Association for Asian American Studies

Association for Asian American Studies
source
Name	Association for Asian American Studies
Formation	1979
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts
Location	United States
Leader title	President

Association for Asian American Studies is a scholarly organization founded in 1979 to promote research, teaching, and community engagement on Asian American histories and experiences. The organization connects scholars, activists, and institutions across the United States, Canada, and Asia-Pacific regions through conferences, publications, and awards while interacting with universities, libraries, and cultural centers. It works alongside academic associations and community groups to advance studies related to migration, race, labor, and transnational connections.

History

The association emerged from activist-scholar networks during the late 1970s linked to student movements at San Francisco State University, faculty organizing at University of California, Berkeley, and community efforts in New York City and Los Angeles. Founding figures and early participants included faculty and organizers affiliated with programs at Columbia University, Yale University, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and University of Chicago who drew on precedents from ethnic studies initiatives such as those inspired by the Third World Liberation Front strikes and curricula developed at San Francisco State College. During the 1980s and 1990s the association expanded regional chapters connected to institutions like University of Michigan, University of Texas at Austin, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Washington, while engaging with policy debates involving lawmakers in Massachusetts, litigators in California, community organizations in Chicago, and cultural institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Mission and Activities

The association’s mission centers on supporting scholarly research, pedagogy, and public scholarship that address histories and contemporary issues affecting people of Asian ancestry in the Americas and diasporic communities linked to China, Japan, Korea, India, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Pacific Islands, and transpacific circuits involving Australia. Activities include curricular development with departments such as those at Harvard University, Princeton University, Stanford University, Rutgers University, Colgate University, and collaboration with archives like the Japanese American National Museum and the Chinese Historical Society of America.

Governance and Membership

Governance structures follow elected leadership with roles comparable to presidents and executive councils drawn from faculty at institutions including University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Irvine, New York University, University of Toronto, Simon Fraser University, McGill University, Cornell University, Duke University, Emory University, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, and University of Wisconsin–Madison. Membership comprises professors, graduate students, independent scholars, and community scholars affiliated with centers such as the Asian American Studies Center (UCLA), the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, and the Center for Asian American Media, as well as librarians from the Library of Congress and curators from the New-York Historical Society.

Conferences and Publications

The association convenes annual conferences hosted at campuses like University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Minnesota, University of California, Davis, Rutgers University–Newark, Boston University, University of Southern California, University of British Columbia, McMaster University, Carleton University, and Simon Fraser University. Panels frequently feature contributors from journals and presses including Journal of Asian American Studies, Amerasia Journal, Asian American Literary Review, Duke University Press, University of California Press, Routledge, Taylor & Francis, and Oxford University Press. The association sponsors special issues and edited collections emerging from conference panels and symposia linked to archives such as the Densho Project, the Archive of the Chinese in America, and museum exhibitions at the Museum of Chinese in America.

Awards and Fellowships

The association administers awards and fellowships recognizing scholarship, teaching, and community engagement, with named prizes honoring work in fields represented by scholars associated with Helen Zia, Ron Nakayama, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Gary Okihiro, Elaine H. Kim, Roberto G. Gonzales, Lisa Lowe, Diana L. Ahmad, Jerome A. Ramirez, Yuji Ichioka-inspired scholarship and broader legacies connected to archives like the Manilatown Heritage Foundation and institutions such as the Japanese American Citizens League. Fellowships support dissertation research on topics that intersect with transnational labor networks, migration histories, incarceration and redress linked to events like the Japanese American incarceration during World War II, immigration policy reforms associated with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, and community health initiatives partnered with clinics in San Francisco, Seattle, and Honolulu.

Impact and Criticism

The association has shaped curricula, public history, and research agendas influencing university programs at UCLA, UC Berkeley, Columbia University, University of Washington, Yale University, University of Chicago, Harvard University, and municipal cultural policy in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York City. Critics have argued that the organization, like comparable scholarly associations tied to debates at American Historical Association and Modern Language Association, sometimes reflects institutional hierarchies privileging faculty at research universities such as Princeton University and Stanford University over community scholars and contingent faculty from institutions like City College of New York and regional campuses. Supporters point to collaborations with community organizations such as the Social Justice Learning Institute, archival projects at the Korean American Heritage Museum, and public-facing programming at venues including the Asian American Writers' Workshop and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center as evidence of broad impact.

Category:Academic organizations in the United States Category:Asian American studies