UCLA: Professor Valerie Matsumoto Promoted to Full Professor

The UCLA Asian American Studies Center and Department are very pleased to announce that our invaluable colleague, Professor Valerie Jean Matsumoto, has been promoted to Full Professor, effective July 2009. Professor Matsumoto holds a split appointment in UCLA's History Department and the Asian American Studies Department, and is actively involved as a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee of the Asian American Studies Center.

A graduate of Arizona State University (B.A.) and Stanford University (Ph.D. History). Professor Matsumoto has had a distinguished career that has already spanned over 20 years at UCLA and hundreds of undergraduate and graduate mentees. Her book, Farming the Home Place, is widely regarded as a classic in Japanese and Asian American community studies. She also co-edited (with Blake Allmendinger) Over the Edge: Remapping The American West. Her newest book manuscript, which focuses on (second-generation Japanese American) Nisei women's social networks before, during, and after World War II, is a timely, innovative study which promises to be as influential as its predecessor. Dr. Matsumoto also continues her on-going research projects on Asian American History; U.S. 20th Century, Women's History, and Oral History..

Professor Matsumoto is also one of UCLA's stellar instructors. She was the inaugural recipient of the C. Doris and Toshio Hoshide Distinguished Teaching Prize in 2006, as well as the recipient of the university-wide Distinguished Teaching Award in 2007. She has chaired or been a member of hundreds of senior theses, MA theses and doctoral dissertations, and the students she has mentored are faculty members across the nation, award-winning writers, and leaders in the community and society.

During her UCLA career, Professor Matsumoto has also contributed to the Asian American Studies Center by serving as guest editor of several special issues of Amerasia Journal, Associate Director of the Center, organizing conferences and events, and chairing selection committees. She also has been an active leader in the Asian American Studies Department, and was Vice Chair of the department and a member of a number of committees. She is also an active volunteer with many local and national museums, historical societies, and other organizations and institutions.

UCLA: Amerasia Journal -- Call for Abstracts for "Global Community Formations and Asian American Futures"

Amerasia Journal: Call for Abstracts
"Global Community Formations and Asian American Futures"

Amerasia Journal, UCLA Asian American Studies Center, and the U.C. Berkeley Center for Globalization and Information Technology

Consulting Guest Editors: Michel Laguerre, Professor and Director, Berkeley Center for Globalization and Information Technology, and author of Global Neighborhoods: Jewish Quarters in Paris, London, and Berlin, 2008; and Dr. Joe Fong, Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley, Research Associate at BCGIT, and author of Complementary Education and Culture: in the Global/Local Chinese Community, 2003.

Amerasia Journal Editor: Adjunct Prof. Russell C. Leong, English and Asian American Studies, project director www.uschinamediabrief.com

Review & Publication Deadlines:

Due date July 15, 2009: 2-page abstracts.
Due date of final papers: Feb. 1, 2010
Publication date of issue: Fall/Winter 2010

Send copies of abstracts to: Dr. Joe C. Fong Kuankung@hotmail.com; Dr. Michel Laguerre bcgit@berkeley.edu; Russell Leong rleong@ucla.edu Inquiries and abstracts will be reviewed by the editors, and the authors notified.

Amerasia Journal now invites contributions for an innovative forum on "Global Community Formations and Asian American Futures." (For past issues or reference, see 50,000 pages of 40 years of Amerasia Journal, the core journal in Asian American Studies, are also now online through your institutional or individual subscription: through MetaPress.)

In the U.S., researchers and the public at large may still perceive Asian American communities as "glittering ghettos" within localized urban or suburban areas. That perception is outdated and inaccurate: they are neither ghettos, nor are they merely affluent enclaves. Rather, scholars in this field are seeing the multiple and complex effects of globalization in many contemporary urban Asian American communities across the United States, which are no longer localized in the traditional sense. Scholars are re-discovering global elements with Asian communities that integrate with existing structures, or create new ones, whose characteristics may not be so easily defined in past terms.

