Aaari Audio Podcast Feed

In Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community (Stanford University Press, 2024), historian William Gow argues that Chinese Americans in Los Angeles strategically used their performances in both Hollywood films and Chinatown tourist attractions to influence perceptions of race and national identity during the Chinese Exclusion Era. Drawing on oral histories and archival research, the book reveals how these performances were tied to restrictive immigration laws, beginning with the 1875 Page Act. By focusing on the experiences of everyday peoplefrom movie extras to merchantsPerforming Chinatown uncovers the long-overlooked history of how Los Angeless Chinatown and Hollywood shaped each other and, in turn, shaped Asian American identity.

Vina Orden will present on her essay in CUNY FORUM Volume 11:1, examining how narratives in popular media can perpetuate or challenge existing power structures and colonial mentalities. Orden explores this through the complex dynamics behind the pop culture success of comics like The United States of Captain America. Her analysis delves into the diverse creative team behind these comics, including queer, Filipino, First Nation, and South African writers. And she critically questions whether Captain America, despite such diverse creative input, must still operate within a context of imperial power dynamics and the realities of the U.S. nation state.

Francisco Delgado will read and discuss his novella, On Remembering My Friends, My First Job, and My Second-Favorite Weezer CD (TRP: The University Press of SHSU, July 2025). Winner of the 2024 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize, the book tells the story of Cody Taitano, a CHamoru man who reflects on his teenage years in 1999 while navigating the complexities of parenthood during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. Delgado will explore the novellas themes of race, class, and the enduring nature of friendship, as Cody recalls his first job at McDonalds and the music that shaped his life.

Team Community Compass addressed the challenges faced by Asian immigrants in New York City with limited English proficiency, who struggle with language and cultural barriers when navigating the healthcare system. Initial community engagement, including a survey in three languages, revealed that while language-specific providers were often accessible, the most significant barrier was the complicated process of navigating insurance and benefits. Recognizing that many existing resources were underutilized, the team developed a Tableau dashboard that functions as an interactive directory for New York Citys Community Based Organizations (CBOs). This solution helps bridge the gap by allowing users to find specific resources based on communities served, location, and service type, answering the who, what, where, and how of accessing aid. The team outlined future plans to improve the dashboard by making it dynamic, creating a video tutorial, and exploring a mobile app or physical assistance tools to ensure the resour

Team Amplify focused on addressing the digital struggles of Asian-owned small businesses, particularly restaurants, that were challenged by the post-pandemic relaunch. The projects core hypothesis was that improving a restaurants digital visibility would increase foot traffic, attract delivery customers, improve brand recognition, and strengthen customer loyalty. The team used Tang Pavilion, a Shanghainese Chinese restaurant in Midtown, as a case study, noting its lack of a central website, outdated social media, and underutilized customer reviews due to limited resources. The strategy involved building a modernized, mobile-friendly website to establish branding and services , enhancing social media with new content, and encouraging customer reviews via a QR code system. Beyond this specific restaurant, the team is developing digital workshops to empower other Asian-owned businesses to manage their own digital presence, focusing on practical tools like setting up Google Business Profiles and improving local s

Leekyung Kang, the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Queens College School of Arts (Fall 2024), will present on her recent work inspired by Buddhist cosmology's cyclical nature, creating a series of paintings, print, and installation that interrogate the formal aspects of what is architecturally defined as a form of chamber. Beginning with the visual language of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism (, ), Kang plans to incorporate imagery from various religions to illustrate how ancient beliefs interpret ideas of cosmic harmony and divine presence. Drawing from ancient tomb or chamber murals across religions and cultures, her work aims to reconcile diverse elements to refine the articulation of cyclical and transformative existence.

The Asian American / Asian Research Institutes 2025 symposium, co-organized with NYU Steinhardt, explores the intersections of identity, culture, history, and systemic factors in shaping mental health experiences within Asian and Asian American communities. Centered around three key themes, the symposium aims to address both longstanding and emerging challenges while equipping attendees with insights and practical strategies to advance mental health support.

The Asian American / Asian Research Institutes 2025 symposium, co-organized with NYU Steinhardt, explores the intersections of identity, culture, history, and systemic factors in shaping mental health experiences within Asian and Asian American communities. Centered around three key themes, the symposium aims to address both longstanding and emerging challenges while equipping attendees with insights and practical strategies to advance mental health support.

The Asian American / Asian Research Institutes 2025 symposium, co-organized with NYU Steinhardt, explores the intersections of identity, culture, history, and systemic factors in shaping mental health experiences within Asian and Asian American communities. Centered around three key themes, the symposium aims to address both longstanding and emerging challenges while equipping attendees with insights and practical strategies to advance mental health support.

Join the celebration! AAARIs annual fundraiser is attended by Asian and non-Asian academic, business, civic and community leaders, faculty, staff and students. At the gala, AAARI will be honoring distinguished CUNY alumni, leaders from the community, and student scholarship recipients. Proceeds from the gala go towards AAARIs academic publications and public programs such as lectures, annual conference, and student film festival.

