The Asian American

University of Connecticut Newsletter of the Asian American Studies Institute No. 10, Fall 2004

Director’s Comments ............................ 2

Globalization ........................................ 3

Korean American Conference ............ 4-5

Rhapsody in Plain Yellow ..................... 6

Only What We Could Carry ............... 6-7

Operation Monsoon .............................. 7

Day of Remembrance ........................ 8-9

Ahimsa Semina .................................. 10

Alumni Reunion ................................. 11

Faculty Accomplishments ............... 12-13

Course Offerings ................................. 14

Political Action ................................... 15

TheAsian American

In This Issue

1940s Japanese American Students ReunionUniversity of Connecticut, StorrsAfter six decades Japanese American students who enrolled at UConn inthe 1940s held a reunion in Storrs from October 16-18, 2003. The idea fora reunion came up between alumni fishing buddies Shiro Aisawa, Classof ‘47 and George Masaaki Fukui, Class of ‘45 and M.S. ‘48, who bothwarmly remember a par-ticularly cold and snowyThanksgiving theyshared in 1944. Fukuihas said, “Each time Ireturn to the Universityof Connecticut it feelslike coming home.”

With Shiro Aisawa and George M. Fukui, also coming home were ToshieHamasaki Kato who brought her spouse Tad; Kay Kiyokawa, Class of ‘45who brought his son Craig and daughter in law Leslee; Jim Nakano whobrought his spouse Harriet; Satoshi Oishi, Class of ‘49 who brought hisspouse Jeannette, Class of ‘48; Kazuo Fred Yamaguchi, Class of ‘49; andTerry Yeya Yatsu, Class of ‘48.

The reunion was organized by the Asian American Cultural Center andthe Asian American Studies Institute, and co-sponsored by the College ofLiberal Arts & Sciences, School of Engineering, Dept. of Athletics andAlumni Association. Reunion activities included an interview with theCenter for Oral History at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center for eachof the returning students, a VIP Tour of Rentschler Field in East Hartford,and a night out in Hartford capped by a tribute to James Moody withJackie McLean at The Artists Collective.

The highlight of the reunion was a dinner in the returning students’ honorheld at the Alumni House and attended by community members, formerJapanese Americans and World War II class students, faculty, staff andcurrent students at UConn. The President’s Office’s Ron Schurin, and theProvost of Multicultural & International Affairs Ron Taylor both gave wel-coming remarks that reaffirms the continuing tradition of acceptance andinclusion at the university. Current UConn men’s baseball head coach JimPenders also offered his remarks about the 1940s student athletes.

A slide show of photos from the 1940s of the returning students and oth-ers who could not attend the reunion, as well as those who had passedaway gave an intimate glimpse of student life then. Those vivid and inspir-ing photos seem to bind the students of the past and the present to aremarkable past and a hopeful future.

George Fukui and Shiro Aisawa especially recognized AASI DirectorRoger Buckley and AsACC Director Angela Rola for leadership of their

Kay Kiyokawa,1943. Courtesy of Archives andSpecial Collections, Dodd Research Center

continued on page 11

“Each time I return to the University of Connecticut it feels like coming home.”

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Roger N. Buckley

Director’s Comments 2004Celebration and OutrageOrdinarily, I speak to one subject at atime in this column. This year will be adeparture, as two subjects have myattention: one pleasant, the otherdecidedly troubling.

First, this academic year marked theten-year anniversary of both the AsianAmerican Studies Institute and theAsian American Cultural Center. TheInstitute and Center celebrated theirten years of service tothe University communityand the State ofConnecticut by co-spon-soring a number ofevents, among them aKorean American sympo-sium and the 60thReunion of Japanese American students who attended UConn back in the 1940s.

A fund drive was another aspect ofour ten-year celebration, and ourfriends, near and far, responded gen-erously to our request. The appealtook the form of a handsome, multi-page, full color magazine that remind-ed the viewer of the many activitiessponsored by the Institute and Centergoing back to 1993. The magazinealso focused on the important workdone by the faculty and staff of theInstitute and Center. This is to thankeach of you for your valued support, asupport that came at a challengingtime for Americans, as the nation triesto free itself from a sluggish economy,adjust to the demands of a globaleconomy, and fight an increasinglycostly (and misdirected) war on terror.Thank you all.

Second, the entire world was horrifiedwith the recent publication of picturesshowing Iraqi prisoners being humili-ated and tortured by members of theUnited States armed forces.

Christopher Hitchens aptly describedthese jailers as “giggling recreationalsadists.” But he did not go far enoughto shed light on the source of theirhorrific behavior.

In a nation that constantly pridesitself as the greatest country ever,there was a frantic race to explainthis hideous behavior. Apologistsquickly dismissed the sadism as

having nothing to do with the glorioushistory of the armed forces of theUnited States. Indeed, it was thework of a few rogue soldiers, theyargue. Nothing could be further fromthe truth.

I would argue that the context for thissickening display is something allAmericans are intimately familiar with– racism. Soldiers born and raised ina racist country must be expected tocarry their racist views wherever theygo, and that includes Iraq. Considerthe images of Arabs and Muslimsgenerated by Hollywood and televi-sion since the end of the Cold War. In dire need to find a new enemy toreplace Russians and communists,Hollywood and television invented thebad Arab and Muslim and proceededto cram their products with images ofthese surly and dangerous charac-ters. Be honest, now. How many ofyou have seen the likes of thesecharacters in motion picture films andon television over the last thirty yearsor so?

The racism inherent in our societyhas been manifested in America’swars both here and abroad, wars inwhich elements of the armed forcesof the United States behaved sadisti-cally against its enemy. Consider thewars fought in Asia. Examples includethe slaughter of thousands ofFilipinos during the Spanish AmericanWar and the murder of countlessunarmed civilians during the VietnamWar and (as we have recentlylearned) the Korean War. Closer tohome, atrocities were committedagainst Native Americans (atWounded Knee, for example) andagainst Haitians during the U.S. occupation of Haiti, which began during World War One. I have yet to see pictures of hooded Nazi SStroops and officers being led over hill and dale by dog leashes lashedround their necks.

The pictures of humiliated and tortured Iraqis cannot be explainedaway as the work of a few crazedguards. The context for their behavioris broader than that, the reason deep-er. Racism is the culprit and its long,boney fingers are sadly evident in thelong history of the armed forces ofthis country.

“The racism inherent in our society has been manifested in America’s wars both here and abroad.”

Globalization & Its DiscontentsExposing the Underside“Globalization is a political system devised over many years by interested parties to serve their ends. Globalization is not an inevitable force of history but the consequence of public policy choices, decisions made by leaders andthose with power to benefit the already wealthy and powerful,” said Professor of History, Evelyn Hu-DeHart, on October 23, 2003 at the University of Connecticut.

