1. Introduction to Asian American Studies
ETHN 14:
Introduction to Asian American Studies
Department of Ethnic Studies & Asian American Studies Program
California State University, Sacramento
Welcome
Introductions: Rikka (Leadership Organization Advisor, Program coordinator); Danny (Ed.D. student and scholarship coordinator); Paolo Soriano (EOP counselor, program coordinator)
Week 1 Session 2
Problems in Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies

2. Reading Discussion: Hu-Dehart and Princeton University Report
The two readings are separated by twenty years (1993 and 2013) and can represent where Ethnic Studies was and where it is. What information or ideas are similar? What’s different about the readings?

3. Pending Changes to the Course Format
Currently, the course is a MW course with two in-class meetings.
Unfortunately, an administrative issue has arisen, and we do not have a regular room for Wednesday’s sessions.
We will not be meeting in Riverside 1015 on Wednesdays.
Some Wednesdays will be online.

4. Today’s Session
Brief lecture on the emergence of the field of ethnic studies.
Discussion of the types of problems scholars take on or address through research, teaching, and service.
Overview of Online Reading Discussion format

5. Asian American Studies
Ethnic Studies
&
Asian American Studies
World War II
Free Speech Movement
War in Southeast Asia
Civil Rights Movement

6. World War II (1939 – 1945)
The victory in Europe and the Pacific elevated the U.S. in status and wealth.
African Americans and other groups who fought for the country abroad but still faced de jure and de facto discrimination at home posed a moral dilemma for the new powerhouse.
The GI Bill provided access to university education for populations that had historically been excluded.

7. Civil Rights Movement (1955 – 1968)
Racial equality was a major national and moral dilemma in the post-WWII era.
De facto and De jure segregation and discrimination limited opportunities for African Americans and other groups.
The Supreme Court case, Brown V. Board of Education, reflects a nation grappling with legacies of discrimination.
African Americans and allies used tactics of civil disobedience.

8. Free Speech Movement (1964-65)
Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, student and faculty political participation was restricted to narrow forms of engagement.
UC Berkeley became an active place of protest.
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Student protests were happening around the world.
Students demanded the right to political protests on university campuses, including free speech areas.

9. War in Southeast Asia
1968, a year of devastating tragedies, began with the Tet Offense in Vietnam.
Cover up of My Lai massacre (March)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (April) and Robert Kennedy assassinated (June).
Presidential election year.
University campuses became sites of political organization, protest and unrest.
Increasingly, there was a convergence of interests among “third world” peoples in the United States.

10. Ethnic Studies: Evolving the University-Community Relationship
Young people played a central role in the creation of ethnic studies.
Protest strategies were inherited from earlier struggles for equality.
College and university campuses were at the center of intense social transformation.
“Third World” groups demanded representation.
Key goal: fundamental changes to curriculum, hiring of women and ethnic minority faculty, and increased service to communities of color.

11. Interdisciplinary view of problems
Power/Resistance
Overt and Covert control
Identity
How groups and individuals see themselves and are seen by “others”
Culture
Bounded system of values and traditions shared by a group
Structure
Institutions and patterns of social interaction

12. To Prepare for Next Session
No Class on Monday
Read Ch. 1-5 in Fadiman and hold your first Online Book Discussion (OBD)
Prepare and bring to Wednesday’s class Reading Notes on Omi and Winant and Mark.