Already, localized Asian American culture and ethnic entrepreneurship link and intersect with globalized community and transnational culture. Global businesses, music, film and literature from Asia, for example, have transformed traditional urban areas into "globalized/localized" cultural zones. Likewise, Asian American communities have also experienced other dimensions of globalization from food to religious practices, from interethnic workplace cooperation to open conflict around sweatshops, unionization, or workplace standards. Asian American communities, particularly in the suburbs, appear far more "global" than the average local community, though not "global" in the same sense that major cities around the world, such as Tokyo and New York, are considered global. This transformation has led to the need for updated theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding 21st century Asian American community formation.

"Global Community Formations and Asian American Futures" thus extends and complements recent 2000-2009 issues of Amerasia Journal on the creation of "Asian American Places," on 'North American Asians (Canada); and on "Asians within a Transcultural Context"(Latin America), and "Asian American Literature in China, Poland, Sweden, Italy, etc." : these special editions also involved scholars from Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Thus, "Global Community Formations" also welcomes international scholars and U.S. scholars who do work on the dual transnational consequences of Asian Americans and globalization on their countries, e.g. remittances and labor transfer; trafficking and human rights issues, Asian American involvement in homeland politics in India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, and elsewhere.

This Amerasia issue solicits papers that address the global as well as local dimensions of Asian American community in the 21st century in in relation to community formation, social institutions and networks, media, politics, etc.. Factors which will continue to shape Asian American communities include the following: 1. the impact of Asia's economic and cultural influence through institutions and medium such as banks and media; 2. transnational science, technological, and professional migration both ways; 3. transnational legal and human rights issues; and, 4. the reciprocal social/cultural and economic infrastructure of Asian communities as reflected in settlement, educational, and work patterns, as well as political participation in the U.S. and abroad.

We hope to address the following questions and will review abstracts in the following areas (but not restricted to these topics):

(1) Due to the influence of Asia's globalization on Asian American communities, what changes have occurred? How have they affected the community's social structure, cultural institutions, and politics in America?
(2) Has such transformation (i.e. Asia's globalization) taken place in and impacted non-Asian neighborhoods and suburbs in the United States? Here, we include not only the usual metropole
centers such as L.A., New York, or Chicago, but medium-sized and smaller cities and towns.
(3) Have these changes enhanced or hindered Asians' accomplishments in the area of education, businesses, and others within the larger society? How have these changes led to the formation of working, middle, and upper class Asian American communities?
4.) What is the relationship of Asian Americans with other minority groups at the workplace, in school, and in other venues, e.g. Asians and Latinos, African Americans, and with other ethnic groups? Are these relationships contested--and what are the significant issues?
5. How do "hot button" issues around religion, homeland politics, same-sex marriage
and sexual diversity, and local and global Asian media play out in Asian American communities nationally? Are there regional and demographic differences?

We hope that the papers will enable us not only to contribute to the field of Urban Studies and Asian American Studies, but also to unrestrict the conversation of community forces, social capital, and ethnic enclave.

If you have other topics not included above, please direct your inquiries to the editors.

--

Don T. Nakanishi, Ph.D.
Director and Professor
UCLA Asian American Studies Center
3230 Campbell Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1546
phone:310.825.2974
fax:310.206.9844
e-mail:dtn@ucla.edu
web site for Center: http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/default.asp

UCLA: An Invitation to the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center

SAVE THE DATE!

Saturday, May 16th, 2009 | 4-7pm
UCLA Dickson Court North
UCLA Asian American Studies Center
Celebrating 40 Years
knowledge | legacy | leadership

Special Tribute to Don T. Nakanishi

Title Sponsors: David Nishida and Tina Yamano Nishida

Please see web page: http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/archives/40thcelebration.htm

The UCLA Asian American Studies Center invites you to join us on Saturday, May 16, 2009 from 4-7pm for an outdoor reception and program to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. We will also honor Director and Professor Don T. Nakanishi, who will retire after 19 years of distinguished leadership and a 35 year career at UCLA.

Admission is complimentary, but please RSVP by Tuesday, May 5, 2009.
Email aascrsvp@aasc.ucla.edu or call (310) 825-2974.

