For the love of kimchi - learn how to make here
Big life updates for our 10th newsletter! Melinda just started work this week, and Jamie is (finally) back in school. This is kind of a period of revival (at least energy-wise for us), and we're super excited for the year to come. Prompt for y'all:
Prompt: Did you ever take a class on Asian American Studies? Ethnic studies in general?
Also, we are so close to 200 subscribers, so if you enjoy this, would you be able to share this with a friend? 🥺 ty.
As always, feel free to email us at aroundthetablenewsletter@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram if you have thoughts or suggestions.
Love, Jamie & Melinda
News
🎬 Mulan is coming out on Sept. 4 (Friday)! I was hesitant at first when hearing we had to shell out $30 AND the Disney Plus subscription, but regardless, it is awesome that I can finally see the Chinese Disney Princess in all her badassery. However, I'm peeved by the fact that the director, costume designer, screenwriters, and many of the production crew are white... In my head, I'm like hm would a white person truly know what people in China dressed like during that time period, more so than a Chinese person? Do all 4 white screenwriters know how Chinese people during that time would converse? Whose idea was it to have a white casting director choose who to play Asian characters? It feels like the story is being told through a "white" lens, which makes me a little sad. Anyhow, I am still hoping for the best - gotta show the support for now so that later we can get to more authentic Asian stories on film! (Also, apparently, it'll be available without the $30 fee in December.)
🏛️ Voter purges: it's quite concerning that 16.6 million people of color have been purged from U.S. voter lists. This means that though these people were previously registered to vote, since they may have not voted in the past few elections, they have been "deactivated." (TBH I don't remember learning this in class before.) Only a few states offer same-day voter registration, so it's urgent that more people should know that they might need to re-register to vote in advance! In a panel briefing, the founder of AAPI Data, Karthick Ramakrishnan, noted that the AAPI vote made a significant impact on some key Congressional races in 2018, and thus "we really should be seeing more outreach than we’ve seen so far" in regards to voting. Especially since 1/3 of AAPI voters have limited English proficiency, outreach in different languages is essential. Terry Ao Minnis, a leader at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, cited that "Asian Americans are 17 percent less likely to register to vote than their white counterparts, but — once registered — their participation in elections is equal to or higher than white voters." As the election draws closer, we'll dive more into the AAPI vote!
💭 NPR just did a poll of 1,000+ U.S. adults on the current racial justice movement and finds that "White Americans [Are] Least Engaged." Check out the article to see all the questions and percentages across races, but a few highlights on the Asian Americans surveyed include:
49% of Asian Americans surveyed said that since George Floyd's death, they have personally taken actions to better understand racial issues in America—this is greater than the 36% average overall.
In response to the question of whether they supported or opposed the Black Lives Matter movement, 59% of Asian Americans surveyed said they supported it, compared to the 53% average overall.
It's prob hard to generalize these findings, but this is interesting info!
History of Asian American Studies
The Back to School Edition
In our first-ever newsletter about Asian American history, we talked very briefly about the changes that arose for ethnic studies programs on the tailwinds of the Civil Rights Movement. I have not taken any Asian American Studies classes in school, and in my experience, the academic program has been fairly disjoint with the cultural groups and houses on campus. But, I have always wanted to take a course and have been interested in how these programs developed and disciplines developed.
Ethnic studies really emerged as an academic field in the late 1960s, a time when the term "Asian American" was just getting popularized. In 1968 and 1969, a three-month student strike at San Francisco State University and Berkeley organized by the Third World Liberation Front, a coalition between the Black Student Union and other student groups to push for the study of communities of color, prompted the creation of the first Ethnic Studies Department in the US. Outside of the bay area, the first east coast institution to establish an Asian American Studies program was the City University of New York in 1971.
During the late 1960s, programs grew, partially prompted by the lackluster social and economic conditions of surrounding Asian communities (ie. think SF Chinatown). As the US entered an economic crisis in the early 70s, slimmed-down departments focused primarily on academic scholarship, turning away from the more political aspects of the subject.
In 1979, the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) was established to promote teaching and research of the history and societies of "Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Hawai’ian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islander, and other groups".
Source: The Daily Northwestern: "Students rally on April 12, 1995, criticizing administrative resistance to the creation of an Asian-American studies program. That day marked the start of a 23-day hunger strike."
Today, there are 25 colleges that offer Asian American Studies as a major. Substantial programs are available as well at the undergrad level primarily in the California university system and other institutions, including UIUC, UPenn, Columbia, NYU, Duke, and Northwestern. Topics covered range from immigration, racial oppression, imperialism, capitalism, first and second-generation issues, model minority, assimilation, masculinity/feminity, politics, media representation, intersectionality, Asian American literature, pop culture, globalization, cinema, Asian/Black relations, to religions. These programs grew not out of administrative decisions but out of student activism. Major issues around funding and tenure-track faculty remain.
