Hall
When: Tuesday, October 15, 12-1:30 pm

Please join this 24-hour reading marathon that our

Please join this 24-hour reading marathon that our department is co-sponsoring! From 9 am October 1 to 9 am October 2, many campus community members will participate in reciting parts of Edward Said’s memoir, “Out of Place,” alongside other complementary texts on displacement and justice. This event will be held in the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden. Thank you to all the organizers, co-sponsors, and participants for dreaming up this event to gather us to focus on these themes at this time. We hope to see you there!

Join musician Huda Asfour for a performance and co

Join musician Huda Asfour for a performance and conversation featuring her latest solo project, “Dawayer” (circles), which blends oud, looper, and vocals in an improvisation-based exploration of repetition and loops. Premiered in 2020, “Dawayer” has since been performed at renowned venues such as the Kennedy Center, the Arab American National Museum, and the Brooklyn Museum. The event will be on Friday, October 11th from 6:30-8:30pm at Lani Hall in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Schoenberg Music Building.

Ticket Link: https://tinyurl.com/yckfbzxc

We’re thrilled to welcome Associate Professor Li

We’re thrilled to welcome Associate Professor Lisa Uperesa to the Asian American Studies Department! Lisa was raised in American Sāmoa and California and has lived in New York City, Hawai’i, and Aotearoa New Zealand. She works with Pacific communities to understand movement and mobility, and how they shape lives, identities, families, cultures, and futures. Her research interests include sport, gender, and community; diaspora and transnationalism; colonialism and U.S. empire; and Indigenous knowledges and digital platforms. She holds the Morgan and Helen Chu Endowed Chair in Asian American Studies and is proud to return to the University of California. Lisa brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our team. Join us in giving Professor Lisa Uperesa a warm welcome in the comments below! https://asianam.ucla.edu/person/lisa-uperesa/

Come on out to our first event of the school year,

Come on out to our first event of the school year, the Asian American Studies Department Open House! Free food and drinks will be provided. This is a great opportunity to make friends, meet the AASD staff, or mingle with your professors. Join us on Wednesday, September 25th between 12-2pm at Rolfe Hall 3333. Hope to see you there! 🍎📚 #ucla #aasd #asianamericanstudies

To the Class of 2024: YOU DID IT!!! Just over two

To the Class of 2024: YOU DID IT!!!

Just over two weeks ago, the Department of Asian American Studies celebrated all of our amazing graduates at our annual commencement ceremony. We know that each of you will be amazing changemakers in this world. Already you've paved the way for future generations of scholar-activists, and for that, we thank YOU. UCLA Asian American Studies, Class of 2024: Congratulations!

Thank you @jamuseum for providing a spectacular venue and @mpalmaphoto for beautifully capturing the ceremony.

#uclaaasd #asianamericanstudies

Congrats to Estie Kim on successfully passing thei

Congrats to Estie Kim on successfully passing their MA defense! Their thesis is titled, "L.A. Koreatown Karaoke Hostesses: Tracing Colonial Genealogies and Feminist Solidarities through Affect, Aesthetics, and Performativity." Their committee includes Dr. Jennifer Chun (Chair), Dr. Valerie Matsumoto, and Dr. Lee Ann Wang. You are amazing Estie!!

#uclaaasd

Congratulations to M.A. student Prahas Rudraraju o

Congratulations to M.A. student Prahas Rudraraju on their successful thesis defense! Their thesis is titled: “Dragging the Classics: On the Pursuit of (Trans)Gender Liberation through Indian Classical Dance." Their committee includes Professor Purnima Mankekar (Chair), Professor Thu-Huong Nguyen-Vo, and Professor Grace Hong. Go Prahas!

Thank you to everyone who attended or shared their

Thank you to everyone who attended or shared their knowledge at the Asian Australian x Asian American Studies Symposium, a collaboration between students and faculty from UCLA and University of Technology Sydney! 👏🎉

Congratulations to M.A. student Wyatt Wu on his su

Congratulations to M.A. student Wyatt Wu on his successful capstone defense! His capstone project is titled: "Dear Lily: Using Autoethnographic Film to Merge Intergenerational Experience and Identity." His committee includes Professor Renee Tajima-Peña (Chair), Professor Lee Ann S. Wang, and Professor Kristy Guevara-Flanagan.

We are so proud of your hard work throughout the M.A. program!

#uclaaasd #asianamericanstudies

Last night we had the first segment of our Asian A

Last night we had the first segment of our Asian Australian x Asian American Studies Symposium. This symposium brings together graduate students and faculty from the University of Technology Sydney and UCLA to exchange research and dialogue on Asian Australian, Asian American, Asian Diaspora, Asia Pacific and Indigenous studies. It was an amazing beginning to this series of events!

Congratulations to M.A. student April Yang on her

Congratulations to M.A. student April Yang on her successful thesis defense! Her thesis is titled "Ib Lub Chaw Tso Pa 'A Place to Exhale' - Hmong Women Addressing Violence through Neej Neeg Storytelling" Her committee includes Dr. Lee Ann Wang (Chair), Dr. Grace Hong, and Dr. Cindy Sangalang. Amazing job, April!

