Harvard Asian American Studies Program

Harvard Asian American Studies Program is an interdisciplinary program based at Harvard University that focuses on the histories, cultures, literatures, politics, and social experiences of Asian American communities. The program engages with archival collections, oral history projects, creative works, and community partnerships to support scholarship and teaching connecting Boston-area institutions and national networks. Faculty, students, and staff collaborate with museums, libraries, legal clinics, and cultural organizations to advance public humanities and policy advocacy.

History

The program emerged amid student activism and curricular reforms influenced by movements such as the Third World Liberation Front, the Long March protests, and student strikes at institutions including University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State University, Columbia University, Yale University that pressed for Ethnic Studies, African American Studies, and Asian American Studies. Early program development intersected with scholars and activists associated with Asian American Movement, Third World Press, Red Guard Party, I Wor Kuen, and community organizations like Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (Boston), Japanese American Citizens League, and Korean American Coalition as well as cultural producers linked to Asian American Theater Company, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, and independent presses. Legislative and legal contexts such as debates after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, litigation reminiscent of Korematsu v. United States and policy shifts around the Civil Rights Act of 1964 influenced course offerings and public programming. The program’s archival and oral history efforts connected with collections at repositories like the Schlesinger Library, Library of Congress, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and collaborations with scholars publishing in venues associated with American Quarterly, Journal of Asian American Studies, and presses including University of California Press and Duke University Press.

Academic Programs and Curriculum

Coursework draws on methods and texts from faculty and fields linked to scholars associated with Ethnic Studies, American Studies, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, History, and Comparative Literature. Undergraduate seminars have explored topics connecting canonical authors such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Jhumpa Lahiri, Amy Tan, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Ha Jin with theorists like Stuart Hall, Edward Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Homi K. Bhabha. The curriculum incorporates study of legal and policy events including Chinese Exclusion Act, Gentlemen's Agreement (1907) , War Relocation Authority, and transnational movements tied to Philippine Revolution, Vietnam War, and diasporic histories connected to Manchuria and British Hong Kong. Cross-listed courses coordinate with departments and programs such as History of Science, Law School, Kennedy School, Divinity School, and centers including Harvard-Yenching Institute, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute and Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Graduate students often pursue research leading to dissertations on subjects associated with archives like the Tamiment Library, projects supported by fellowships such as the Guggenheim Fellowship, MacArthur Fellowship, and grants from foundations like the Ford Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Research and Faculty

Faculty affiliated with the program include historians, literary critics, sociologists, legal scholars, and public intellectuals whose work connects to figures such as Ronald Takaki, Yuji Ichioka, Lisa Lowe, Gary Okihiro, Helen Zia, Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, David Palumbo-Liu, Hwang Sok-Yong, and Gloria Anzaldúa-adjacent conversations. Research projects have examined internment and redress movements related to Fred Korematsu, labor struggles involving Transcontinental Railroad workers and organizations like the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and community health initiatives shaped by cases such as Flint water crisis-era public health discourse. Collaborative grants have connected faculty with legal clinics addressing immigration litigation linked to rulings like Plyler v. Doe and policy debates informed by statistics from agencies such as the U.S. Census Bureau. Faculty publish in journals including American Historical Review, Signs (journal), and collaborate with presses such as Columbia University Press, Routledge, and Harvard University Press.

Community Engagement and Student Organizations

The program partners with community groups, cultural centers, and advocacy organizations including Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Massachusetts Asian American Commission, Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, MoCHi (Museum of Chinese in America), and nationally with museums like the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco), Museum of Chinese in America, and Smithsonian Institution initiatives. Student organizations and cultural ensembles related to the program include campus chapters or similarly focused groups that intersect with student activities tied to Harvard College Asian Caucus, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study affiliates, performance groups inspired by Asian American Dance Collective, literary magazines akin to The New Yorker, and advocacy coalitions engaging in campaigns similar to those run by Stop AAPI Hate and Campaign for AAPI Equity. Community-engaged research frequently involves partnerships with legal bodies like American Civil Liberties Union affiliates and public history collaborations with institutions such as lowell national historical park-style programs.

Facilities and Resources

The program leverages resources across Harvard libraries and museums, including collections at the Harvard Library, Schlesinger Library, Widener Library, Peabody Museum, and archival partnerships with local repositories such as Boston Public Library and the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds. Digital humanities initiatives link to platforms and consortia associated with Digital Public Library of America, the American Folklife Center, and the HathiTrust Digital Library. Research support includes fellowships administered through centers like the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, grants coordinated with the Harvard University Center for the Environment, and collaborative spaces such as seminar rooms in the Mower Hall and conference facilities used by visiting scholars from institutions like Princeton University, University of California, Los Angeles, and University of Michigan. The program also draws on oral history equipment, curatorial partnerships with galleries like the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and internship pipelines to organizations including Asian American Journalists Association and the National Association of Asian American Professionals.

Category:Harvard University Category:Asian American studies programs