Hu-DeHart who is also Director of the Center for the Study of Race andEthnicity in America at Brown University was the Asian American StudiesInstitute’s Guest Lecture Series and Asian American Heritage Observancespeaker. Her talk was co-sponsored by the Asian American Cultural Center andUConn’s Human Rights Committee. Prof. Hu-DeHart was Chair of the depart-ment of Ethnic Studies at University of Colorado at Boulder. She has alsotaught at the City Univ. of New York system, NYU, Washington Univ. in St.Louis, Univ. of Arizona and Univ. of Michigan, as well as lectured at universitiesand research institutes in Mexico, Peru, Cuba, France, Hong Kong, Taiwan andChina. She has written two books on the Yaqui Indians, and scores of articlesranging from Chinese immigration to the U.S., Caribbean and Latin America,women and minorities in Higher Education, and the politics of multiculturalism.She also edited Across the Pacific: Asian Americans and Globalization forTemple University Press. She is currently engaged in a large research projecton the Asian diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In her public lecture, Hu-DeHart looked at globalization from the perspective ofthose who are most vulnerable, tracing its impact from the maquiladora industryon the U.S.-Mexico border to sweatshops all around the Pacific Rim, and fromthe anti-globalization movements in the First World to the Zapatista uprisings inChiapas, timed to protest the workings of NAFTA, the face of globalization inNorth America. She shared her observations about some of the negative impactof globalization with an audience of mostly UConn students and high schoolstudents from the CT International Baccalaureate Academy in East Hartford.Before her lecture, Prof. Hu-DeHart shared some of her thoughts with the AsianAmerican Studies Institute’s Fe Delos-Santos.

Where are Asian Americans on globalization?

Everywhere! We are the oppressor and the oppressed…. I look at AsianAmericans as to how they are positioned throughout the globe. For example, inPakistan, all over Southeast Asia, all over the Pacific Rim, we have thesesweatshops. So, why are the sweatshops in Pakistan, in Bangladesh, all overAsia, all over Central America? Because of cheap labor, particularly cheapfemale labor.

And Asians are exploiting their own cheap labor. They are not only exploitingcheap labor in their own country in Asia, but right here in the U.S. and inCentral America. So Asians are positioned in many different ways in this global-ization scheme. I try to explain exactly how are they positioned. And they’reoftentimes positioned not at the top, but at the midlevel. We’re the middlemen… the vast majority of Asians are what we call the subcontractor.

How is globalization affecting Asian workers in the United States?

The latest is so fascinating! The latest with globalization is not just exploitingunskilled labor — that used to be the classic case, especially with manufacturing jobs. Now, we are exploiting and exporting information jobs. It’s called “infomatics.”

Fall 2004 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Evelyn Hu-DeHart

We’re exploiting highly skilled jobs,and we’re exploiting customer servicejobs, from the U.S. using [internet]technologies. So that when you callcustomer service, and you thinkyou’re getting an American reservingan airline ticket, or asking about aback order – you’re actually talking tosomeone in the Philippines! Becausethey speak English and they’re highlyeducated! India also. Now we’reexploiting highly skilled, educatedwhite-collar workers, and exportingthose jobs, instead of importing thoseworkers. Because after 9/11 thiscountry has said we don’t want anymore immigrants here … and it’s mak-ing it okay to be racist again inAmerica, under the pretext of nationalsecurity.

What does this mean for AsianAmerican Studies?

I think Asian American Studies hasgot to address these issues and notpretend that they have nothing to dowith it, because who Asian is outthere these days is very malleable.Who are Asians?

We’ve got about 4% of the populationif you add up all the Asian groups inthe U.S. We’re well represented oncollege campuses (8% at UConn) –so that’s the power base. On theother hand, what would unite us? Wedon’t necessarily have language incommon … then you have Asiansfrom Peru – now where do they fit in?Asian Latinos? What about Filipinoswith Latin last names?

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Korean American Centennial Symposium

Celebrating 100 Years of Korean Immigration to theUnited States2003 marks one hundred years of Korean immigration to the United States.Across the country, Korean Americans have organized Centennial celebra-tions. In Connecticut, the Asian American Studies Institute and the AsianAmerican Cultural Center teamed up with key members of the KoreanAmerican Society of Connecticut, notably Professor Emeritus of PoliticalScience at UConn, Ilpyong Kim, to host a day-long symposium to examinehistory, culture, identity, economic impact, and intergenerational issues onSeptember 27, 2003, held at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, andculminating in a cultural performance consisting of a martial arts demon-stration and traditional dances.

A Brief Introduction to Korean Americans

Media coverage tends to focus on the tensions between the North Koreaand United States governments, and the lingering impact of the KoreanWar, resulting in a divided Korea, the Communist North separated from theDemocratic South by a heavily patrolled border often referred to as theDMZ or Demilitarized Zone.

There is scant mention, if any, of the fact that the relationship between theUnited States and Korea first began with the Treaty of Friendship andCommerce in 1882. Many American Missionaries, in particular, played animportant role in nurturing the political, cultural and religious developmentof modern Korea.

Korean immigration to the U.S. territories was first recorded in December1902, when 56 men, 21 women and 25 children left Korea, travelingacross the Pacific Ocean on the S.S. Gaelic, and arriving in Honolulu onJanuary 13, 1903. They came to work as immigrant laborers in Hawaii’ssugar plantations.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census reports, the population of Koreans inthe United States has increased to 1,076,872 with the largest communitiesin Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and parts of Northern Virginia. KoreanAmericans, like many Asian Americans, entered the U.S. in large numbersfollowing the ease in Immigration restrictions in 1965. And over the yearsKorean Americans have helped to revivify crumbling inner-city communitieswith entrepreneurial savvy, and contribute immensely to cultural and artistic production.

Many Korean Americans are prominent members of American society whohave excelled in several fields, including medicine, politics, law, highereducation, architecture, religion, and athletics. In addition, many KoreanAmericans hope for a constructive U.S. policy that will encourage peace onthe Korean peninsula and prepare the way for reunification.

In Connecticut, Census figures place Korean Americans at about 10% ofthe total Asian American population. It is estimated that a little more thanhalf of Connecticut’s Korean Americans live in Litchfield, Tolland andMiddlesex counties. A good number are devout members of their respec-tive churches and participate in community activities organized by theKorean American Society of Connecticut.

A lot of people say that globalization isnot only wonderful, but also inevitable.That the rising tide of globalization willlift all boats, and eventually we will allgain. And some of us have modified thatto say that it only lifts the yachts!

In Globalization’s Wake

Kyung-Hae Lee was one of thousands of farmers marching toward the confer-ence center in Cancun, Mexico whereWorld Trade Organization ministerswere meeting. Lee carried a sign read-ing: “WTO kills farmers.” When thefarmers reached the fence that keptdemonstrators six miles [away], Leeplunged a knife into his heart.

Lee, 56, had devoted his life to defend-ing South Korea’s farmers. He had trav-eled to Europe, America and Japan, tosee how small farmers coped with tradeliberalization. In February [2003] Leeset up a tent in front of WTO headquar-ters in Geneva. He explained that soonafter the WTO was created, he and“Korean fellow farmers realized that wecould not do anything but just watch thewaves that destroyed our lovely ruralcommunities. Now…at the front gate ofthe WTO, I am crying out my words toyou, words that have been boiling for along time in my body.”