Statistics and more information on ethnic/Asian American studies trends over time in the US were kinda hard to find 😢 (also why the middle part is a little lacking in terms of content). However, I was able to find one site that showed some pretty good stats for 2012-2017! In 2017, there were 138 Asian American Studies degrees (125 undergrads, 13 grads) awarded in the US, primarily by these institutions.
Racial and Gender breakdown of Asian American Studies degree recipients.
If you want to know more, prominent journals include the Journal of Asian American Studies (created in 1998 by the AAAS), Asian American Policy Review (created in 1989 out of the Harvard Kennedy School), and AAPI Nexus (published since 2003 by UCLA).
Questions I'm left with:
How many Asian American students actually go through formal education systems and take an Asian American Studies class? Ethnic studies in general?
At our school, Asian American Studies is separate from other disciplines like South Asia Studies. Curious to know the difference in teaching about immigration/other topics from those different viewpoints.
I wonder how much of ASAM studies now are focused on dealing with internal issues/experiences vs community engagement/political involvement?
How do ethnic studies departments interact with campus groups?
What is it like for non-undergrads?
Small Feelings
I am trying out going vegan these next few months, and it is something I've seriously thought for a while (the past couple of years). It’s easier to do at school, but at home, it’s much harder to align my personal dietary restrictions with family eating and cultural foods. At least in Chinese cuisine (and especially where my parents are from), there's just a ton of meat-centric meals, and it’s difficult to think of how they would adapt to a more plant-based diet. On top of that, it's so incredibly difficult to explain to my parents why I may not want to eat specific things in the house. It's like they take it as a personal slight, which I understand to some extent but am also frustrated by. Anyways, if you know any vegan-friendly Asian recipes please let me know! 🥺
✨S P O T L I G H T ✨
Source: Into the Gloss
Radhika Jones
Editor-in-Chief of Vanity Fair
I actually hadn't heard about Radhika Jones until writing about her right now... She took over as Editor-in-Chief of Vanity Fair, a monthly magazine on pop culture/fashion/news by Condé Nast, 2+ years ago. She became the first person of color (!!) to get the spot since the magazine was started in 1913.
For some background, she grew up as "a strong student—math and science when I was younger, and writing and literature as I got older." She went to Harvard undergrad and majored in English, involving herself in theater there. Her father produced music festivals so it's cool that she got inspiration from that. After college, she taught English in Taipei, then worked on the newspaper The Moscow Times in Moscow, then went back to NYC to get a Ph.D. in English at Columbia (whoa! a globetrotter). Since she was working at Artforum at the same time, it took 11 years for her to finish her Ph.D.
Before joining Vanity Fair, she worked at Time magazine (she worked on TIME 100 and Person of the Year) and The New York Times (books editorial director). With Vanity Fair, **she commented that "My entry marks a generational shift... I felt the magazine had looked a little backward-looking... I wanted to see different people on the cover of the magazine, and that's what I've been proud of most as editor." I bet it was a lot of pressure succeeding the dude who was Editor-in-Chief for 25 years before her... Although I couldn't find too much commentary re: how her identity as an Indian-American woman has affected her experience, she did say that "if I can help someone, another woman, another woman of color, feel like maybe she could do something she didn’t know she could do, I can’t really ask for anything more."
Chef’s Specials
🌶 I tried one of Omsom’s sauce/flavor starters, and it was super tasty! They’ve been getting a lot of buzz (and they’re founded by two sisters). Oh, and they’re looking for an intern if any of y’all are interested.
🎞 I haven’t watched it yet, but Masaba Masaba just came out on Netflix! It’s a TV show based on the life of Masaba Gupta, a fashion designer. Reviews look pretty good!!
🎥 I also haven’t watched it yet, but Lingua Franca just came out on Netflix. “An undocumented trans Filipino caregiver pursues a marriage to obtain a green card.” The Filipina trans filmmaker/actor, Isabel Sandoval, seems so cool.
Events
Not an event exactly but applications for Asian American Women Political Initiative‘s spring fellowship program just opened! Apply by Oct. 9.
Today, Sept. 2, 8pm EST: “Specially Process American Me” Play Reading (it’s about SPAM)
Sept. 4-6: there are a few Mulan watch parties with cast/special guests hosted by Goldhouse.
Sunday, Sept. 6, 3 pm ET: Feminists Against Voter Suppression webinar + phone bank! + performance. Sign up here.
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 6pm ET: A Conversation with Andrew Yang (sign up here)