The reading group aims to accomplish three tasks. First, by reading recent works in Asian American Studies, the reading group advances discussion and reflection on the field among Princeton graduate students and faculty. Second, by bringing in established academics in the field, the reading group connects scholars to our growing number of graduate affiliates, while creating opportunities to workshop ideas, offer critical feedback, and stimulate discussion. Third, by providing a welcome space with time for informal discussion, the reading group provides opportunities for graduate students to discuss their work, connect with other graduate affiliates and faculty members, and build an
intellectual community.
Given the interdisciplinary nature of Asian American Studies, the group invites participants from a range of different disciplinary backgrounds and endeavors to provide accessible and thought-provoking readings open to all.
We plan to meet monthly throughout the fall and the spring semesters of AY 2022–23.
Here are potential themes under consideration for the upcoming year:
Asian American racialization and public health
● Nayan Shah. “Public Health and the Mapping of Chinatown.” In Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and
Thomas C. Chen (Eds), Asian American Studies Now: A Critical Reader, pp. 168–192.
Rutgers University Press, 2010.
● Lindsay Y. Dhanani and Berkeley Franz. "Why public health framing matters: An experimental
study of the effects of COVID-19 framing on prejudice and xenophobia in the United States."
Social science & medicine 269 (2021): 113572.
Transnational, refugee, and settler colonial histories
● Christine Hong, A Violent Peace: Race, U.S. Militarism, and Cultures of Democratization in
Cold War Asia and the Pacific (Redwood City: Stanford University Press, 2020).
● Juliana Hu Pegues, Space-Time Colonialism: Alaska's Indigenous and Asian Entanglements
(Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2021).
● Ma Vang, History on the Run: Secrecy, Fugitivity, and Hmong Refugee Epistemologies (Durham:
Duke University Press, 2021).
Contemporary Asian American literature
● Elaine Hsieh Chou, Disorientation: A novel (Penguin, 2022).
Asian American theology
● Kathryn Gin Lum, Heathen: Religion and Race in American History (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2022).
AY 2021–
Schedule Below:
SPRING SCHEDULE:
(Meetings held in 224 Morrison Hall)
- March 23rd, 4:30-5:50pm in Morrison 224 and on Zoom
- Fred Lee, “Contours of Asian American Political Theory: Introductions and Polemics,” with selections from Lisa Lowe, The Intimacies of Four Continents and Claire Jean Kim, Dangerous Crossings: Race, Species, and Nature in a Multicultural Age
- April 20th, 4:30-5:50pm in Morrison 224 and on Zoom
- Selections from Kathryn Gin Lum, Heathen: Religion and Race in American History
- Selections from Kathryn Gin Lum, Heathen: Religion and Race in American History
FALL SCHEDULE
October 12, Wednesday, 4:30–5:50 pm ET
- Mari J. Matsuda, “Are Asian-Americans the Racial Bourgeoisie?”
- Selections from Jonathan Tran, Asian Americans and the Spirit of Racial Capitalism (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2022).
November 16, Wednesday, 4:30–5:50 pm ET
- Elaine Hsieh Chou, Disorientation
December 7, Wednesday: 5:00–6:20 pm ET
- Takeo Rivera, Model Minority Masochism: Performing the Cultural Politics of Asian American Masculinity (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2022).