South Korea is mountainous. With highland values and high wage levels,Korean agriculture is “uncompetitive.”The WTO allowed South Korea to keeptariffs on rice until 2004 but required agradual opening to other food imports.These imports grew 20% between 1998 and 2002, devastating rural communities.

For Lee, the survival of local agriculturewas essential to food security and qual-ity of life. He understood the myriadbenefits that flow from small farms: thecare small farmers take of soil, water,and wildlife; the variety of crops, land-scapes, and community uses; and theinvitation to all to see nature and farmertogether bring forth food.

From Turning Wheel, Winter 2003-2004Indra’s Net by Annette HerskovitsReprinted with permission

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UConn student Susan Kim in traditional dress

Keynote Address

Wayne Patterson, Professor of History at St. Norbert College inDePere, Wisconsin, delivered theKeynote Address. His talk was entitled“What Do the First Immigrants to theUnited States One Hundred Years AgoTell Us About American and JapanesePolicy Toward Late Choson Korea?”

Dr. Wayne Patterson is one ofAmerica’s foremost scholars onKorean history and East Asian immi-gration, with books that include TheKorean Frontier in America:Immigration to Hawaii, 1896-1910(Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii Press,1988/1994); The Golden Mountain:The Autobiography of a KoreanImmigrant, 1895-1960 (Urbana andChicago: Univ. of Illinois Press, 1996);The Ilse: First-Generation KoreanImmigrants in Hawaii, 1903-1973(Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii Press,2000); and Koreans in Hawaii, 1903-2003: A Pictorial History (Honolulu:Univ. of Hawaii Press, 2003) withRoberta Chang. Patterson’s researchand teaching interests cover ModernEast Asia, Modern China, Communismin China, Modern Japan, ModernKorea, and Asian American Historyand East Asian Relations. He has lec-tured throughout the U.S. and inKorea. He earned his Ph.D. from theUniv. of Pennsylvania, and lives inGreen Bay, Wisconsin.

His presentation included archivalphoto slides illustrating the various keyplayers in what appeared to be at thevery least, a quasi-legal scheme byHawaii’s sugar plantation owners touse Korean immigrants as strikebreak-ers against the Japanese workers whowere agitating for better working condi-tions. And with the Chinese ExclusionAct in place at the time, Korea wasseen as a new supply of cheap agri-cultural labor. This state of affairs wasmade easier by the United States’federal policy of neutrality, underTheodore Roosevelt, and a laissezfaire economics approach toward Korea.

Patterson also asserted that in thesame time period, a strong current ofanti-Asian sentiments particularly target-ing the Japanese in California, had theJapanese government worried aboutbeing “excluded at the bottom with theChinese” and began to take steps totake over Korea’s foreign policy by offer-ing to establish a protectorate overKorean workers in America through theJapanese Consulate Offices in Hawaii,the United States mainland and Mexico.At that time, U.S. policy consideredJapan as a stabilizing force in theregion. By 1905, Japan takes control ofKorea, and in 1910, Korea loses itsindependence. Thus ends Korea’sChoson dynasty period.

Program Highlights

The Culture and Identity panel wasmoderated by UConn Assoc. Prof. ofPsychology Michelle Williams, and fea-tured panelists Ph.D. candidate (NYU)Eleana Kim, “Remembering Loss: TheGlobal Movement of Adopted Koreans,”Visiting Prof. in African AmericanStudies (BU) Myung Ja Kim, “BecomingAmerican: Korean American Narrative,”and M.A. Education (UConn) Lisa Bok,“Balancing Two Cultures.”

The Korean Immigrants’ Contributions tothe U.S. Economy panel was moderatedby Central Connecticut State Univ. Prof.of Economics Ki Hoon Kim, and includ-ing himself with a human capital analy-sis, featured panelists Prof. ofEconomics (Kean Univ.) Youn-Suk Kimand retired publisher and editor ofTradeKorea, Young Gak Shin.

The Dialogue Between Generationspanel was led by Dr. Ilpyong Kim,and featured Yale Daily NewsEditor Brian Lee, representing thevoice of the second generation,and former CEO and President ofHyundai Corp. USA Young DukKim, representing in part the voiceof the first generation and urgingsupport for recent efforts to buildmore solidarity among KoreanAmericans and other AsianAmericans. Dr. Ilpyong Kim closedthe session with his thoughts onSaigu the widely used term in thecommunity to refer to the 1992 LosAngeles uprising, saying thatKorean Americans learned a lotfrom the riots. He reminded us thatthe Civil Rights Movement led byMartin Luther King, Jr. also benefit-ed all Asian Americans.

Mrs. & Dr. Youn-Suk Kim, Ki Hoon Kim, Soo Wha Kim, Kyung Ja Shin, Young Gak Shin


Only What We Could CarryLawson Inada“A man with no ordinary blood beatingin his veins, but rather the deliciousrepetitions and syncopations of anenergy that’s called jazz,” said theAsian American Cultural Center’sSheila Kucko of Lawson Inada in herintroduction before he read selectionsfrom the comprehensive anthology,Only What We Could Carry: TheJapanese American InternmentExperience, published by HeydayBooks in conjunction with theCalifornia Historical Society (2000) atthe UConn Co-Op as the February 5,2004 guest of the slAAm! Book Club.He also conducted a PoetryWorkshop. Professor Emeritus ofEnglish at Southern Oregon StateCollege, the Fresno, California-born,Sansei Inada, and his family wereinterned during World War II in campsin Fresno, Arkansas and Colorado. Hehas read his works at the WhiteHouse, received multiple NEA PoetryFellowships, and was recently namedGuggenheim Fellow.

“[Behind] each of you, there are a lotof people – people who’ve made itpossible for you to be here. So, eventhough we’re here in a smallish group,if you think about it, we representmany, many people. That’s part ofwhat I want to talk about today, is howin talking about a particular bookwe’re really talking about a much larg-er experience.

“I’ll start with a little story by way ofexample. There was a very modestfamily, before WWII, living in theSeattle area. They had come fromJapan. They were farmers, but theyhad big dreams. They had a son whowas quite bright so they sent himaway to go to school in New York.When the war happened and theinternment period came about, thiscouple, without their son, became apart of that contingent from theSeattle area that was sent to thecamp in Idaho. Their son continuedhis schooling because he was just far,far away from the West Coast. Hebecame an architect.

Rhapsody in Plain YellowMarilyn ChinThe Chinese American poet is the author of Dwarf Bamboo, The PhoenixGone, The Terrace Empty, and most recently, Rhapsody in Plain Yellowpublished by Norton in 2002. Marilyn Chin’s work has received national recognition, including two NEA Writing Fellowships, the PEN/Josephine MilesAward, and four Pushcart Prizes. As a 2003-2004 Radcliffe Institute Fellow,she is working on a new book of poetry that continues her multilayered, multidimensional, intercultural singing and spinning of tales about the trials of immigration, exile, thwarted interracial love, and social justice. She also co-directs the MFA program at San Diego State University.

