ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES: NOW MORE THAN EVER

Dear AsAm studies alum,

As the Department celebrates thirty years of our major this spring, and fifty-odd years of our minor, it will have been 117 days of something we cannot allow to become the rest of our lives.

Earlier this week my counterpart in Feminist Studies wrote, "One of the most insidious and gaslighting tactics used against us is to suggest that, in a world being torn apart by gender and racial anxieties and violence, our [ethnic and gender studies] departments aren't relevant to the 'real world' and don't offer 'marketable skills.' The time for that kind of argument is over. We are now essential workers." I quote her here because she speaks my own mind and mission across what will be two years of finding you, reaching out to you, and rebuilding connections informed by what you studied at UCSB about power and violence, social justice and social change.

I will show my hand now and say that this is why we are asking you back: because Asian American studies has work to do in this world, and because we would do it better together. How can this place, your intellectual home, help you to fight for what you love? How can you help each other? 

We have not activated the potential of 50 years' worth of alumni before. No time like the present.

Your hearts and minds may be in tumult this week; ours, too. If you happen to be in town, please consider coming to the processing space AsAm is jointly organizing with our sister ES/FS departments this Tuesday. (Unwanted presidency? It's time for Plan B.)

Regardless, part of the alumni reunion on May 17 will be devoted to helping you connect with and come up with resistance that matters, whether in the form of activism or in everyday life. Mark your calendars if you haven't already.

There is a scary stretch of history ahead, but may it give you heart that, better than most, you know how to read danger and where to find allies.

Yours truly,

erin Khuê Ninh  

Professor and Chair