Parking is available in Lot 2 and 3. Rates are $9 per day.

For more information, contact Jolie Chea at jchea@aasc.ucla.edu
or (310) 825-2974, or visit www.aasc.ucla.edu

--

Don T. Nakanishi, Ph.D.
Director and Professor
UCLA Asian American Studies Center
3230 Campbell Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1546
phone:310.825.2974
fax:310.206.9844
e-mail:dtn@ucla.edu
web site for Center: http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/default.asp

Eric Tang Lecture, March 31, 2009

Asian American Studies, African American Studies & the Honors College at
the University of Illinois at Chicago

Present

ERIC TANG
Assistant Professor
Department of African American Studies and Asian American Studies Program
University of Illinois at Chicago

Lecture: Southeast Asian Refugees and the Struggle for a Just Resettlement

Tuesday March 31, 2009 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Location: Institute for the Humanities, Lower Level, Stevenson Hall

Nearly 30 years have passed since the first wave of Cambodian refugees
were resettled to the United States in the wake of Khmer Rouge
atrocities. And though they escaped war, their lives in US cities have
been anything but peaceful and just. How have Cambodian Americans
continued to experience a low-intensity warfare marked by urban poverty,
environmental racism, and immigration detention and deportation? How do
they, thirty years later, define justice?

This lecture is free and open to the public.
A reception will follow this event.

This event is sponsored by the Asian American Studies Program, the
Department of African American Studies, and Honors College.

For further information, contact:

Surbhi Malik
Graduate Research Assistant
Asian American Studies
University of Illinois at Chicago
smalik3@uic.edu

OR

Catherine Griffiths
Graduate Assistant
Department of African American Studies
Office Ph: 996-2950
cgriff3@uic.edu

UCLA AASC: Professor Min Zhou Publishes New Book on Contemporary Chinese America

Zhou, Min, 2009. Contemporary Chinese America: Immigration, Identity, and Community Transformation (Philadelphia: Temple University Press).

Contemporary Chinese America is the most comprehensive sociological investigation of the experiences of Chinese immigrants to the United States-and of their offspring-in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The author, Min Zhou, is a well-known sociologist of the Chinese American experience. In this volume she collects her original research on a range of subjects, including the causes and consequences of emigration from China, demographic trends of Chinese Americans, patterns of residential mobility in the U.S., Chinese American "ethnoburbs," immigrant entrepreneurship, ethnic enclave economies, gender and work, Chinese language media, Chinese schools, and intergenerational relations. The concluding chapter, "Rethinking Assimilation," ponders the future for Chinese Americans. Also included are an extensive bibliography and a list of recommended documentary films.

While the book is particularly well-suited for college courses in Chinese American studies, ethnic studies, Asian studies, and immigration studies, it will interest anyone who wants to more fully understand the lived experience of contemporary Chinese Americans.

Min Zhou is Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of Chinatown (Temple) and The Transformation of Chinese America, co-author of Growing Up American, and co-editor of Asian American Youth and Contemporary Asian America.

Order online at http://www.temple.edu/tempress/
Order toll free 1-800-6212736

Sale is also available at amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=zhou+contemporary+chinese+american

An invitation To A Symposium on Asian American Artists in California

The UCLA ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES CENTER, in celebration of its 40th anniversary, cordially invites you to attend a free, public symposium on Asian American artists, in conjunction with the Hammer Museum . . .

ASIAN AMERICAN ARTISTS IN CALIFORNIA
A Symposium

Saturday, March 14, 2009
9:00am - 1:00pm
Armand Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024

(located at the northeast corner of Westwood and Wilshire Boulevards in Westwood Village
3 blocks east of the 405 freeway's Wilshire Boulevard exit)
This event is free and open to the public. RSVP is requested. Please call (310) 825-2974 or
e-mail aascrsvp@aasc.ucla.edu by March 13, 2009.

Parking is available under the Museum. Rates are $3 for the first three hours with Museum stamp; $1.50 for each additional 20 minutes. Parking for people with disabilities is provided on levels P1 and P3.