Marilyn Chin is a fearless and powerful voice for the neglected and theobscured. Her reading on April 22, 2004 in the Konover Auditorium of the Dodd Center, organized by the Institute forPuerto Rican and Latino Studies andEnglish Dept. at UConn, and co-sponsored by the Asian American StudiesInstitute, Office of Multicultural Affairs, andothers, opened Ariel’s Wake, a two-dayconference on identifying new parametersin the literature of the Americas throughliterary representations of some of thelargest and longest standing diasporancommunities – African American, PuertoRican, Asian American, Arab-American,and Jewish – in the U.S. She introducedher poem “Blues on Yellow” (Rhapsody inPlain Yellow, p. 13, reproduced in part) ashomage to African American blues.

The canary died in the gold mine, her dreams got lost in the sieve.

The canary died in the gold mine, her dreams got lost in the sieve.

Her husband the crow killed under the railroad, the spokes hath shorn his wings.

O crack an egg on the griddle, yellow will ooze into white.

O crack an egg on the griddle, yellow will ooze into white.

Run, run, sweet little Puritan, yellow will ooze into white.

If you cut my yellow wrists, I’ll teach my yellow toes to write.

If you cut my yellow wrists, I’ll teach my yellow toes to write.

If you cut my yellow fists, I’ll teach my yellow feet to fight.

Do not be afraid to perish, my mother, our boat will sail tonight.

Your babies will reach the promised land, the stars will be their guide.

“As poets, most of us are unapologetic about our political views,“ Marilyn Chinsaid at the scholars’ forum on April 23rd. “Part of who I am as a poet, forexample, is a gender feminist, and I write for the smallest, most vulnerableChinese girl. I’m also unapologetic about being a poetry geek. I love beautifulwork. But part of my job is to be subversive, to write on the edge, and to cri-tique. I believe in a fusionist aesthetic – poems without borders – it’s aboutabsorbing the noise of what it means to be alive!”

Marilyn Chin

Fall 2004 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7

Operation MonsoonShona RamayaBreaking ranks with many popular SouthAsian writers, the Calcutta, India-born writer is not interested in promoting the exoticappeal of India or the immigrant experience.Going beyond offering simplified images ofrejection and separation, her short story collection published by Graywolf Press(2003), Operation Monsoon offers intricate,multilayered stories. The lead story, “Gopal’sKitchen” deals with the organ market. Ramaya’s stories relate cultural experi-ences that embody life in a globalized India. And they explore the contiuallyevolving terrain of transnational existence. Her previous works include,Beloved Mother, Queen of the Night, and Flute. She is Executive Editor ofCatamaran Magazine. Ramaya, who lives in Massachusetts, gave a readingfor the slAAm! Book Club on November 13, 2004, and agreed to a brief inter-view.

Do you set out writing something with social context in mind or some otherprocess?

To some extent, yes I do have social context in mind. But it’s not like I’m tryingto tell people, “Look! How horrible things are, and you need to do somethingabout it.” And the western world must come, and you know, straighten out, sortof save all the dark people or something. It’s not like that.

In my mind, I first came to know about the organ market, organ trade in anIndian magazine called India Today, which is India’s version of Time Magazine,many years ago. When I read it, I was stunned! That it was going on so blithe-ly, nobody thought about it. And then a friend of mine, his uncle, right at thattime, I’d heard that he had sent out scouts to some village in southern India(they live in New Jersey), to get a kidney for him. And he was telling us that hewas spending all this money. I was even more horrified! This was somebody Ihappen to know.

And then I started to get other opinions about how come there is no outcry.And there were these old stories that my grandmothers and certain uncles andaunts used to tell us about the Tantric [practices] – how the rich guy’s sonwho’s dying would employ this sort of voodoo priest type of person to go andget the soul from the healthier, the poorer family’s son – a sort of transfer ofsouls … and that’s when it kind of clicked. I mean it’s the same thing, it’s justmodern technology that’s being used – it’s just the rich who are always decid-ing who is to live and who is to die. And that really was the thing in my head.That’s what I was trying to convey, not so much that you gotta go out there anddo something about [the organ trade] … It was my own sense of shock in myown head trying to make sense of why this was happening.

To make sense of something that may be repugnant, or difficult?

Right! And in the other stories [of the book] the narrators or the main charac-ters, that’s exactly what they are doing. They’re really sort of using what theyimagine or what they fantasize their situation to be … the fantasy of their situation in relation to the reality of the outside world. In some way, it blurs the reality of their situation.

“And I was thinking about him becausethe world continues in a way in whichthings that happen in the past are partof the continuum. And you never know when that past takes on agreater significance.

“So, on September 11, same as you,I’m watching television, and I see theWorld Trade Center. It was still stand-ing when I first started watching. Thenit started to crumble.

“And when I blinked my eyes, I sawthe barbed wire and the guard towersof the internment camps. And the reason I saw that was — the architectof the WTC was that young man I wastelling you about, Minoru Yamasaki,who was going to school in New Yorkwhile his parents were incarcerated.So I began to weave in my mind, the internment experience withSeptember 11.”

As voices arose in the canyon of

history – soft voices, loud voices,

young voices, old voices – and as the

voices continued to resound,

reverberate, resonate, the walls of the

canyon began to gradually dissolve,

revealing the grand landscape of the

human condition, and the wide sky

of wisdom and compassion. We had

arrived at the heart of the matter.

The River Flows.

Shona Ramaya

Lawson Inada


Day of RemembranceReminiscing in Swingtime with George YoshidaDay of Remembrance at UConn is an annual event to reflect on the internmentexperience of Japanese Americans during World War II as a pivotal moment inthe history of the United States. In his opening remarks on February 19, 2004,Director of AASI and Prof. of History, Roger Buckley said, “It was 62 years agotoday that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.The result: the wrongful incarceration of some 120,000 Americansof Japanese ancestry. To paraphrase one inmate of the camps,‘The very heavens were disturbed and the earth underwent anupheaval.’ A dark time, indeed, for Japanese Americans – and all other peoples who honor and value civil liberties and human rights.”

Yet amid the desolation and the dislocation, former Poston,Arizona camp detainee, George Yoshida found that “popularAmerican music and dance bands in camps provided comfort anddistraction to young internees. It was a reassuring cushion againsttheir complete spiritual annihilation. Music washes away from thesoul the dust of everyday life. It was never so true in thoseAmerican camps.”

Nine of the 10 campsformed swing bandswith names like The StarDusters, The JiveBombers, and The D-Elevens. The HeartMountain, Wyomingcamp band was invitedseveral times by outsidegroups to entertain atdances and benefits forwar bonds.

In a multimedia presentation at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, the storyof the internment became a sense-surround opportunity for the audience to see,hear, and touch history, with George Yoshida’s own soulful American story pro-viding the scene, the soundtrack and the groove.

Yoshida researched and wrote Reminiscing in Swingtime: Japanese Americansin American Popular Music, 1925-1960, published by the National JapaneseAmerican Historical Society in 1997. He founded the San Francisco-based swingband, J-Town Jazz Ensemble, and played the saxophone in the Poston campband, The Music Makers. He was subsequently inducted into the U.S. Army andtrained with the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Fort Snelling,Minnesota. After attending the Univ. of California at Berkeley, Yoshida taught inand managed the Berkeley Schools for nearly 30 years. And as with countlessjourneys before, George’s wife Helen accompanied him on his visit to UConn,which was co-sponsored by the Asian American Cultural Center.

