BRIDGES 2006 Asian American Film Series He Asian American Film Series, “Y’All Gonna Learn Chinese,” Was Held March 30 to April 2

BURniversityI of DWisconsiGn-MadisEon S Asian American Studies Program Newsletter

From the Director May 2006 Issue No. 16 Leslie Bow We’re Back Asian American Studies Program (AASP) n the event that anyone was wondering, Asian American Studies is back at Wisconsin with a vengeance. We continue our uphill battle towards stability, Inside this Issue II and our resurgence this year has been pivotal— and, hopefully, not merely an aberration.

From the Director 1 The growth of our concentration is a sign of positive AASP Faculty Advisory word-of-mouth recognition of the work we’ve been 3 Committee doing in the classroom. Suffice it to say, last year--a Good Bye to Dr. Atsushi single academic year--we exceeded the number of Tajima certificates awarded over the previous 5 years. Next year promises to continue the trend as we currently Faculty Activities Update 4 have over twenty more students in the pipeline. Our 2005-06 Asian American outreach to freshman in the form of First-Year Interest 8 Studies Certificate Awardees Groups or “FIGS” in Fall 06 may also contribute to this rise. In Fall 06, two of our lower division Asian American Studies courses will be 9 From the Classroom designated as FIGS, three thematically linked courses designed to create intellec- HDFS 501: Hmong Families tual convergences and social networks for entering students. Our courses will be included within two FIGS: “Subjects and Citizens in Global Cultures” and “Hmong in 2005-06 Asian American Film 10 Series America: Health and Healing in Two Cultures.” The sudden increase in our de- clared concentrators is due in no small part to the inspirational teaching of Cindy I- Cindy I-Fen Cheng joins Fen Cheng, assistant professor in History and Asian American Studies, the newest 12 AASP Faculty addition to our faculty. See more about Cindy and her first year at Wisconsin inside. Professor Cheng’s new courses on race and mass media and Asian American his- 14 Upcoming Asian American tory and culture form the cornerstones of our planned curricular expansion and re- Courses vision. Underway are new courses in Asian American Popular Culture, Cultural Asian American Studies Cer- Studies, and Memoir, as well as Special Topics courses in Comparative Asian 15 tificate Requirements American Studies that will allow our affiliate faculty to explore interests in Asian culture or comparative race studies.

BRIDGES is the newsletter of the It is my pleasure to announce that two of our core faculty members were awarded University of Wisconsin-Madison tenure this year. Victor Bascara will be Associate Professor of English and Asian Asian American Studies Program. American Studies next year; his book, Model Minority Imperialism is forthcoming Correspondence should be directed to: (see more inside). Grace Hong will be Associate Professor of English and Asian Asian American Studies Program American Studies; her book, The Ruptures of American Capital: Women of Color 303 Ingraham Hall Feminism and the Culture of Immigrant Labor will be out this year (see more inside). 1155 Observatory Drive In addition, our affiliate faculty member, Lisa Nakamura, was tenured in Communi- Madison, WI 53706 cation Arts. Her book, Visual Cultures of the Internet, along with Grace and Victor’s, is forthcoming from the University of Minnesota Press. The impact of tenuring such Phone: 608-263-2976 stellar young faculty is great; Wisconsin now emerges to take (retake?) its place Fax: 608-263-5307 among nationally-recognized programs in Asian American Studies. Congratulations http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/aasp/ to all three scholars—and, as importantly, congratulations to the Program and its historical firsts. This semester, we have also had encouraging involvement in hiring Writing: initiatives across campus—and while I had hoped to report the imminent arrival Leslie Bow & Atsushi Tajima of .75 more faculty with budgeted lines in the Program, I will have to content myself Editing & Layout: with the promise of such fractional (and hopefully not fractious) people and the sign Atsushi Tajima ([email protected]) that, as a discipline, Asian American Studies is perhaps worth more than a .25 or .5 percentage of intellectual interest. (Continues to next page)

May 2006 BRIDGES

As many of you know, our reliance on potluck this semester. More significantly Last summer, we inaugurated the Amy traditional departmental structures to AAGS has been working on outreach with Ling Legacy Fund for Asian American attract jointly-appointed faculty requires undergraduate students, community- Studies under the auspices of the UW educating our colleagues here about building, and social networking. Our Foundation. I’m proud to report that Asian American Studies; many job candi- Asian American Studies faculty also net- thanks to two major contributions, we are dates, some coming right out of graduate worked with and mentored members of well on the way towards a much needed, school, serve on the frontlines of this the Asian Pacific American Students self-sustaining endowment supporting the educational process and view critical race Council (APAC) at a number of events, work of Asian American Studies. Thanks studies as central to their own work. including one held outside Lake Geneva go to Gelston Hinds for his stewardship of at Camp Wonderland. Given the name, funds that will form the basis of this en- I’m also happy to announce Jan Mi- we were hoping for pony rides and cotton dowment, and to the many donors who yasaki’s promotion to Senior Lecturer in candy, but no such luck. You can imagine contributed to it years ago: your gifts have Asian American Studies. One of the most how the students must have felt when found a permanent home. Special thanks exciting aspects of Jan’s teaching of Asian they got our workshops on APA issues go to Sharon Lee, our 1997 History alum American Studies 101 arises out of her instead. and former administrative assistant for the expertise in the law; as a community Program, now a graduate student at the activist and a practicing lawyer, As Direc- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. she carries considerable knowl- tor, I have Her gift represents another historical first edge about the legal system and been net- for the Program. its impact on communities of color working into the classroom. Her promo- with other It’s always a pleasure to share good news. tion represents an overdue rec- estab- This year there’s been a lot of it. Of ognition of her importance to our lished and course, the mere reporting of events does program. We say au revoir to emerging not convey the behind-the-scenes work Atsushi Tajima as our project programs that goes into the single line on a newslet- assistant, but not good-bye as he in Asian ter, so broad thanks go out to those in our continues to seek teaching oppor- American campus community (and beyond it) who tunities in Journalism and Mass AAAGS Panel in April 2006 Studies across have supported Asian American Studies Communication in the area—hopefully the Midwest. In in both intangible and very, very tangible in our own backyard. For more on Atsu- January I attended the Committee for ways. Special appreciation this year goes shi’s accomplishments—and the diversity Institutional Cooperation (CIC) meeting in to our administrative staff person, Katie of his interests—read on (page 3). Quite Chicago where representatives from Oriedo, our frontlines person in the office honestly, I’m not sure how we’ll do without across the Big Ten met to discuss the whose people skills successfully advance him especially as even Xerox machines institutionalization of Asian American our PR mission, not to mention our every- give me a technophobic rash. Studies in the region. The discipline is day survival. Through this year, we have alive and well here despite the challenge also been continuing to support program- This year we welcomed back the Associa- of geography; institutionalization ranges ming of broad interest to Asian American tion of Asian American Graduate Students from the juggernaut of the University of students and the community—not as (AAGS) after a period of dormancy, Illinois, Urbana-Champaign’s program, exciting as pony rides and cotton candy, thanks to a dedicated core of graduate which now rivals those on the west coast, but close. Please read on. students including Linda Park and Mytoan to those “programs” represented by the Nguyen. The AAGS folks took time out lone Asian Americanist on campus bear- Leslie Bow from their overloaded graduate schedules ing the burden of representing all things Director (which included things such as writing racial and gendered. In the works: a Asian American Studies Program avant-garde poetry and curing viral- website and a cross-university Consortium related blindness) to put on an incredible in Asian American Studies for the Big Ten.