#uclaaasd #asianamericanstudies

Congratulations to M.A. student Trinity Gabato on

Congratulations to M.A. student Trinity Gabato on her successful thesis defense! Her thesis is titled "Feminist Oral Histories Against U.S. Empire: Examining Violence, Resistance and Love Across Three Generations of Vietnamese American Women." Her committee includes Dr. Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi and Dr. Grace Hong.

The Asian American Studies faculty and staff wish you all the best in your future endeavors!

#uclaaasd #asianamericanstudies

No-No Boy illuminates hidden Asian American histor

No-No Boy illuminates hidden Asian American histories through folk songs, sound pieces, live projections, and storytelling. NPR Music has hailed it as “one of the most insurgent pieces of music you’ll ever hear which re-examines americana with devastating effect... An act of revisionist subversion.” Taking inspiration from his own family’s history living through the Vietnam War as well as many other stories of Asian American experience, Nashville-born songwriter and scholar Julian Saporiti has transformed his years of doctoral study into an innovative project that bridges a divide between art and scholarship. No-No Boy’s third full-length LP EMPIRE ELECTRIC was recently released by the Smithsonian Folkways label.

Join us on May 23rd from 2:30-3:15 PM via Zoom for a conversation with No-No Boy! This conversation is part of the course “Asian and Asian American Classical Reception” taught by Professor Kelly Nguyen (Department of Classics) who will moderate the discussion with No-No Boy on the themes of fragmentation and creation. Students in the course will have engaged with Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee, and the poetry of Hoa Nguyen and Vi Khi Nao. Their conversation will discuss the legacy of the Vietnam War and the concept and consequences of the myth of Western Civilization and the false binaries between East and West, especially as crafted and wielded by imperialism. No-No Boy will also share his music and experience with diaspora. This event is open to the public. Please visit the link in our bio to register for the event!

Join us on Monday May 20th for a must-have convers

Join us on Monday May 20th for a must-have conversation during this time of necessary disruption across college campuses. In her book, Dear Elia, Mimi Khuc addresses the question: "Does your University Care about you?" and unpacks a conversation around the wellness and unwellness of Asian American students. Does our university care about us as students or do they gauge productivity in place of wellness? Come join us and find out!

We invite you to the screening of Admissions Grant

We invite you to the screening of Admissions Granted on May 8th at 7:30 pm in Aratani Theatre. Admissions Granted documents the divisions within the Asian American communities and increasing polarization on matters such as race, equity, and inclusion. We hope to see you there!

Please join us online for UCLA’s Korean American

Please join us online for UCLA’s Korean American Studies Symposium: From the East Coast to the West Coast, a closer look at Koreatowns in the United States beyond Ethnic Enclaves!

RSVP at https://forms.gle/XAP5mZ7Ld3xMMTYT7 or through the link in our bio 🥳🥳

#uclaaasd #asianamericanstudies #koreanamericanstudies

Asian American Studies Department Solidarity State

Asian American Studies Department Solidarity Statement

We, the undersigned faculty of the UCLA Asian American Studies Department, express our outrage over the series of events that have occurred over the past week, including the university administration’s declaring of the peaceful student protest “unlawful” and “unauthorized” and the subsequent failure to protect UCLA students within the encampment from violent attacks from outside agitators on multiple nights, culminating on the night of April 30, 2024.

We also denounce Chancellor Gene Block’s decision to call in the LAPD, CHP, and LA Sheriff’s Department to disband the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on the night of May 1, 2024, which resulted in the use of rubber bullets, batons, and flashbang grenades against our students, as well as the detainment and arrests of at least 200 peaceful protestors. Last night our campus felt like a militarized war zone, akin to, but by no means equivalent to, what Palestinians have endured for decades. We object in the strongest possible terms to all of these actions, which are not reflective of the values of our campus community and of academic freedom more generally.

As faculty, our utmost commitment is to the safety and well-being of our students. We strongly condemn the attacks on our students, from outside agitators as well as UC-condoned police forces. We echo UCLA Faculty for Justice in Palestine’s demand for full legal, academic and disciplinary amnesty for all protesters. We call upon UCLA to stand up for the safety and the rights of the campus community by honoring the students’ constitutional right to peacefully protest without fear of punishment. We insist upon a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Block for endangering our students.

For full statement, hyperlinks, and updated faculty signatures, see link in bio.

In accordance with Regents Policy on Public and Discretionary Statements by Academic Units, this statement should not be taken as a position of the University, all members of the Department, or the campus as a whole.

Due to this week’s incidents, we will be cancell

Due to this week’s incidents, we will be cancelling our talk with Margaret Lee tonight. We hope to reschedule this event in the near future.

We want to invite you to the World Premiere of NOB

We want to invite you to the World Premiere of NOBUKO MIYAMOTO: A SONG IN MOVEMENT, directed and produced by Tadashi Nakamura and Quyên Nguyen-Le! The film documents 84-year-old Nobuko Miyamoto's epic career as an activist/dancer/singer dedicated to fighting for social justice and building solidarity with other communities through her art. A SONG IN MOVEMENT is a sweeping documentary that changed Asian America forever. The premiere will be on Saturday, May 4th at 6:00pm at the Aratani Theater in Little Tokyo will include a special live performance by Nobuko! The premiere is part of the VC Film Festival. Hope you can make it out! Please help spread the word to friends, family and networks!

Date & Time: Saturday, May 4th at 6:00pm
Location: Aratani Theater in Little Tokyo

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