“YO! Yoshida’s the name. Born in the USA just like Bruce Springsteen! Born inthe U.S.A. way back in April 1922 … the same year the US Supreme Court ruledthat naturalization is limited only to “free white persons and aliens of Africannativity.” Asians were excluded, and it was thought that Asians could not assimi-late into white, mainstream society.

“I lived on the edge of downtown Seattle. The grammar school I went to was98% Japanese Americans. Although the Chinese had come earlier, there were

very few Chinese families. Grammarschool was the beginning of our acculturation, speaking English,learning how to drink soup withoutslurping – the beginning of becomingAmericans. And although we lived inthis somewhat segregated subcul-

ture, those were sweetdays, free from racialhostility and without eco-nomic distinction. Wewere all very much alike,all very poor.

“In 1936 the familymoved to East LosAngeles because of theDepression – to “theother side of the river”with children of immi-grants from Europe,Jewish kids, Russiankids, a few Mexicans (not as many as thereare now today) andJapanese families.

“In those days, JapaneseAmericans were all “G-Men” — grocers and gardeners. The only professional person in

the neighborhood was the doctor orthe dentist or maybe the insurancesalesman who wore a suit and wentaround in a car. The rest of us wereG-Men. And this is true with manyimmigrants, especially for a lot ofMexican Americans and people fromCentral America. The Latinos are theG-Men of today. After graduation, Iwent to LA City College.

“Then in 1941 I got seduced by BigBand American Jazz. Duke Ellingtonand his music, which was really sofar out for me. It was wonderful!Even today, because of that firstexperience, my Big Band in SanFrancisco plays a tune called Don’tGet Around Much Anymore. We stillplay the original Duke Ellington ver-sion, and it knocks me out still afterall these years.

“Sunday morning, December 8, 1941— Bam! Bam! Pearl Harbor wasbombed! I was working in the

“Popular American music and dance bands in camps provided comfort and distraction to young internees.It was a reassuring cushion against their complete spiritual annihilation.”

Fall 2004 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 9

produce section of a supermarketwhen the radio announced,“Japanese Planes Attacked theMilitary Base at Pearl Harbor,Hawaii. Major Damage Inflicted onthe Pacific Naval Fleet. ThousandsKilled, Injured.”

“American citizens responded withanger, fear, hatred – Japs! Japs!You can’t trust them. Put them allaway! White Americans could notthink of us as being fellowAmericans. They thought wedeserved to be locked up in retalia-tion for Pearl Harbor.

“I was tormented with paranoia. Ididn’t want to be Japanese – I’mnot a Jap! I disassociated myselffrom being Japanese by getting ridof Japanese records, books, news-papers, and other gifts, whateverfew I had from Japan. I repeated tomyself, over and over again – I’mnot a Jap … I am American! Ialways pledged allegiance, and Isang – My country, ‘tis of thee,Sweet land of liberty … yeah, all my life.

“But I could not change myJapanese face. Those were fearfultimes with rumors of Japanese families and individuals being intimidated and even murdered. I’m reminded now of the frightfulracial profiling and intimidation taking place today for the manyimmigrants and many Americans of Middle Eastern origin.

“Executive Order 9066 put 120,000of us into internment camps. Those10 camps, scattered throughout theUnited States were Americancamps. My parents and twoyounger sisters and I ended up inPoston. I was young then, andcould stand the ordeal of primitivecommunal life in camp – long lineswaiting in front of the mess hall,crowded latrines and showers. Andthe lack of privacy was disturbing.

“Physical discomforts were plenty.But the true pain, what really hurt,was being labeled “enemy aliens.”

“That really hurt.

“Among the 10,000 in our camp,a handful of youngsters lovedBig Band music … I played thesaxophone. We played the musicof Glen Miller, like MoonlightSerenade … Joe Sakai was thedrummer … I noticed that thekids from San Francisco danceddifferently from the kids from LA… But I liked to jitterbug to InThe Mood….

“There was the Heart Mountaincamp band with leader George“G.I.” Igawa. What was extraordi-nary about this band was theywere invited by outside, regularhigh schools outside of HeartMountain. Imagine going out ofcamp to play somebody else’sSenior Prom … Incidentally, oneof the trumpet players still playswith my Big Band in SanFrancisco, Yone Fukui.

“On April 27, 1945 a CouplesOnly Dance, the last to be heldin the Topaz, Utah camp, hadadmission at 50 cents. It wasrequested that couples dancecounterclockwise to avoid confu-sion on the dance floor. Musicwas supplied by Ich Sasaki andhis 6-piece Jivesters.

“The significance of this event was thefact that all 10 detention camps werebeing closed.

“It was a crucial and demanding time– time to create new lives … my wifeand I returned to California andworked as domestics in a privatehome. With sheer determination,devoid of deep resentment, most ofus returned to establish our lives.

“The post-war years were a time forhealing. In 1978, the JapaneseAmerican Citizens League passed aresolution to seek redress for eachdetainee. In 1980, President Cartersigned a bill to create the Commissionof Wartime Relocation and Internmentof Civilians to review Executive Order9066. Subsequently, 10 public hearings were held, with the final recommendation for Congress to recognize the grave injustice done;offer a public apology; and issue aone-time per captive, compensatorypayment of $20,000 each, for the60,000 surviving internees. After allthose years, about half of thedetainees had passed away, becauseso many of them were elderly. In1988, President Reagan signed theCivil Liberties Act. In 1990, the letterof apology was signed by PresidentGeorge H.W. Bush.”

“Music washes away from the soul the dustof everyday life. It was never so true in those American camps.”

10 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... The Asian American

Second Annual Mahavir Ahimsa SeminarGurudev ChitrabhanuThe author of 25 books on world peace and the founder of theJain Meditation International Center, located near the UnitedNations in New York addressed “Compassion and Nonviolence inPrinciple and Practice” on April 24, 2004 in the KonoverAuditorium of the Dodd Center at the Univ. of Connecticut.Gurudev Chitrabhanu is the preeminent spiritual leader and moti-vator for the formation of JAINA, the federation of Jain associa-tions in North America, an umbrella group that has more than100,000 members and 61 centers. He has worked closely withthe World Fellowship of Religions. Chitrabhanu’s teachings haveinspired many people from all walks of life toward vegetarianismand peace work. His mastery of several languages includingSanskrit, Prakit, Kannad, Hindi, Gujarati and English, enables himto reach a wide spectrum of people with his message of cultivating awarenessand reverence for all life. He has lectured at Princeton, Sarah Lawrence,Cornell, Harvard, SUNY Purchase, among others. On May 22, 2001, he deliv-ered the opening prayer, an unprecedented recognition and honor, in the U.S.House of Representatives.