Asian American Studies Program Co-sponsored Events 2005-06 FELIX: A Series of New Writing, Beyond Boundaries: The Poetry of William Waltz and Linh Dinh (Sept. 22, 2005) Linh Dinh is a poet, translator and editor. He is the author of two collections of stories, Fake House (2000) and Blood and Soap (2004), and three books of poems, All Around What Empties Out (2003), American Tatts (2005) and Borderless Bod- ies (2005). (Co-sponsored with the Department of Creative Writing, the Department of Special Collections, and the Friends of the UW Libraries, with generous support from the UW Lectures Committee)

Weird English" with Prof. Evelyn Ch'ien (Feb. 16, 2006) Evelyn Ch’ien is Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Minnesota. (Co-sponsored with the Anonymous Fund and the Department of English)

Demystifying Graduate School for Undergraduates from an Asian American Perspective: Challenges and Rewards (Apr. 27, 2006) Linda Park and Mytoan Nguyen organized the panel, which had representation from a host of disciplines including Sociol- ogy, English, Counseling Psychology, Education, Engineering, and Pharmacy, among others. (Co-sponsored with Association of Asian American Graduate Students)

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Asian American Studies Program Faculty Advisory Committee

Victor Bascara Nicole Huang Hemant Shah Assistant Professor Associate Professor Professor Department of English and Asian Ameri- Department of East Asian Languages School of Journalism and Mass Commu- can Studies Program and Literature nication Leslie Bow Monita Manalo Michael C. Thornton Associate Professor Lecturer Professor Department of English and Asian Ameri- Department of Languages and Cultures Department of Afro-American Studies can Studies Program of Asia Lillian Tong Cindy I-Fen Cheng Ella Mae Matsumura Instructional Program Manager Assistant Professor Associate Professor Center for Biology Education Department of History School of Business Lynet Uttal Asian American Studies Program Jan Miyasaki Associate Professor Peggy Choy Lecturer School of Human Ecology Lecturer Asian American Studies Program Asian Pacific American Students Dance Program & Center for Southeast Lisa Nakamura Council (APAC) Asian Studies Assistant Professor Two representatives Grace Kyungwon Hong Department of Communication Arts Assistant Professor Pamela Oliver Department of English and Asian Ameri- Professor can Studies Program Department of Sociology

Good Bye to Dr. Atsushi Tajima Interview with Atsushi -By Emily Vang What I ultimately wanted to know is how our tsushi Tajima, AASP’s project assis- Tell us about your background. knowledge is constructed. For example, we AA tant for the past three years, will be all know our earth is a bluish, round-shaped My first degree in Japan was in engineer- leaving us at the end of the semester. Any- planet orbiting around the sun. But there ing and I worked for the Japanese automo- one who has been around the AAS offices have been only 100 people or so throughout bile industry. But I didn’t quite feel I was during the time he was the PA needs no the human history who have actually seen suited for science or engineering. My inter- reminder of how much effort and enthusi- the earth—astronauts. The rest of us all get est was more on the humanities. So I de- asm he has put into the job. Atsushi is al- this knowledge, which we think of as fact, cided to change the way I was. Back then, I ways ready to lend a hand on any project. through the media. The same goes for was vaguely interested in what kinds of And when Katie was ill, he put in many much other knowledge including how we people are really out there across the globe. extra hours so the office was up and run- perceive other people in distant locations. Luckily, I had an opportunity to stay with ning. He has flawlessly organized dozens This is what I did in my dissertation and will the Inuit people in the Canadian Arctic and of AASP programs and events. And his be pursuing in my future. computer skills are legendary. the Yupik people in southwestern Alaska for nearly two years. That was when my What would you advice for following Atsushi’s talents are not limited to support- interest in race and ethnicity came in. Then, students? ing AASP and the faculty, however. Last I did my second undergrad study majoring In my case, using “myself” really helped. For summer, Atsushi earned his doctorate on in mass communication at the University of example, my industrial, professional, avia- how race and whiteness are handled in Alaska. When I wanted to pursue the sub- tion, ESL, and diasporic experiences all led Japanese popular culture. He has also ject, UW-Madison was the first place giving to my research projects. In other words, you published a number of research articles in me admission. I’ve been very happy to be can use your life history, which can be much leading academic journals on topics as here working with Asian American Studies richer than what you realize. Also, places news coverage of the Iraq war, English in because of my interest in cross-racial and like UW-Madison are amazing institutions, aviation safety (did you know he is an avid ethnic communication. where amazing amounts airplane enthusiast and a pilot?) and stag- of resources beyond what ing the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games. Dur- How did you become interested in journalism and mass communication? you imagine are available ing the 2005-06 academic year, he has to you. Also, such re- Actually, I am not narrowly interested in been teaching a mass communication sources are organically journalism; rather, I’m broadly interested class at UW-Whitewater. connected. For example, in communication and the media. I had our Asian American Stud- Atsushi has also mentored undergraduate another very funny reason to decide to Dr. Atsushi Tajima ies faculty is made up student researchers, taught in the PEOPLE study mass communication. When I with people with various program and popped a “wheelie” on his started my undergrad as a foreign student, unique backgrounds, interests, and disci- mo-ped all the way down Observatory my English was really nothing. I didn’t even plines. Then, they are organically connected Drive (did you know he has raced motorcy- know words like “however” and “para- because of their interest in Asian Americans. cle professionally?). The program has been graph.” So, I thought it would be very cool There are numerous such webs you can lucky to have Atsushi for nearly three years. to study mass communication simply be- find here. This is what makes this institution We’ll miss his dedication to the program cause it seemed the most challenging ma- a well-rounded university. Finally and most and his hard work. But above all, we’ll miss jor for an ESL student. his kindness, sincerity, and humor. importantly, don’t give it up. I know all of us But later on, I became more and more fas- often feel the desire to quit. But having this - Professor Hemant Shah cinated by communication and the media. sense of achievement is indeed great. 3 May 2006 BRIDGES

Faculty Activities Update, 2005-06

Meets New Southern Studies,” chaired the panel, “Reel to Reel: Asian American Film,” and served on the Conference Program Committee. She also gave Victor Bascara Leslie Bow three campus presentations: a keynote for the Asian American Summit, Asian Victor Bascara is Assistant Professor in Leslie Bow is Associate Professor in the Pacific American Council in Camp Won- the Department of English and the Asian Department of English and the Director of derland, Lake Geneva; spoke about our concentration at the Asian Pacific Coun- American Studies Program. the Asian American Studies Program. th cil 6 Annual Faculty-Student Banquet, Professor Bascara will be an Associate Professor Bow published “Exporting Femi- and did a panel presentation for “Cul- Professor in the Fall of 2006. nism: Jade Snow Wong’s Global Tour” in tural Pluralism and Educational Policy,” Culture, Identity, Commodity: Diasporic in Educational Policy Studies 460 for His book, Model Minority Imperialism Chinese Literatures in English, ed. Tseen Professor Michael Olneck in the Fall. She (University of Minnesota Press), comes Khoo and Kam Louie, and "'For Every represented the University of Wisconsin out this year. He also has a forthcoming Gesture of Loyalty, There Doesn't Have to at the Committee for Institutional Coop- essay "'Panama Money': An Essay on Be a Betrayal': Asian American Criticism eration (CIC) in Chicago last January. Reading the Transition to U.S. Imperial- and the Politics of Locality” in Feminist ism" that will appear in Imagining Our Communication Theory: Selections in This summer, she will deliver a talk for Americas: Nation, Empire, and Region Context, ed. Lana F. Rakow and Laura A. the Council for Asian Pacific Exchange (Radical History Review edited volume, Wackwitz last year. (CAPE) at the East-West Cen- published, forthcoming Duke University ter/University of Hawaii in Honolulu. A Press). She gave numerous presentations on and member of the Modern Language Asso- off campus, including one at Northern ciation’s Executive Committee for the Di- He will present his research at the Multi- Illinois University for the Women’s Stud- vision on Asian American Literature, she Ethic Studies in Europe and the Americas ies’ Program, “Asian American Women will chair the forthcoming panel, “Politics (MESEA) meeting in Pamplona, Spain and Public Culture,” this April and another of Feeling: Affect and Asian American this summer and at the American Studies at Pennsylvania State University for the Literature,” at the Modern Language As- Association meeting in Oakland this fall. American Women Writers Series, “Trans- sociation in Philadelphia in December. He is also one of the conveners of "Tran- racial/Transgender: Analogies of Differ- sitions and Transformations in the U.S. ence” in January. She most recently did Professor Bow recently joined the edito- Imperial State: The Search for New Syn- quadruple duty at the last Asian American rial board of the journal, American Litera- thesis," a conference to be held at Madi- Studies Association conference in Atlanta ture. son in November that brings together an where she delivered a paper, “Anxieties of international group of prominent scholars the Partially Colored: the Foreigner and on U.S. imperialism. Minority in Choong Soon Kim’s An Asian Anthropologist in the South,” chaired and In 2005-06, he taught "Asian American organized the roundtable, “Asian Ameri- Cultural Politics" and "Asian Americans can Studies and War" through AASP.