This program is one of the events celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center and other ethnic studies centers at UCLA.

For more information, call (310) 825-2974.

Introduction

From the Chinese photographers of the Gold Rush to contemporary video artists, men and women of Asian descent have produced a rich and diverse body of artwork. Examining the lives and work of artists past and present offers insights into issues of cultural hybridity, race, social climate, and transnationalism.

This symposium will celebrate the publication of the landmark Asian American Art, A History, 1850-1970, edited by Gordon H. Chang, Mark Johnson, and Paul Karlstrom, as well as present the dynamic work of three present-day artists in southern California. Asian American Art, A History is the first comprehensive study of more than 150 early artists in the United States before 1970. Artists of Asian ancestry have received little historical attention, even though many of them received wide critical acclaim during their productive years. This pioneering work recovers the impressive artistic production of numerous Asian Americans, and brings to light their extraordinary range of vision and media. Amazon.com is giving a 34% discount (only $26.37 instead of $39.95) AND free shipping for this book. The UCLA Bookzone at Ackerman Student Union is giving a 30% discount. Purchase ahead for the best deal.

The first panel explores the history of long-neglected artists, beginning with Sharon Spain's discussion of the innovative research project that gave rise to the book. Mark Johnson draws attention to the development of an international artistic sensibility among 19th-century Asian American practitioners, Karin Higa illuminates how the creative activity rooted in 1930s Little Tokyo also moved in national and global contexts. Gordon Chang considers the connection of war and art as well as the power of art to influence public mood.

For the second panel, contemporary artists Reanne Estrada, Yong Soon Min, and Viet Le discuss their work within a transnational context. Reanne Estrada reflects on the Galleon Trade project, a series of exhibitions and programs highlighting the linkages among the Philippines, Mexico and California. Yong Soon Min-decolonial art activist and scholar-will speak about her projects, including "transPOP: Korea Viet Nam Remix," co-curated with Viet Le, an artist and creative writer who examines memory, AIDS and representation in Southeast Asia and its diasporas.

Panelist Bios
Sharon Spain has been the associate director of the Asian American Art Project since 2004 and has managed the California Asian American Artists Biographical Survey project for more than ten years. She holds an M.A. in museum studies and has overseen major exhibition and publication projects, including Chang Dai-chien in California.

Mark Johnson is professor of art at San Francisco State University. He is the co-editor of Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970, and guest curator for the de Young Museum exhibition Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents, 1900-1970' (2008) and other exhibitions of Asian American historical art.

Karin Higa is adjunct senior curator of art at the Japanese American National Museum where she recently curated "Living Flowers: Ikebana and Contemporary Art." She is currently working on a study of art and culture in Los Angeles's Little Tokyo between World War I and II.

Gordon Chang is a professor of history at Stanford University. The author of numerous books and articles, he recently co-edited both Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970 and Chinese American Voices: From the Gold Rush to the Present.

Valerie J. Matsumoto, an associate professor in history and Asian American Studies at UCLA, is a contributor to Asian American Art, A History, 1850-1970. She has just completed a study of Japanese American women in Los Angeles from the Jazz Age to resettlement after World War II.

Reanne Estrada, a Los Angeles-based visual artist, collaborates with Eliza Barios and Jenifer Wofford as Mail Order Brides/M.O.B. on video and works with Public Matters to integrate public-purpose media production with civic engagement.

Yong Soon Min, professor of Studio Art at the University of California, Irvine, incorporates interdisciplinary sources and processes to engage issues of representation and cultural identities. Her work has been widely shown in exhibitions such as the 10th Havana Bienal and the 7th Gwangju Biennale.

Viet Le is an artist, creative writer, and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Southern California. His work has been featured in the Asian Pacific American Journal and anthologies such as So Luminous the Wildflowers; he has exhibited at DoBaeBacSa Gallery, Korea, The Banff Centre, Canada, and the Shoshin Performance Space in New York.