Keynote Address

Calling his talk a “sharing of experience,” Chitrabhanu invited the audience tolook at compassion as a feeling that allows for seeing and feeling another’spain, not as pity but as an experience of being fully alive in the world. “To feelfor others, we have to experience the joy of being alive,” he said. “When youget up in the morning, see the first light, the beautiful dawn, look around andsay, ‘I am alive!’

“The whole world is for you … and the person that takes care of him/herself willtake care of others. There is so much pain and suffering … we don’t see whatwe have … let us workshop to free us from the concepts, beliefs and dogmasof caste, creed and nationality.”

He urged the audience to go deeper than mere concepts, “to feel life,” and tointegrate the practice and principle of Ahimsa, the Sanskrit for nonviolence.“People who live with harmony of principle and practice, a life of integration,are always collecting the vibrations of the universe, and they feel enriched …you can make a choice in your life – what to say, how to live. Ahimsa startswith practicing awareness!

“And it is followed by harmlessness, so that you build a bridge between life andlife, not with a religious concept which is just separatism,” continuedChitrabhanu. He called instead for understanding, which he equates with love.He also urged a re-examination of our tendency toward accumulation, suggest-ing that the root of violence is greed, and that one way out is through service.

Conflict Resolution and Interfaith Discussion

Moderated by AASI and Sociology Asst. Prof. Bandana Purkayastha, the ses-sion on conflict resolution featured Ann McCoy and Marie Pace. In the firstpresentation, artist and curator of The Museum of Contemporary Spiritual Art inLublin, Poland, Ann McCoy, showed slides illustrating her work on “divine birth”informed by both her study of Jungian psychology and Jain practices. She saidthat artists must be “light bringers … part of creating positive transformation.”For Ann McCoy, nonviolence practice begins at home. Peace worker and Ph.D.candidate in the Program for the Analysis and Resolution of Conflict atSyracuse Univ. Marie Pace, brought to bear her insider’s perspective in the

conflict resolution field and herBuddhist practice, in proposing thatsocial change agents need to getbeyond polarizing strategies. Shesees the challenge as not about eliminating conflict, but engaging it in nonviolent ways. Pace said, “Weneed an inner ability to hold the ‘par-adox’ of revolution and resolution.”

The Seminar closed with theInterfaith Discussion led by membersof the Connecticut Council forInterreligious Understanding, Dr.Padam Jain, President of Jain Centerof Greater Hartford, Rev. PeterGrandy of Asylum Hill CongregationalChurch, Hartford, and Rev. WilliamWarner-Prouty, an ordained ministerin the United Church of Christ and amiddle school teacher. They werejoined by Ann McCoy, Marie Pace,and Gurudev Chitrabhanu.

About the Annual Mahavir Ahimsa Seminar

Ahimsa is the Sanskrit word for non-violence. The Asian American StudiesInstitute at UConn organized theNonviolence Colloquium onSeptember 29, 2001, in honor ofTirthankar Mahavir, whose teachingsof Ahimsa Permo Dharma and sym-biosis undergird Jain practices; thelatter presaged the modern basis ofecological science. The annual semi-nar, which is free and open to thepublic, was established as an annualevent in partnership with the GreaterHartford Jain Center and the Jaincommunity of Connecticut.

Faquir Jain, Padam Jain, Gurudev Chitrabhanu, Bandana Purkayastha

Fall 2004 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 11

continued from front page

respective programs, and in particularfor generously supporting their idea ofa reunion and of making it a reality.That timely recognition coincides withthe 10 Year Anniversary celebration ofthe establishment of both programs atUConn in 1993. A commemorativebrochure Forging A Dynamic Presencewas formally debuted and distributed.

To close theevening’s program,Roger Buckleysaid, “History willbe kind and good tothis university fordoing the rightthing, for providinga home away fromhome, and for livingup to all thosemany ideals weAmericans claim asour birthright. Toanyone who willstop and listen, I willtell him or her it has been a greathonor for me to lead this institute these10 years. And more than anythingelse, it was the courage and indestruc-tible human spirit of our JapaneseAmerican brothers and sisters whogave me the zest to lead, and I thankthem and welcome them back, home,from the bottom of my heart.”

Gripped by fear and insecurity follow-ing the attack on Pearl Harbor, theU.S. government’s unjust incarcerationof some 120,000 Americans ofJapanese ancestry and long-term resi-dent aliens signifies a watershedmoment in American history. Amongthose who were uprooted from theirhomes and placed in remote camps onU.S. soil were young JapaneseAmerican students enrolled in collegesin the West. Most universities wouldnot accept them on their campuses.One of the exceptions, a shiningexample of integrity in a time of uncer-tainty, was the University ofConnecticut, where 14 JapaneseAmericans attended beginning in 1943.

Remembering UConn

Shiro Aisawa“Life, since [Poston] camp, has beengood - beginning with the day I arrived atUConn. It was a Sunday and everythingwas closed. Fortunately … four students… saw me looking lost and offered theirassistance … a place to stay temporarily,and showed me where I could get a job inthe Dining Hall. All of this for a total

stranger, especially one [with] the appear-ance of a Japanese, gave me a goodfeeling about UConn that has persisted tothis day.”

George Masaaki Fukui“Each time I return to the University of Connecticut it feels like coming home.”

Toshie Hamasaki KatoWe were transported to Topaz, Utah. Iattended high school in camp and gradu-ated in 1944. That fall I enrolled atUConn. The war ended … I continued myeducation at University of California atBerkeley. Although I was at UConn foronly one year … the people were veryfriendly and I felt very comfortable there.”

Kay Kiyokawa“I grew up in Oregon and was attendingOregon State University when my familywas sent to Tule Lake Internment Camp.Through the Quaker Church, I was ableto attend UConn to major in Agricultureand Horticulture. I was an active memberof the baseball and football teams, andmy two years at UConn were the mostmemorable experience of my life.”

Jim Nakano“I was born in Redwood City, California.My family was sent to the internmentcamp in Topaz, Utah. I spent two years atUConn studying Ornamental Horticulture. Icontinued my education at UC Berkeleyand UCLA. UConn was a great place to‘grow up’ from a naïve 17 year old to aregular UConn student. Living on campuswas an experience I will never forget.”

Satoshi “Satt” Oishi“My family was interned at Rohwer,Arkansas in 1942. I came to Connecticutin 1944 and received a B.S. in CivilEngineering with expertise in bridge andstructural engineering, rail-transit design,architecture, environmental assessmentsand military facilities.”

Kazuo Fred Yamaguchi“As I was a native New Yorker, I wasnever incarcerated. I majored inHorticulture. Soon after graduation, I started a greenhouse business in Melville,Long Island, NY. My freshman year was awonderful introduction to college. TheUConn campus was beautiful in its classicNew England setting. The reception Ireceived from everyone was taken forgranted by me then. But in the intervening60 years I have come to kansha all thosewonderful people that made it happen.”

Terry Yeya Yatsu“I went to Tule Lake, which became acamp for dissidents … then sent toJerome, Arkansas, where I finished highschool. I left camp to go to work inPhiladelphia for Student Relocation, whorecommended UConn to me and arrangeda scholarship. I will never forget the gen-erous action of the university for waivingout-of-state tuition -- it really helped. Mymajor was Sociology / Psychology.Looking back, UConn was the most wonderful time of my life, where peoplewere warm and accepting. I made life-long friends and discovered myself in the process.”