Model-Minority Imperialism: Understanding the Legacy of U.S. Imperialism through Asian American Culture Victor Bascara At the beginning of the twentieth century, soon after the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, the United States was an imperialistic nation, maintaining (often with the assistance of military force) a far-flung and growing empire. After a long period of collective national amnesia regarding American colonialism in the Philippines and elsewhere, scholars have resurrected the power of “empire” as a way of revealing American history and culture. Focusing on the terms of Asian American assimilation and the rise of the model-minority myth, Victor Bascara examines the resurgence of empire as a tool for acknowledging—and understanding—the legacy of American imperialism. Model-Minority Imperialism links geopolitical dramas of twentieth-century empire building with domestic controver- sies of U.S. racial order by examining the cultural politics of Asian Americans as they are revealed in fiction, film, and theatrical productions. Tracing U.S. economic and political hegemony back to the beginning of the twentieth century through works by Jessica Hagedorn, R. Zamora Linmark, and Sui Sin Far; discourses of race, economics, and empire found in the speeches of William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan; as well as L. Frank Baum’s University of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and other texts, Bascara’s innovative readings uncover the repressed story of U.S. Minnesota Press imperialism and unearth the demand that the present empire reckon with its past. 2006 Bascara deploys the analytical approaches of both postcolonial studies and Asian American studies, two fields that developed in parallel but have only begun to converge, to reveal how the vocabulary of empire reasserted itself through some of the very people who inspired the U.S imperialist mission. (From Publisher’s Press Release)

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Cindy I-Fen Cheng Peggy Choy Grace Kyungwon Hong (Photo: Carl Hefner) Cindy I-Fen Cheng is Assistant Pro- Peggy Choy is a Lecturer in the Dance Grace Kyungwon Hong is Assistant fessor in the Department of History and Program. Professor in the Department of English the Asian American Studies Program. and the Asian American Studies Program. Peggy Choy performed her duet, “She- Professor Cheng is very happy to report Professor Hong will be an Associate Pro- Turtle,” with Soomi Kim, in January 2006 fessor in the Fall of 2006. that she has completed her first year at the American Performing Arts Present- teaching here at UW Madison. She is very ers (APAP) conference at City Center in Her book, The Ruptures of American grateful to all the wonderful students that New York. Her new piece, Summit! was she met this year and for all the support Capital: Women of Color Feminism and performed in the Dance Program‘s Mov- The Culture of Immigrant Labor, is forth- that the Asian American Studies Program ing Heaven & Earth concert, April 20-22. and History Department staff and faculty coming from University of Minnesota Press. have provided her. Choy received a UW-Milwaukee Dance

Department fellowship for 2006 for the Her recent articles include: “‘A Shared She has also been so pleased to see so completion of her MFA degree. many students applying to do a certifica- Queerness’: Colonialism, Transnational- ism, and Sexuality in Shani Mootoo’s Cer- tion in Asian American Studies. She de- Choy is producing/directing the upcoming veloped three new undergraduate courses, eus Blooms at Night.” Meridians, forth- 2006-07, “Women of the Scarred Earth” coming, Fall 2006, and “Most Overrated two on Asian American History and one Outreach and Performance Project that on Race and Media Culture in the U.S. All Western Virtue”: The Politics of Knowl- has received generous funding from the edge in Zadie Smith’s White Teeth: In three courses will be offered in the coming Anonymous Fund, Baldwin, and Britting- academic year.She is also offering a Immigration and Migration, Social Change, ham funds, the Morgridge Center, the and Cultural Transformation (working title), graduate seminar this coming fall on School of Music and the Asian American Asian American History and Culture. ed., Emory Elliott, forthcoming. Studies Program.

Her article entitled, "Out of Chinatowns She presented “Sacred and Profane: Ana Choy regularly teaches Asian American Castillo’s Ironic Reversals” at the Ameri- and into the Suburbs: Chinese Americans Studies 153: Asian American Movement. and the Politics of Cultural Citizenship in can Studies Association (ASA) national This unique dance course features tradi- conference. Washington, DC., November Early Cold War America," is set to appear tional and modern Asian movements and in American Quarterly. 2005, and she was a speaker for Plenary dance forms in the context of Asian cul- Panel entitled “The Critical Study of Race tures and philosophy and Asian-American This summer, Professor Cheng will be and Ethnicity in a Neoliberal Corporate history. University, at the Association for Asian returning to Los Angeles to complete her research at the Huntington Library. American Studies (AAAS) Annual Confer- ence. Atlanta, GA. March 2006.

The Ruptures of American Capital: Women of Color Feminism and the Culture of Immigrant Labor Grace Kyungwon Hong Universality is a dangerous concept, according to Grace Kyungwon Hong, one that has contributed to the national rise and privilege of the individual above all. However, African American, Asian American, and Chicano people experience the same stretch of city sidewalk with varying degrees of safety, visibility, and surveillance. The Ruptures of American Capital examines two key social formations—women of color feminism and racialized immigrant women’s culture—in order to argue that race and gender are persistent contradictions within the history of U.S. capital that should be understood not as monolithic but as marked by its crises. According to Hong, women of color feminism and racialized immigrant women’s culture are not identity categories but social and epistemological formations emerging from contradictions of late capitalism. She shows how women of color feminism identified ways in which the ostensible universality of nationalist forms of capital, such as the right to own property, were, in fact, repressive. Concomitant with a critical shift in capital from its national to its global phase, there emerged a newly universalized fetishization of “difference.” While capital in its global phase attempts to cast difference itself as ahistorical and commodified, The Ruptures of American Capital demonstrates that racialized immigrant women’s culture has brought to light both contested modes of incorporation into consumer culture and the occlusion of labor from the consumerist subject. Interweaving discussion of University of U.S. political economy and culture with formal literary observations (including readings of Angela Davis, Toni Morrison, Minnesota Press and Booker T. Washington) Hong does no less than set the stage for solidarity among women of color with a vocabulary 2006 that challenges possessive individualism used by both the state and twentieth-century anti-racist movements for social change. (From Publisher’s Press Release)

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Nicole Huang Ella Mae Matsumura Lisa Nakamura

Nicole Huang is Associate Professor in Ella Mae Matsumura is Associate Pro- Lisa Nakamura is Assistant Professor the Department of East Asian Languages fessor in the School of Business, Account- in the Department of Communication Arts. and Literature. ing and Information Systems. Professor Nakamura will be an Associate Professor Huang is specializing in twenti- Professor Matsumura has published “Cor- Professor in the Fall of 2006. eth-century Chinese literature and visual porate Governance Reform and CEO Com- culture. She is currently working on two pensation: Intended and Unintended Con- Her book Visual Cultures of the Internet book manuscripts set in 1970s China. The sequences.” in Journal of Business Ethics is forthcoming with the University of Min- first is titled Children Of The Courtyard: (with Jae Yong Shin), and ““An Empirical nesota Press in their Electronic Media- Visual Culture And Daily Practice In 1970s Analysis of an Incentive Plan with Relative tions series. Chinese Cities, in which she reassesses Performance Measures: Evidence from a the last stage of Chinese revolutionary Postal Service.” in The Accounting Review Her current research, “Facial Recognition: mass culture with an emphasis on child- (with Jae Yong Shin). Surveillance Society, Racialization, and hood experiences in communal courtyards. the Biotechnological Turn,” is a proposed Her second book project focuses on eve- Professor Matsumura has completed sec- book chapter in an anthology on new me- ryday use of the photographic medium ond three-year term as an Associate Editor dia to be edited by Mark Williams. This during the same period, combining both for Accounting Horizons, an American Ac- essay will also be developed into a cen- archival and field research. counting Association journal designed to tral chapter into a single-authored book bridge practice and academia. On May 1, project tentatively entitled Networked At the meantime, she is also working on a 2006, she became co-editor of Accounting Cinematics. Also her “Race, Gender, and number of articles on a variety of topics, Horizons for 2006-2009. the Internet: A Critical Theory of New one of which is titled "The Transnational Media Audiences,” is a solicited book Butcher’s Wife," a theoretical essay that Her other professional services include chapter for an anthology to be published uses the travels of a well-known fictional Notable Contributions to Accounting Litera- jointly by the Annenberg School of Com- motif across national and cultural borders ture Award Screening Committee (evalu- munication-West (University of Southern to highlight some of the national, ethnic, ated nominations or articles, books, or California) and the Annenberg School of and cultural boundaries underlying our monographs to determine which should be Communication-East (University of Penn- present paradigm of literary studies. forwarded to the Award Selection Commit- sylvania) entitled Communication Tech- tee); Chair, Lifetime Achievement in Man- nology and Social Policy in the Digital Professor Huang gave birth to a baby girl agement Accounting Award Committee Age. Her “Mixedfolks.com: Hybrid Identity, named Zoe on April 20, 2006. (committee evaluated nominees and se- Racial Passing, and the Internet,” is also lected winner; presented award in January to be a book chapter for a proposed an- 2006); and Publications Committee, Man- thology entitled Mixed Race in Hollywood agement Accounting Section (evaluated Film and Television, edited by Mary papers for the Section journal’s Best Paper Beltran and Camille Fojas. Award; will evaluate candidates for the next editor of the Section journal in Spring 2006). She presented "Ways of Clicking: Teach- ing the Concept of Digital Racial Forma- Professor Matsumura’s university services tion and Methods for Reading Networked include: Executive Director, Beyer Center Images of the Body,” at the Association of Monita Manalo for Managerial Accounting and Con- Internet Researchers and “Facial Recog- trol (School of Business); Member of nition: Surveillance Society, Racialization, Monita Manalo is a Lecturer in the De- School of Business Diversity Committee; and the Biotechnological Turn,” at the partment of Languages and Cultures of Asia. Mentor in University Faculty Mentoring Pro- Modern Language Association.