Join us to celebrate the Asian American / Asian Research Institutes 24th anniversary as part of The City University of New York! AAARIs fundraising gala will convene over 200 supporters, community leaders, and advocates committed to uplifting and advancing the Asian American Pacific Islander community. In line with our mission, this years event will honor the remarkable achievements of Asian American women in public service who have paved the way for greater representation, policy innovation, and community empowerment for all.

Join pioneering LGBTQ+ activist Daniel C. Tsang for a special conversation reflecting on his 50 years of activism, including his groundbreaking 1975 article Gay Awareness in Bridge Magazine, one of the first to address LGBTQ+ issues in the Asian American community. Tsang will discuss the evolution of LGBTQ+ rights, his personal journey, and the ongoing challenges facing the community. Moderated by the Museum of Chinese in America's Chief Curator Herb Tam, the event will conclude with a Q and A session for audience engagement.

This panel discusses the "Localized History Project," which addresses the lack of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) history in New York State's Eurocentric, test-driven curriculum. The Project advocates for both a "content and pedagogical revolution" to shift who is perceived as a historian and knowledge creator. The Project is youth-driven, centering young people through Youth Action Boards in various regions of New York, who develop resources for an archive and classroom use. Utilizing oral history, semi-structured interviews, and surveys, the project explores how the absence of AANHPI history impacts youth and aims to create a "living history" that challenges traditional, colonial frameworks of history education. The ultimate goal is to provide a community archive of localized histories to fill educational gaps and inspire revolutionary change.Panel was part of the Association for Asian American Studies 2025 Annual Conference

In Decoding Ambedkar, Prof. Vivek Kumar re-examines Dr. B.R. Ambedkars vast intellectual contributions, challenging his reductive portrayal in Indian academia and media. It contrasts his domestic erasure with the significant global recognition of his ideas on society, politics, and justice. By analyzing his unique theories on the Hindu social order and his engagement with diverse thinkers, the book asserts Ambedkars crucial role as a pioneer in Indian sociology, demonstrating the capacity of Dalit intellectuals to develop profound theoretical frameworks.

Since 2004, the CUNY Asian American Film Festival (AAFF) has celebrated the creativity and vision of student filmmakers from across the City University of New York. With over $15,400 in cash prizes awarded to CUNY students from City College, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, Lehman College, College of Staten Island, Queens College, and New York City College of Technology, this is an incredible opportunity to showcase your work and gain recognition. The festival not only promotes the artistic talents of CUNY students but also fosters meaningful connections among peers from different campuses, providing a central platform to display your creative projects. Past participants have also had their films featured at the prestigious Asian American International Film Festival.

Join the Asian American / Asian Research Institute for a special AANHPI Heritage Month screening of the documentary Chinatown Rising, followed by Q and A with co-director Josh Chuck.

Much queer theory in America is based on white male experience and privilege, excluding people of color and severely limiting its relevance to third-world activism. Within the last three decades, chronicles from gay lesbian bisexual transgender intersex queer (GLBTIQ) communities within the South Asian diaspora in the United States have appeared, but the richness and contradictions that characterize these communities have been stifled. Too often, the limitations due to undertheorized South Asian American lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual historiescompounded by a queer canon overwrought with the East/West and tradition/modern equationsrender queer South Asian Americans as a monolithic homogeneous category with little or no agency.

Much queer theory in America is based on white male experience and privilege, excluding people of color and severely limiting its relevance to third-world activism. Within the last three decades, chronicles from gay lesbian bisexual transgender intersex queer (GLBTIQ) communities within the South Asian diaspora in the United States have appeared, but the richness and contradictions that characterize these communities have been stifled. Too often, the limitations due to undertheorized South Asian American lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual historiescompounded by a queer canon overwrought with the East/West and tradition/modern equationsrender queer South Asian Americans as a monolithic homogeneous category with little or no agency.

How does racism influence the formation and development of organizational life in a racialized community? In this paper, Prof. Simon Yamawaki Shachter extends on Du Boiss concept of double consciousness to explain community organizations roles and development. Combined with the concepts of oppositional consciousness from social movements and decoupling from organization theory, Prof. Yamawaki Shachter builds a processual model of organizational life for racialized communities. He shows how the model explains the development of 19th and early 20th century Chinese organizations in the U.S., and describes how the community formed an incomparably large, sophisticated, interconnected, and politically-active organizational field at such an early point in U.S. history. The organizations that developedbased in historical Chinese migrant organizations that responded to anti-Chinese racismlooked different from past and contemporary Chinese or U.S.-based organizational fields. This case and theoretical model show the ty

Join Densho and the Localized History Project for a virtual workshop exploring the histories and stories of young Japanese Americans impacted by wartime incarceration. The workshop will share histories of schooling and resistance during Japanese American incarceration, the enduring legacies of this history in New York State, and how Densho utilizes oral histories to preserve, share and pass on this history.