1940s Japanese American students and Asian AmericanFaculty gather outside of Beach Hall, UConn in Fall 2003


Pursuing ExcellenceFaculty AccomplishmentsThe pursuit of excellence has been alasting preoccupation of higher educa-tion. The same is true for the AsianAmerican Studies Institute as it cele-brates 10 years at the University ofConnecticut. Professor of HistoryRoger N. Buckley, Asst. Prof. of ArtHistory Margo Machida, Asst. Prof. ofAllied Health Usha Palaniswamy, andAsst. Prof. of Sociology BandanaPurkayastha have each met the chal-lenge of excellence in their work, withdedication and passion. Machida,Palaniswamy and Purkayastha eachhold a joint appointment with AsianAmerican Studies. They agreed to beinterviewed by AASI’s Fe Delos-Santos to talk about publishing booksand interesting developments in theirrespective fields, and their outlook forthe future of their work in AsianAmerican Studies.

War and Society

Roger N. Buckley considers story-telling as both good scholarship andgood citizenship.

“When I did Congo Jack (Pinto Press,1996), friends said I was dealing withsomething there called accommoda-tion and resistance. I know that in his-tory most people don’t go to the barri-cades. They reach some kind of inti-mate accommodation with an oppres-sive regime. So it was that one day, itjust hit me. How could these guys befighting for the British? And then Ibegan to find stories, began to dosome research and there they were –they were Hindus, they were Blacks,and occasionally, they were Whites – and they were doing this at a timewhen there were race wars. In manyways, the Sepoy Rebellion was a race war.”

Buckley published I, Hanuman in2003 with the Writers Workshop inCalcutta, West Bengal. Set during theBengal Army Rebellion of 1857, it isthe true story of Bedasee Singh, aHindu soldier whose political awaken-ing is compelled by having to choosebetween his loyalty to the British and

his devotion to India. I, Hanuman isthe second installation of Buckley’s“Rebellion Trilogy.“ In the last of theseries Buckley tells the story throughthe eyes of an Irish soldier.

“It’s been a combination of lots andlots of years of looking at thesearmies, not so much from the point ofview of battle, more into war and soci-ety. And I thought, what more impor-tant issue is there than the question ofloyalty. In fact, it was [JapaneseAmerican activist] Yuri Kochiyamawho helped me, who said for me todeal with the question of accommoda-tion and resistance and loyalty. It wasYuri who asked me to deal with thequestion of to whom should you giveyour loyalty. It was she who put ittogether, yet all of my life, I had beenthinking about all that.” Since finishingthe trilogy, Buckley has been workingon Kochiyama’s biography and anedited book of her writings.

Contemporary Culture

Margo Machida pioneers the projectof articulating the intricate problems ofinterpreting works of art, and con-structing meaning from visual workproduced by people of other culturalbackgrounds.

“In the past decade, I have witnesseda ground swell of new writing on AsianAmerican art. Much of that primarydocumentation is directly linked toexhibitions initiated by Asian Americancurators, artists, academics, and cul-tural activists. Such work is critical toexpanding the field of art history. Yetthere are certainly challenges to doingscholarship in any area that is per-ceived as connected to domestic

identity or minoritarian politics, whichsome critics perceive as marginal. Ithink that in order to counter suchbeliefs, and to enlarge our notions ofwhat constitutes American culture,this work must begin at the level ofundergraduate education by makingAsian American art part of the core arthistory curriculum.”

Machida co-edited Fresh Talk / DaringGazes: Conversations on AsianAmerican Art with Elaine Kim andSharon Mizota. Published by Univ. ofCalifornia Press in 2003, the bookchronicles the blossoming of AsianAmerican art and anticipates thegrowing democratization of Americanart and culture. “This project grew outof my ongoing interest in how AsianAmerican visual artists use their workto articulate issues of identity andidentification as people of Asian her-itage living in the United States. Ihave been involved in this field forover 20 years, as a scholar, culturalcritic, and independent curator. Myown transition from a small town inHawaii to New York City in the late1960s made me acutely aware of the importance of place in shapingour sense of self and position in the world.”

Machida just received the School ofFine Arts New Scholar Award for2004, and recently completed a newessay based on extensive interviewsof San Francisco artists who were

involved in community arts activismfrom 1965 to 1980. She has alsobegun researching Asian Americanartists in Hawaii for another book proj-ect, while she waits for the release of

Roger Buckley

Margo Machida

Fall 2004 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 13

The Poetics of Positionality: Art,Identities, and Communities ofImagination in Asian America fromDuke Univ. Press.

Healthy People

Usha Palaniswamy expands thinkingabout plants as both food and medi-cine, and incorporates a global attitudeabout health practices that will lead tomore access and better quality of life.

“Studies show that traditional diets arebetter. Indian immigrants, after cominghere, completely changed their eatingstyle — more meat, less vegetables.And they are also limited by how manyvarieties they can have in the U.S.unless local farmers, as in NewJersey, choose to grow those that areavailable in India. Not everybody hasthat privilege. But it has also beenshown that some cancers decreaseupon immigrating to the US, as withthe Japanese and the decline in stom-ach cancers. It’s really complex.[Health practices] can’t be addressedfrom only one side. It has to be lookedat from many different perspectives.”

Palaniswamy published A Guide toMedicinal Plants of Asian Origin andCulture in 2003 with CPL Press of theU.K. Covering an extensive range ofplants, the book explores how theseplants have been used for many hun-dreds and, in some cases, thousandsof years by Indian, Chinese and othercultures. The book also details thespecific phytochemicals that may beresponsible for the observed medicinal

activities. She is at work on a textbook version of her book, and has another book project that willcover Asian food crops and human dietetics.

“It’s important to make people thinkcritically about decisions they make.Moderation is the key in diet, andvariety – not just eating three tabletsof lutein a day, or vitamin E threetimes a day, or Omega-3. Everybodyis eating all those tablets, trying toisolate those compounds, and that’sjust pure commercialization. I wouldcertainly critique such an approach.”Palaniswamy thinks that AsianAmerican Studies can benefit fromincorporating more science in its high-er education curriculum. She recentlywon the Provost General EducationIncentive Competition to develop cur-ricular materials for honors-enhancedsections of her courses on CriticalHealth Issues of Asian Americans,and Asian Medical Systems.

Power and Poverty

Bandana Purkayastha questions thestandard frameworks of knowledge, to locate the interlocking issues ofempowerment, language and socialrealities locally, and raises the bar for scholarship about poorwomen’s experiences.

“People use the word empowermentall the time. What does that meanwhen it’s translated into many differ-ent languages? Does the sense ofwhat empowerment means here, withits emphasis on individuals doing better, have any social relevance inother places? There might be allkinds of other models of empower-ment. In other words, it’s not thatother societies lack social imaginationof how their lives can be improvedand enriched. But that’s a differentway of thinking about empowermentthan thinking about empowerment inan individual sense.”