gram; Executive Committee, Manufacturing Currently Dr. Manalo serves on the Ful- Systems Engineering Program; and Execu- Professor Namamura was also invited to bright Evaluation Committee, UW-Madison. tive Committee, Center for Quick Response present, “What Does It Mean to Come She presented a research paper, “The Oral Manufacturing Late to the Party?: Race, Gender, and Proficiency Interview (OPI) in Filipino Lan- New Media Audiences” at Annenberg guage Instruction: A Preliminary Report,” at School for Communication, University of the Association of Asian Studies Annual Pennsylvania and “Intersectionality, New Meeting, Council for the Teaching Media, and Identity: Internet Popular Cul- of Southeast Asian Languages (COTSEAL), ture and Computer Mediated Communi- April, 2006. cation,” at University of Maryland. Dr Manalo will be on sabbatical leave from teaching during the school year 2007-08.

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Hemant Shah Michael C. Thornton Lillian Tong

Hemant Shah is Professor in the Michael C. Thornton is Professor in Lillian Tong is Undergraduate Education School of Journalism and Mass Commu- the Department of Afro-American Studies Coordinator and Director of Faculty Pro- nication. and Faculty Director of the Morgridge grams for Center for Biology Education. Center for Public Service. Professor Shah published an article titled, Dr. Tong’s duty is to improve undergradu- “Reconsidering Geometries of Develop- Professor Thornton became the first Fac- ate biological sciences education, and ment.” in Perspectives on Global Devel- ulty Director of the Morgridge Center for one aspect of it involves equity and diver- opment and Technology, 3(4): 395-416 Public Service in 2005. His initial goals for sity issues in the sciences. She has also (with Karin Wilkins at University of Texas the Center are to increase student of color been active in encouraging the leadership Austin). The article critiques the “old” and male participation in our activities. of Asian American women on campus. As paradigm of communication and devel- a member of the Women in Science and opment studies for its overemphasis on Professor Thornton’s recent publications Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI) nation-states as units of planning and include: “Black and Asian American leadership team, she encourages more analysis and for its overly simplistic geo- Newspaper Coverage of Multiracial Amer- discussion about ethnicity and leadership political divisions of developed and devel- ica.” Forthcoming in an issue entitled, by organizing meetings and various other oping worlds. “The Landscape of the Multiracial Experi- activities. ence” of Journal of Social Issues and He also published a review essay of “Multiracial Experiences.” Encyclopedia of Dr. Tong is also a member of the Diversity David Gauntlett, Media, Gender and Iden- Education and Human Development, Sec- team of the Center for Integration of Re- tity: An Introduction (New York and Lon- tion: “Equity and Cultural Issues in Educa- search, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL), don: Routledge, 2002) and Rebecca Ann tion.” Stephen Farenga and Daniel Ness which has been developing materials for Lind (Ed.), Race, Gender, Media: Consid- (eds.), E. Sharpe Publishers. pp. 333-335. inclusive teaching in STEM (Science, ering Diversity Across Audiences, Content, Technology, Engineering, and Math) dis- and Producers (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Professor Thornton also presented “Black ciplines. The UW-Madison version of 2004) in Journalism and Mass Communi- Relations with Other People of Color.” CIRTL, Delta, offers a course on Instruc- cation Educator, 5(2), 429-432. McNair Scholars Program, University of tional Materials Development in Science Wisconsin-Whitewater, 2005 which she co-teaches. In this course, they Professor Shah gave two invited talks in have been using case scenarios to pro- early part of 2006. They were “Race and mote discussion about gender, race, and Modernization” at the University of Colo- ethnicity bias and stereotypes. rado, January 30; and "Anti-racism and academic research on modernization,” Georgia State University, February 11.

speaking abilities and learn about the ethnic families while simultaneously deliv- different Latino cultures they represent. ering family and community empower- In addition to strengthening individual ment programs. families, these cross-cultural relation- ships contribute to developing a pan- This year, Professor Uttal co-authored Latino community. This project received “Action-oriented Research: Strategies for a second grant from the Oscar and Elsa an Engaged University." She continues to Lynet Uttal Mayer Family Foundation. She also or- co-facilitate the "Seeking Educational ganized the South Madison Family Path- Excellence and Diversity for the Experi- Lynet Uttal is Associate Professor in ways Series for African American parents. enced and Doing" (S.E.E.D.E.D.) program the School of Human Ecology. This project was funded by the Evjue that she founded with Seema Kapani Foundation and a Myra Schoeder Beck- three years ago. This program provides a Professor Uttal continues to direct the ner Grant. Both projects target parents monthly think-tank for faculty and aca- Connecting Latino Families and Child- with children 1-8 years old as a preventa- demic staff who are working on diversity care Provider Partnership Project that tive measure to strengthen family com- initiatives. She also received a TRIO provides monthly workshops on bicultural munication before the children are teen- award for her undergraduate mentoring of childrearing, social support for new immi- agers. a student of color who recognized Prof. grant families, and encourages individual Uttal for her support towards earning her empowerment for community develop- Through these projects, she is developing bachelor's degree. ment. At the same time that parents meet a methodological technique for collecting together, their children meet in Club Her- local data to build the knowledge base of encia Cultural and develop their Spanish contemporary parenting practices of racial 7 May 2006 BRIDGES

2005-06 Asian American Studies Certificate Awardees

he Asian American Studies Pro- Steph: I first enrolled in an Asian Ameri- continue to challenge certain ideological TTgram congratulates the following can Studies class during the fall of my frameworks and how we study as well as students for the successful completion junior year. I took AAS 26060 with Pro- understand “Asian Americans. At the of the Asian American Studies Certifi- fessor Victor Bascara. He did a wonderful moment I am interested in pursuing a cate this year. job of introducing me to Asian American graduate study in history with an empha- history, politics, and culture. After AAS sis on Hmong in America. What I have Han-Dong Kim International Relations 260, I decided to take another course in learned in my classes will have a lasting the program, this time one that focused effect on how I approach certain issues MaiGer Moua History explicitly on Asian American literature. pertaining to the Hmong and Asian Steph Nasseff English And finally, I decided that I wanted a Americans as well as Scott Smith Biology certificate, as Asian American Studies how I decide to repre- Mai Der Yang Legal Studies & courses proved to be among my most sent them when I do Political Science enriching academic experiences. my graduate research.