Aimee Chang is Director of Academic Programming and Artist Residencies at the Hammer Museum.
Schedule
9:00-9:30am Registration
9:30-10:50 Art History Panel (Sharon Spain, Mark Johnson, Gordon Chang, and Karin Higa; moderated by Professor Valerie Matsumoto)
10:50-11:00 Break
11:00-12:20 Contemporary Artists Panel (Yong Soon Min, Reanne Estrada, Viet Le; moderated by Aimee Chang)
Book signing afterward

Depaul Asian American Studies Spring 09 Class Offerings

Registration at DePaul starts today. Help spread the word about our Asian
American Studies Spring '09 course offerings.

Thanks,

Camelia Rodriguez
Asian American Studies Program Assistant
DePaul University

WWII Japanese American Internment Camps & Civil Liberties in Post 9/11 America - Dale Minami talk

/*On the anniversary of the signing of EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066*/

The Asian American Studies Program at Northwestern University is proud
to host

*DALE MINAMI*
Lead attorney in the U.S. Supreme Court case /Korematsu v. United States /
which overturned a 40 year old conviction for refusal to obey
exclusion orders aimed at Japanese Americans during WWII.

*"WW II Japanese American Internment Camps &
Civil Liberties Today in Post 9/11 America"

*Executive Order 9066 Poster*
**
Thursday ~ February 19th*

*12:30 - 1:30 Talk followed by Q&A
1:30 - 2:00 Reception, light lunch is provided
The McCormick Tribune Center Forum */(New Location!)/
(1870 Campus Drive, Evanston. IL)

/This event is free and open to the public//
/
*Minami* has been involved in significant litigation involving the civil
rights of Asian Pacific Americans and other minorities, including
/Korematsu v. United States/ , a lawsuit to overturn a 40 year old
conviction for refusal to obey exclusion orders aimed at Japanese
Americans during WWII.

He was also involved in Spokane JACL v. Washington State University, a
class action on behalf of Asian Pacific Americans to establish an Asian
American Studies program at Washington State University and Nakanishi v.
UCLA a claim for unfair denial of tenure which resulted in the granting
of tenure after several hearing and widespread publicity over
discrimination in academia.

Mr. Minami served as a member of the California Fair Employment and
Housing Commission. He has also served as a Commissioner on the State
Bar's Commission on Judicial Nominee's Evaluation, Senator Barbara
Boxer's Judicial Screening Committee which made recommendations for
Federal Judicial Appointments. In 1996, Minami was appointed by
President Clinton as Chair of the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund.

In recognition of his achievements, Mr. Minami has received numerous
awards including:
. American Bar Association's 2003 Thurgood Marshall Award
. 2003 ACLU Civil Liberties Award
. State Bar President's Pro Bono Service Award
. Honorary Juris Doctor degree from the McGeorge School of Law
. Designation of a dormitory at the University of California at Santa
Cruz ---"Queen Liliuokalani-Minami" Dormitory

/*This event is sponsored by the Asian American Studies Program & The
Center for Legal Studies at Northwestern University*/

/For information: Asian American Studies Program, Northwestern
University . Kresge Hall 1-435 . 1880 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 .
847.467.7114 . asianamerican@northwestern.edu

Association for Asian Americans Studies Conference in Hawaii

AAAS Conference in Hawaii

April 22-26, 2009

Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio Hotel
2500 Kuhio Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96815-3696
1-808-922-0811
http://www.WaikikiPrinceKuhio.com

For more information on the upcoming conference, visit:
http://www.aaastudies.org/2009

The Association for Asian American Studies was founded in 1979 for the purpose of advancing the highest professional standard of excellence in teaching and research in the field of Asian American Studies; promoting better understanding and closer ties between and among various sub-components within Asian American Studies: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Hawai'ian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islander, and other groups. AAAS sponsors professional activities to facilitate increased communication and scholarly exchange among teachers, researchers, and students in the field of Asian American Studies. The organization advocates and represents the interests and welfare of Asian American Studies and Asian Americans. AAAS is also founded for the purpose of educating American society about the history and aspirations of Asian American ethnic minorities.