Steph: After I gradu- Congratulations! What is the most valuable thing that ate this May, I plan to you took away from your classes in move St. Paul. I have We posed some questions to our two Asian American Studies? accepted a position as certificate awardees, MaiGer Moua an editor at Thomson and Steph Nasseff, both graduating MaiGer: The most valuable thing I Steph Nasseff West publishing firm in May. Here is what they had to say: learned from my classes is that Asian the Twin Cities. I'm eager to explore the American Studies is not a simple, neat opportunities available to me in the edit- What made you decide to seek certifi- field but one that is always changing with ing field. cate? the times and demographics of the United States. MaiGer: After taking my first Asian American Studies Steph: I was very intrigued to learn What advice or recommendations course, which being about a history and a subculture I had would you give to younger students AA101, my freshmen never had the opportunity to study be- who are interested in Asian American year I considered doing fore. Even more captivating to me, Studies? a concentration in though, was reading Asian American MaiGer: I encourage all Asian American Asian American Stud- novels and poems (I am an English ma- students and other students to take ad- ies but never devel- jor, after all!) that dealt with political and vantage of this program because it is one oped enough interest social struggles. I realized that US forms of the few opportunities on campus or enthusiasm to actu- of marginalization had lasting effects on where we actually get to learn about ally follow through. MaiGer Moua Asian American families, economics, Asian Americans. In addition, the pro- Then in the fall of 2005 I and social welfare. gram is not only about providing us with decided to take another Asian American knowledge but encouraging us to learn Studies course and I’m very glad that I with a critical mind and develop a histori- How might our concentration in Asian didn’t give up on Asian Am. My profes- cal context to help us understand the American Studies enhance the way sor for the class, Cindy Cheng, encour- emergence of and forces surrounding you think about the career path/major aged us to do a concentration whether it Asian Americans and Asian American you’ve chosen? What are your future would be Asian American Studies or an- Studies. plans? other program because she believed in Steph: To students considering an AAS the value of that and the depth that it MaiGer: The courses that I have taken certificate, I say go for it. You'll find re- brings to our studies. So from that as thus far have helped shape my under- warding classes taught by devoted and well as developing a genuine interest in standing of Asians in America, the simi- passionate professors. Asian American Studies I decided to do larities and differences amongst different the certification. Asian American groups, and the need to

Amy Ling Legacy Fund for Asian American Studies The Asian American Studies Program has initiated a fundraising campaign in recognition of its founding director, Professor Amy Ling. If you would like to honor Professor Ling’s memory and the work she began at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, please consider a donation to the Amy Ling Legacy Fund for Asian American Studies. Checks can be made out to: Amy Ling Legacy Fund for Asian American Studies University of Wisconsin Foundation US Bank Lockbox PO Box 78807 Milwaukee, WI 53278-0807 Contributions are tax deductible and will build an endowment fund to support the educational mission of the Asian American Studies Program.

8 BRIDGES May 2006

From the Classroom Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) 501: Hmong Families

By Atsushi Tajima

or years, social worker Mai Zong own family structures. Even simple ques- different sense of dignity. So we also need FF Vue has been tions like, ‘Where are we from?’ to educate non-Hmong people in the working for the Wis- and ‘What is our experience like?’ community to understand these cultural consin Department of may still be important.” Of course, values.” Workforce Develop- she thinks that they may know part ment as a program of the answers, but they may not As a refugee herself, Vue came to the developer. Her goal is know the entire picture. She ex- United States from the Ban Vinai Refugee to assist refugees, pects to provide such knowledge in Camp in Thailand. After graduating from including many Hmong, a comprehensive and structured high school, she went to Lakeland College off the public assis- way in her course. Vue feels that in Sheboygan, WI and received her BA. tance by finding them Mai Zong Vue having that knowledge is She came to Madison to work full time jobs. essential for their ability to for the Department of Workforce De- “find a balance between velopment, became a part-time gradu- In her work, people have repeatedly the Hmong and American ate student at the UW-Madison, and asked the same, basic, question: “Who cultures.” received Master’s in Social Work in are the Hmong people?” She thus found 1997. Much of her works lies in policy herself doing numerous presentations Her Hmong students ac- studies in conjunction with a human about Hmong families and their dynamics. knowledge Vue’s attempt. focus and social issues. She has also This year she was able to impart her “A lot of stuff I kind of knew Pahoua Xiong been an active community leader experience and knowledge in a more already,” said Pahoua among Hmong women. She served on formal and structured way in the form of Xiong, a sophomore from Madison. “But Hmong National Development in Washing- the University of Wisconsin, Madison studying small details of weddings and ton, D.C. as a board member from 1993- course, HDFS 501: Hmong Families, funerals help me to understand more 97 and as the board president for two sponsored by the School of Human Ecol- about our family structure.” Another stu- terms. She also served on the Women’s ogy. dent feels that the class Commission for Refugee Women and gives him an integrated Children in New York as a board member. Vue thinks the lack of basic knowl- picture about his The Commission reviews how refugee edge about the Hmong is still a big Hmong culture. “This women and children are served. She is problem. “Wisconsin is home to the class clarifies a lot of also a co-founder of Refugee Women’s third-largest Hmong population in U.S. things that I know and I Network in Georgia, 1997. The Network The population is so huge that the don’t know,” said Say identifies the needs of refugee women and demand for information and knowl- Thao, a senior from trains them as community leaders. edge is also huge,” she said. “But peo- Say Thao Madison. “For example, I ple just repeatedly ask the same, very grew up mostly in the Vue’s students consistently appreciate the basic questions: Who are the Hmong? United States. So I know pieces of my fact that this is the first time the university Where do they come from? What is it like own culture and history. By taking this has offered a class in this subject. “My in their families? Why do they have so class, everything comes together.” motivation in taking this many kids?” class is to help it become As its name indicates, the Department of successful, because the At the same time, she often feels that Workforce Development provides em- Hmong population on those questions are also important for ployment-focused programs. However, as campus is such a large young Hmong raised in the United States. her course title, “Hmong Families” indi- population and definitely a “Many of them were born in either the cates, Vue stresses the importance of very active population,” refugee camps or in the United States, family support programs. “Employment notes Yee Xiong, a junior so they do not have knowledge of their programs often resulted in both parents from Milwaukee. “So as a working outside home. No one was Hmong student here, when Yee Xiong there to take care of kids, which led something like this class is offered, we to a lot of family dysfunction,” she should take the opportunity to take the said. “I am there to remind them that class, and to show the university that this they have to provide not only em- is something we care about.” ployment service programs but also family support programs.” She further acknowledges the importance The Asian American Studies Program will of educating Americans about the offer Hmong American Studies as a Spe- family and cultural values of Hmong. cial Topics course, Asian American Stud- For example, she notes, that when ies 240 (Section 2), for the fall semester of “Hmong individuals are arrested for 2006. even minor reasons, they feel very embarrassed because of their cultural values [and feel an] especially

9 May 2006 BRIDGES 2006 Asian American Film Series he Asian American Film Series, “Y’All Gonna Learn Chinese,” was held March 30 to April 2. The Series TT was part of the 2006 Wisconsin Film Festival. All seven of the Asian American Film Series were well attended, with some shows completely sold out and with people sitting in the aisles. With funding from the UW Anonymous Fund, Asian American Studies Program was able to help bring a number of latest Asian American films, including 10 short films, which were combined as “Asian American Screen Test.” The films are exploring the diversity of Asian American film. Special thanks go to Meg Hamel, Interim Wisconsin Film Festival Director.

Y’All Gonna Learn Chinese

Amu into the world, she found that her name turous re-education camp, and the jour- was more common, and that many peo- ney that mom, grandma, and son make India, USA, 2005, 102 min, Color, 35mm, ple knew a Grace Lee. Oddly, they were when they escape by boat to California. Wisconsin Premiere all described as polite overachievers, Tran makes use of shifts in time and Directed By: Shonali Bose usually Christian, always nice: fitting a flashbacks to piece together a gor- stereotype of Asian Americans. Off geously photographed film. It asks the Grace went on a search to find other question so central to the experiences of women named Grace Lee who defy that immigrants: how much of your homeland description, and to question cultural as- should you give up to fully embrace your similation and stereotypes of Asian new life? Many Asian American cast and crew came together to present an origi- nal and authentic look at a war rarely described for American audiences from the Vietnamese perspective. 2006 Sun- What at first seems like a standard back- dance Film Festival. - Meg Hamel to-roots story becomes something much more in Shonali Bose’s debut feature. Kaju, a recent college graduate from Los Mardi Gras: Made in China Angeles, has returned to Delhi for the first time since she was three years old. USA, 2005, 71 min, Color, BetaSP At first mocked for her American clothes, Directed By: David Redmon her video camera, and her constant In a squalid Chinese factory, Ga Hong questions, Kaju’s search takes a dark Mei spends eleven hours a day yanking turn as she looks for clues to her child- American virtue along the way. “Packed strings of hot beads out of a dangerous hood in India . An adopted child, how did with skillfully interwoven personal sto- machine. She struggles to fill enough her parents die? Why did she have to ries, this film will resonate with anyone bags to prevent her wages from getting leave Delhi? And what do these ques- who’s ever Googled their own name, docked. On the other side of the world, tions have to do with the assassination hoping to find a fascinating doppel- New Orleans native “Ms. Pearl” squeals of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984, ganger. And let’s face it, isn’t that just with delight as she catches her zillionth and the days of riots and bloodshed that about all of us?” Jenny George, Bust tangle of glistening bead necklaces from followed? Writer-director Bose confronts Magazine. - Meg Hamel a Mardi Gras float. Mardi Gras: Made in a recent tragedy in India ’s past with an China portrays the immense disconnect unflinching eye, taking a strong stance Journey From the Fall between the against letting the past go to the point of Journey From the Fall factory and injustice. “Bose is a fearless filmmaker (Vuot Sóng) the consumer who certainly knows how to tell an en- USA, 2005, 135 min, Color, 35mm, that arises in grossing tale.” – Kirk Honeycutt, Holly- Midwest Premiere a global econ- wood Reporter. - Travis Gerdes Directed By: Ham Tran omy. The A complex, haunting film from Vietnam- cultural and economical The Grace Lee Project differences are stunning, USA, 2005, 68 min, Color, BetaSP as is the Chinese workers’ reaction to Directed By: Grace Lee the sticker price of the beads and the Filmmaker astonishing way people “win” the beads. Grace Lee grew In tracing the path of the disposable up thinking she commodity of Mardi Gras beads, film- was special: maker David Redmon tells a story about there weren’t ese American filmmaker Ham Tran, globalization in which CEOs aren’t really many other Ko- Journey From The Fall chronicles a the bad guys, we are. - Heather rean American family divided after the 1975 fall of Sai- Shimon girls in Missouri. gon. There are two stories here, that of As she went out the father, Long, who is sent to a tor- 10 BRIDGES May 2006

No Sleep Til Shanghai and Shanghai. On one level, No Sleep daughters is bright, attractive and suc- Til Shanghai is a funny and funky diary cessful. But the Wongs are also a family of a fast-paced, red-eye trip to bring hip- quietly falling apart at the seams. hop to fans in Asia. The bigger picture, Samantha (Jacqueline Kim), a business though, is more complicated: since the woman, doubts her choice of career and tour, Jin has changed his name (to “The fiancée. Julie (Elaine Kao), a medical Emcee”), dropped the label, and rein- student, is struggling with her blossom- vented his career. What answers does ing relationship with movie star Mia that give to the questions of race and Scarlett (Mia Riverton). Katie (Kathy fame? - Meg Hamel Shao-Lin Lee) expresses her feelings for USA, 2005, 70 min, Color, BetaSP, a high school classmate with increas- Midwest Premiere ingly more explosive practical jokes. Directed By: Todd Angkasuwan Red Doors Silence has become a way of life for Ed; Jin Au-Yeung, born in Miami and raised USA, 2005, 90 min, Color, 35mm, after numerous attempts at suicide, he on hip-hop, broke new ground and Midwest Premiere finally stumbles upon a new way to leave gained fame by being the first Asian Directed By: Georgia Lee his life behind, and in the process, American rapper to sign with a major On the surface, the Wongs are a family throws the family into further turmoil. In recording label. His quickness and that has it all. The father, Ed (Tzi Ma), is Red Doors, every character has a jour- charm sharpened from winning free- about to retire ney to make. On the way, they discover style battles makes this documentary from a job that what makes them who they are as indian extraordinarily appealing look at has left his viduals, and find their place again in the the way music can punch through family well off, family. Writer and director Georgia Lee boundaries. To promote his aptly the mother was part of the 2005 Sundance short named album “The Rest is History” (Freda Foh film jury. - Kerman Eckes (featuring songs recorded with Shen) has her Kanye West, Wyclef, and others), Jin family to care and his team embark on a tour of for and a wed- Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, ding to plan, and each of the three

Shorts Program: Asian American Screen Test Screen Test a tube of lipstick in their laundry. An ap- 3 Meals Dir.: Linda Lee, propriation of classic kung fu flicks from Dir.: Colin Goh, Yen Yen Woo, Singa- Canada, 2004, 8 a queer feminist perspective. pore, 2005, 19 min min Trying to Keep Concentrate San, a Singaporean woman under pres- Screen Test is a sure from her mother to “find a good Dir.: Ruthann Lee, Canada, 2004, 8 min wry day-in-the- man,” hosts three disastrous meals two Featuring footage from an in-store sur- life of an Asian- with would-be suitors, and the last with veillance camera and interviews with the Canadian actor her mother herself. store’s owner, this documentary pre- and the convoluted process of “becom- sents personal and systematic views of Fuck Off ing Asian” during a casting session. This Korean immigrant experiences in Can- film exposes the exoticization of actors Dir.: Persephone Tan, USA, 2004, 6 min ada. of colour from the performer’s point-of- People have a natural tendency to stare, view. By exaggerating her own Asian- Muni to the Marriage especially if you look or act differently. Uncomfortable glances? Shaking ness, she performs in “yellow face,” sub- Dir.: Stuart Gaffney, USA, 2004, 5 min heads? Sneers? Fuck Off is dedicated to verting the process through exploiting Riding to San Francisco ’s City Hall to those who can’t accept the fact that not and mocking the ignorance of those who take part in marriage history with his everybody is the same. get to define and direct the “other.” partner of 17 years, the filmmaker re- My German Boyfriend flects on the difficulties experienced by Be Very Quiet his Chinese-American mother and white Dir.: Wayne Yung, Canada, 2004, 25 min Dir.: Mona Nahm. Thailand, USA, 2004, father more than 50 years ago, who A gay Chinese-Canadian encounters 26 min were only able to marry when California ethnic stereotypes as he seeks his ideal As a child, Thana witnessed the rape ’s law against interracial marriage was boyfriend in Berlin. A comedy about mis- and murder of his prostitute mother. overturned. taken cultural identities, a diary of immi- Years later, he spots a man who resem- grant isolation, and a love letter to a boy- Kata Practice bles the killer and embarks on a path of vengeance. friend who might have been. Dir.: Siu Ta, Canada, 2004, 5 min Shaolin Sisters David, a 6-year-old junior green belt, Chinese Beauty practices for his final fight. As he con- Dir.: Mishann Lau, Canada, 2004, 6 min Dir.: Debbie Lum, centrates on each Shaolin Sisters is a USA, 2005, 10 technique, he soon kick-ass kung fu min confronts a chal- short about two A woman jogger lenge that goes sisters and the chases down beyond the physi- trouble they get love, literally. cal. into when they find

11 May 2006 BRIDGES

Cindy I-Fen Cheng Joins Asian American Studies Program Faculty

he Program is happy to welcome taken any courses that dealt with race or A couple of years later, I wanted to go Cindy I-Fen Cheng, Assistant Pro- any classes critical of it. I just thought of back to school and study something I TT fessor of History and Asian Ameri- that was phenomenal, and I immediately really, really enjoyed. I decided to give can Studies, to our faculty. Cindy comes got curious. history a try. I went to UC Irvine to study to us from the University of California, U.S. history with a focus on Asian Ameri- Irvine where she received a Ph.D. in His- The material really grabbed me. Then I can history. I also did feminist and critical tory. Born in Taiwan, she moved to the found out that they offered a minor. It was studies. After I completed my degree, I United States when she was eight when a concentration or certificate like the one did a post-doc at USC, and I am here at her family settled in Los Angeles. She we have at UW, exactly the same format. UW. has taught in a variety of disciplines in- I immediately started taking Asian Ameri- cluding Women’s Studies, can Can you share your and your family’s Asian American Studies, his- Studies life story with us? tory, ethnic studies, and criti- classes. cal race studies. Prior to At the I remember the date: Jan. 23, 1980. My coming to UW-Madison, she time, mom took my two brothers and me from spent a year as a postdoctoral UCLA’s Taiwan to the United States, then my dad fellow at the University of con- joined us a month later. I grew up in a Southern California. She was centra- small suburb about 30 miles east of L.A. also Academic Coordinator for tion At that time, we were one of the few the Program in Women’s was Asian families in our neighborhood. Roll- Studies and Department of not as ing Heights is now known to be a large Asian American Studies at UC well Asian enclave community--predominantly Irvine. devel- Korean and Chinese. But at that time, oped there were very few Asian families. Her work in progress, “Con- as the testing Chinese/American one we We settled there for a very interesting Identity in the Age of Cold War Politics,” have here at UW. Here at the UW, we reason. When we were in Pasadena, we examines the racialization of the Chinese offer wider array of classes partly be- were not allowed to go to school there. in the U.S. during the postwar period and cause the field has developed. Only certain groups could go to school, analyzes a wide range of genres including and we needed green cards to attend personal narratives, oral history, visual During my college years, Los Angeles public school even though we were legal media culture, and government docu- was very important because this was the residents. Wilson High School in Rolling ments. Her work illuminates the role race time that anti-immigration laws were be- Heights was one of the few high schools plays in American national narratives both ing passed and affirmative action was that allowed us to go to school there. That domestically and in terms of foreign policy. being debated. Everything that was is the reason why a lot of Asians and La- She brings to the Program considerable passed by the liberal state of the 60s and tinos are there today. expertise in Cold War culture, suburbani- 70s was being overturned when I was an zation, comparative racial formations, and undergrad. It was also during the years of People often think different cultural and American history. the Rodney King beating and the LA up- ethnic groups come together over issues rising. of cultural identification. But I think there are a lot of institutional and structural reasons for that. When I was in school there, Interview with Cindy When I was a junior, all of Ethnic Studies programs came together for a strike. Afri- my brother and I and one other girl were By Atsushi Tajima can American, Chicano, and Asian the only three Asians. But now the Asian American Studies became majors. It was student population is 60%. I saw a radical Tell us about yourself and your back- a vibrant time to be a part of all this change from a predominantly white ground. change. After all the strikes and protest, I neighborhood to a predominantly Asian neighborhood. While we were first living I did my undergrad at UCLA. I think I had actually became the part of the first class to graduate with the option of an Asian there, we were the target of a lot of racist the typical working class mentality, where acts, like painting stuff on our car or you want to do well in school. I wanted to American Studies major. throwing eggs. My story about coming to be a doctor and was pre-med at UCLA. I the U.S. is similar to many immigrant sto- never thought too much about what I was Then, after finishing my undergrad, I worked for a year and a half for a non- ries. going to do, I just thought I’d be a doctor. profit. It was a program that helped at-risk youth to get their GEDs or job training. I How do you perceive the difference in One semester, I was searching for between CA and WI? classes other than science classes and first started as their administrative assis- accidentally flipped open my schedule to tant, and then became their education Be frank, I think being a minority in gen- the page where Asian American Studies coordinator. I also taught all kinds of sub- eral in California is much easier. I think I courses were listed. I did not look for it. jects from elementary-level reading to never understood how difficult it is to be a The first thing I actually saw was a course math. person of color until I moved here. I never on Asian American women. I’d never had in-your-face racist remarks until I

12 BRIDGES May 2006 moved here. Being a minority here is so for the Hmong. I think they represent an people move. It will have both transna- different. In California, people have a interesting transnational diasporic com- tional as well as U.S. contexts. The sec- different perception about diversity. There munity. The formation here is not neces- ond is “Settlement and the Discourse of is no dominant majority; perhaps, different sarily ethnic enclave. This is about a Belonging.” It is not just about uprooting racial and ethnic groups are 30%, 30%, group that travels to reform a national factors, but also about one’s incorporation and 30%. There is no one visible majority; network. Their case is unique, not like into the U.S., what it means to belong it is easier to move around, you just don’t China or Laos: their nation is in the “U.S.” from legal, social, and economic perspec- have to feel like you are a minority. Also, tives. lately, the new Taiwanese immigrants are How have your Hmong students and coming in with more wealth and challeng- the people of Wisconsin influenced I have a more fun course titled “Race and ing the class system. There is less of a you so far? Media Culture in the US.” I also offer a need to feel belonging. I have been obviously influenced by living graduate course, “Asian American History in Madison: my Hmong students have and Culture.” It is an interdisciplinary Coming to Madison has been a big lesson really redefined how I understand this class that will look at historical narratives, to me in knowing what means to be a relation. I’d like literary criti- minority. Everywhere you go, you may be to interview the cism, fiction, the only person of color. I think people Hmong about and images of understand multiculturalism to be about the discourse of Asian Ameri- tolerance and a celebration of people of home, what cans. color; we don’t deal with real racial and belonging ethnic politics beyond multiculturalism. means to them. Anything to However, this needs to be changed. We share with will be experiencing demographic I genuinely be- students pur- changes in next ten years or so. Even lieve that my suing the UW will look very different and we need to Hmong stu- Asian Ameri- be in this process. I think critical race con- dents in my can Studies sciousness needs to be there. Asian American certificate? Studies courses People have Tell us about your research. are the most traditional ma- Obviously, I am committed to turning my special here. jors. A concen- dissertation project, which deals with They are often- tration is the comparative racial formation, into a book. times first generation college students icing on the cake, and it is one of the best As for my second project, I’ve been seri- from big refugee families. They had to things that undergrad students can do. ously influenced by the Hmong students overcome many obstacles, including ra- Instead of a bunch of random courses, here. So my second book project will be cial and economic barriers. At the same why not take a cluster of courses around on the settlement patterns of the Hmong, time, it is amazing to see that the UW has a similar theme and get institutional rec- particularly in WI, and I may be doing a been generous about giving scholarships. ognition for it? It offers a chance to un- comparison with MN. Their existence is adding a very unique derstand where you belong and to take way to look at diversity here. advantage of those opportunities. Ameri- I am particularly fascinated by this par- can society is increasingly diverse and ticular geographic location, Madison. If What do you think you can add to the multicultural. So people have to under- you look at the history and the role Madi- Program, UW, and the community? stand racial differences, gender differ- son and UW played, this was the central I will always to continue to offer a curricu- ences, economic differences, structural place in terms of the anti-war protest dur- lum that is innovative and challenging, differences and so on. Our concentration ing the Vietnam-era. I know this was the one that will always be new in terms of is one very good way to enhance your first campus to stage an anti-war protest. thinking about race relations. I will always understanding about those things. The History Department, Harvey Gold- be a professor who is committed to cur- berg--they played a significant role in riculum development and understanding What is your reaction to Wisconsin? educating students about why the war the ways that race governs and structures I was told that this is the mildest winter was fought, why southeast Asians were society, why that matters, and how race here, but I had a traumatic encounter with here, and the economic imperatives of the works together with gender, class, and the “blizzard.” My students teased me, but Cold War. All of those gave students a other social issues. Even beyond my also they helped me adapt. basis for acting against war in Vietnam. connection to the university, as a resident of Madison, I would also like to volunteer I feel extremely fortunate to be in this I want to begin looking at why they hated as a tutor for young Hmong students ei- amazing environment and institution. I do the war, the aftermath and the discourse ther after school or at the refugee center. not want to take anything for granted. It is around humanitarianism, the guilt sur- a privilege to be a part of the Asian rounding the war, and connect this with What kinds of classes are you teach- American Studies Program and its legacy. the refugee population here. I want to ing and developing? connect the two: the anti-war movement and refugee resettlement. Right now, I am developing two elementary-level Asian American history courses. I want to get away from resettlement and The first is “Movement and Dislocation” focus more on what resettlement means focusing on the socio-economic, political, and personal factors that go into why

13 May 2006 BRIDGES

Upcoming Asian American Studies Courses

FALL 2006 troversial issues. Our goal is to under- 260 Topics in Asian American Studies: stand current issues and conflicts by lo- Asian American Interstitiality (Sec. 1) 101 Introduction to Asian American cating them in their historical and politi- Instructor: Leslie Bow, 3 cr. Studies cal/economic context. We will pay close In taking interstitiality or “betweenness” Instructor: Jan Miyasaki, 3 cr. attention to the resource mobilization and political opportunity questions: who con- as an ordering paradigm, this course will This course introduces major themes in trols the situation, what resources and analyze Asian American representation Asian American Studies from the begin- capacities do aggrieved groups have to as it lies between black and white, be- ning of Asian immigration to the United affect the situation? tween normative categories of gender States in the mid-nineteenth century to and sexuality, across class divisions, and the present. We will examine why Asians 240 Topics in Asian American Studies: within the borders that define nationality come to America and what happened to Movement and Dislocation( Sec. 1) and culture. Our lens will encompass traditional ways of exploring Asian them in American in relation to issues of (Crosslisted with History) immigration, civil rights, race relations, American transnationality by focusing on ethnic identity, gender and family rela- Instructor: Cindy I-Fen Cheng, 3 cr. how cultural differences between Asia tions, class and community. This course traces the making of U.S. and the U.S. become articulated in litera- national identity and underscores how ture, film, and personal narrative. We will 153 Asian American Movement this formation is contingent upon how also connect this idea of the Asian (Crosslisted with Dance) Asians in the U.S. are understood and American as cultural hybrid with alterna- tive conceptions of both hybridity and Instructor: Peggy Choy, 3 cr. remembered. It unfolds how the social, economic, and political development of interstitiality: how can Asian American This course introduces several Asian the U.S. is deeply connected and influ- culture be located a productive site for movement traditions and dance forms enced by the world at large. These link- thinking about what might be transracial, which have been brought into the United ages become comprehensible and are transclass, or transgender? Looking at States where the forms have been taught, subsequently read through the move- court cases, history, and popular culture, passed-on and transfigured. All forms ment of people, services, goods, ideas, we will explore how Asian American ra- studied focus on the transformation of and capital between the U.S. and various cialization is influenced by assumptions internal life-force energy ("ki" or "chi") Asian countries. Asian American history about other minority groups in the U.S. into movement. Meditation and move- further reveals how the make-up of the and normative whiteness, about sexual ment techniques will be taught in the U.S. national identity is contingent upon freedom and gender roles, and about context of Asian cultures and philosophy, the construction and interplay among class mobility and social status. How Asian American history, and a creative identity categories such as race, nation- does the perception of Asian Americans /imaginative process of movement cho- ality, gender, class, and sexuality – all of as “middlemen” affect their placement in reography. A primary focus is the explo- which are at work to make known and the U.S.? What purpose does this per- ration and expression of ethnic and cul- divide legitimate subjects of this nation- ception serve? This course is concerned tural identity with attention to the diversity state from the illegitimate. The goal of with how classifications come into being, of Asian American experiences in the this class is to unpack these complex how groups are defined, and how identi- context of racial and ethnic contestation series of processes involved in the con- ties and identifications are formed. This in America. Students will learn move- struction of the U.S. national identity. As course is being offered as a First-Year ments from several of the following forms: writings and media clips from various Interest Group or FIG and is linked with the Chinese forms of t’ai chi chuan, academic disciplines such as Anthropol- courses in English and East Asian Stud- wushu, the contemporary dance tech- ogy, Sociology, English, and History con- ies. nique of Zen Dance/Son Mu, Korean tribute to and shape our understanding of dance and music, and introduction to a Asian American history, we will critically 662 Mass Media and Minorities form of Butoh (originally from Japan). examine these various texts to consider (Crosslisted with Journalism and Mass Comm.) the narrative practices adopted in each Instructor: Hemant Shah, 4 cr. 220 Ethnic Movements in the United discipline to tell story of Asian American This course considers the cultural history States (Crosslisted with Sociology) history. and experiences of racial and ethnic mi- Instructor: Pamela Oliver, 4 cr. norities, explores the way these groups

This course uses a social movements are portrayed in mainstream mass media, and group conflict approach to explore and analyzes how and why minority 240 Topics in Asian American Studies: the experiences of African American, groups have created systems of mass Hmong American Studies (Sec. 2) American Indian, Hispanic/Latino (espe- media self-representation to counter the cially Mexican American), and Asian Instructor & Course Description: TBA mainstream mass media. We will focus American people in the US. Part of the on mass media channels: print, Web, course is a history of the formation of the 260 Topics in Asian American Studies: radio, television and film; and on two United States as a racial state and an Asian Diaspora and Global Media (Sec. 2) communication forms: news and enter- overview of the history and politics of Instructor & Course Description: TBA tainment. Our primary geographical fo- each of the groups. The course also em- cus is on the United States, but we may phasizes racial controversy: projects re- consider other multicultural societies as quire you to research and analyze the time and current events warrant. opinions of people on both sides of con-

14 BRIDGES May 2006

Asian American Studies Certificate Program

University of Wisconsin-Madison 303 Ingraham Hall (608) 263-2976

The Asian American Studies certificate program provides students with an opportunity to develop a sustained intellectual focus on Asian American racial formation, communities, and culture. Interdisciplinary in nature, the certificate can be obtained by completing 15 credits of coursework in the humanities, social sciences, and education.

The certificate program is open to any undergraduate student regardless of major or college who has an interest in Asian American Studies and is in good academic standing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Interested students should contact the Asian American Studies Program (303 Ingraham Hall) and meet with the Director to discuss their study plans and understand the administrative process for obtaining the certificate.

Requirements: To earn a Certificate in Asian American Studies, a student must earn a minimum GPA of 2.75 in 15 credits of coursework:

Ö 3 credits of foundation ASIAN AM 101 Introduction to Asian American Studies

Ö 9 credits of "core" courses devoted exclusively to Asian American issues ASIAN AM 153 Asian American Movement ASIAN AM 240 Topics in Asian American Studies o Movement and Dislocation o Hmong American Studies ASIAN AM 252 Gender and Sexuality in Asian American Literature and Culture ASIAN AM 260 Topics in Asian American Culture o Asian American Cultural Politics o Asian American History o Asian American Popular Culture o Asian American Interstitiality o Asian Diaspora and Global Media ASIAN AM 270 Asian American Literature ASIAN AM 420 Asian Americans and Media ASIAN AM 470 Asian Americans in U.S. Schools ASIAN AM 540 Special Topics ASIAN AM 560 Topics in Humanities ASIAN AM 595 Asian American Women Writers ASIAN AM 699 Independent Study: Directed Readings in Asian American Studies

Ö 3 credits of "comparative" courses ASIAN AM 220 Ethnic Movements in the United States ASIAN AM 443 Mutual Perceptions of Racial Minorities ASIAN AM 662 Mass Media and Minorities History 244 Introduction to Southeast Asia: Vietnam to the Philippines HDFS 474 Racial Ethnic Families in the U.S. (HDSF: Human Development and Family Studies) E ASIAN 520 Popular Culture and Film in Twentieth Century China

Regularly offered courses from Afro-American Studies, American Indian Studies, Chicano Studies, East Asian Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, South Asian Studies, or Languages and Cultures of Asia may count toward the fulfillment of the comparative requirement with the Director's approval. Student must file a DARs exception form with L&S upon approval.

There is no language requirement for the certificate.

Asian American Studies Program University of Wisconsin-Madison 303 Ingraham hall 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

Asian American Studies Program University of Wisconsin-Madison Mission Statement

The Asian American Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison is an interdisciplinary program committed to teaching and scholarship about Asians in the U.S., and to programming cultural events promoting Asian American issues and creative arts. It seeks to educate about the processes of racialization, systems of representation, economic structures, and domestic and foreign policies that impact immigrant populations. In addition to a core faculty, the Program draws upon the interests and expertise of affiliated faculty and academic staff across disciplines and academic units.

The Asian American Studies Program offers an array of courses devoted to the historical, political, literary, sociological, psychological, artistic, and educational concerns of Asian Americans. The Program sponsors lectures, readings, and performances that enhance the work it does in the classroom, including an annual Asian American Film Festival. It maintains a collection of book and video resources to benefit education about Asian American communities. The Program’s scholarly mission extends to both the Uni- versity community and well beyond it.

Visit our website: http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/aasp/