Purkayastha co-edited The Power ofWomen’s Informal Networks: Lessonsin Social Change from South Asia andWest Africa with Mangala Subraman-iam. Published in 2004 by LexingtonBooks, an imprint of Rowman and

Littlefield, the book is the outcome ofwitnessing the growth of interest ininternational work within the lastdecade. “One of our real concernswas and still is, that in doing interna-tional work, you need to have a situ-ated idea of poverty. What thatmeans there. Sitting in the U.S. wereally very frequently equate beingpoor with having no status. That maynot necessarily be true in the sameways in other parts of the world. Itneed not be true in different parts ofthe same country. There could be alot of variations.”

Purkayastha recently won the State ofConnecticut’s Outstanding ImmigrantAward, in recognition of her advocacyon behalf of the South Asian immi-grant community of CT. She alsoreceived the 2004 UConn Woman ofColor Award for Excellence inLeadership, Achievement andService. Her new book NegotiatingEthnicity: Second Generation SouthAsian Americans Traverse aTransnational World takes the samecompelling ideas that she applies tointernational work and focuses thistime on a U.S. population. It is in pro-duction queue for fall 2004 withRutgers Univ. Press.

Visit AsianAmerican.UConn.Edu for more information on our facultyand courses.

Usha Palaniswamy

Bandana Purkayastha


Fall Semester 2004

AASI 215 - Critical Health Issues ofAsian Americans addresses healthissues affecting Asian American popu-lations and discusses current trendsin medical practices in AsianAmerican populations.

AASI 222 - Asian Indian Womenexamines how gender, class and raceand ethnicity structure the everydaylives of Asian Indian women in theU.S. and India. It also examines how Indian women have mobilized to change the social context of their lives.

AASI 274 - Asian AmericanLiterature reviews novels, short sto-ries, drama and poetry by and aboutAsian Americans, and discusses preand post 1965 “waves” of Asian immi-gration and exclusion, and how litera-ture explores the difficulties of dislo-cation and relocation. Also offeredSpring Semester 2005.

AASI 277 - Modern India 1500 tothe Present examines the develop-ment of India from the Mughal andEuropean invasions of the SixteenthCentury to the present. India’sremarkable synthesis of East and West, traditional and new, is the focus.

NEW AASI 298 (1) Special Topics -Asian Americans and the Law intro-duces students to American law,jurisprudence and legal institutionsthat have defined the history of theAsian American experience. Thiscourse will inform students about thelegal context of Asian American histo-ry in the United States, and will intro-duce them to the literature of thisfield, teaching them to critically reviewprimary and secondary sources. Thiscourse will broaden students’ under-standing of the history of U.S. minori-ties and the history of U.S. racism.

NEW AASI 298 (2) Special Topics –Researching Asian AmericanStudies is designed for a dual pur-pose. First, students will read and dis-cuss some outstanding research inthe field of Asian American Studies.Second, students will study and prac-tice social science methodology andtechniques in the process of conduct-ing their own research. The basics ofqualitative research will be coveredand then some of the branchingstrategies such as ethnography andbiography and historiography will beexplored, and the emergence of newpossibilities will be attended by refer-ence to constructivism, critical theory,the humanities and ethnic epistemolo-gy. Students will be encouraged toinform their own research processwith these contemporary openings.

Hira Jain Scholarship Payal VachhaniThe second semester, Dean’s List, pre-pharmacy major Payal Vachhani, is the first Hira Jain Scholar. Shereceived an award of $500 and met with the donors on March 26, 2004. Dr.Hira C. Jain and Mrs. Sunita Jain established the endowment fund scholar-ship to recognize academically outstanding students at UConn.

Spring Semester 2005

AASI 201 - Introduction to AsianAmerican Studies is an interdiscipli-nary course that provides a generalintroduction to major themes in AsianPacific American Studies throughreadings and class discussions, guestspeakers, group projects, visits tocommunity organizations and videoscreenings. This course exploresissues of identity, history and community, as well as aspects ofwhat constitutes Asian American artand culture.

AASI 216 - Asian Medical Systemsexamines traditional medical systemsof Asian origin and their prevalence inthe US. This course discusses themost popular Asian medical systems:Ayurveda; traditional Chinese medi-cine; Chinese, Indian and Japaneseherbal medicine; and the values andbeliefs of the different models.

NEW AASI 294 - Asian AmericanExperiences in the U.S. is an intro-ductory survey of Asian Americanexperiences in the United Statessince 1850, when the first “wave” ofAsian immigrants arrived in the coun-try of “Golden Mountains.” Thecourse examines ways in which AsianAmericans have responded to bothopportunities and discriminations inthe new land. While acknowledgingthe rich and complex experiences ofAsian Americans, the course focuseson one issue: does the history of theso-called “model minorities” substan-tiate the popular ideal of the UnitedStates as a “melting pot?”

Course Offerings 2004 - 2005

Dr. Hira C. Jain, Payal Vachhani, Mrs. Sunita Jain

Fall 2004 ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 15

Jeyaseela Stephen

Asian American Faculty & Staff Association80-20 Initiative’s S.B. WooDr. S.B. Woo, Co-founder and President of the 80-20 Initiative, addressedthe importance of Asian American participation in the presidential electionin November 2004, at a luncheon hosted by UConn’s Asian AmericanFaculty and Staff Association, co-sponsored by the Asian American CulturalCenter and AASI, on April 26, 2004. A retired physics professor and formerLt. Governor of Delaware, S.B. Woo easily navigates between the world ofacademics and political players. He is keen to rally Asian Americans to getover their various tribalisms, “to overcome our own inertia,” to develop thenecessary political clout. 80-20 is a national, nonpartisan, Political ActionCommittee dedicated to winning equal opportunity and justice for all AsianPacific Americans through a swing bloc vote, ideally directing 80% of thecommunity’s votes and money to the presidential candidate endorsed by80-20.

AASI Co-sponsors Women’s Studies ConferenceKeynote Speaker Robin ChandlerEntitled “Arousing the Lioness in the Forest: Moving Toward a CriticalScholarship of Service, Solidarity and Sisterhood,” Associate Prof. ofSociology and Chair of African American Studies at Northeastern Univ.Robin Chandler said on April 3, 2004, that the “only thing that will move alioness into ferocity is a threat to her cubs, that she would give her life inservice for those she loves. The wolf is in the house, and it is time to fight,to transcend the particularities. We would be smart to prepare for battle notalong the lines of gender but along lines of service, in order to fight domin-ion.” Her call to action includes partnership with the nonacademic communi-ty and with men, activism through the arts, and sharing the suffering ofother women.

Masala: Diversity & Democracy in South Asian Art Contemporary Artists of the DiasporaFeaturing an eclectic collection of contemporary art and photography, folkand pop-culture art from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,the exhibition, which ran from January 31 to April 9, 2004, was curated bySchool of Fine Arts Prof. Kathryn Myers. Incorporating the work of contem-porary artists of the South Asian diaspora, the panel discussion on March 1,focused on the work of Sarina Khan Reddy (media/film); Siona Benjamin(painting); Annu Palakunnathu Matthew (photography); and Vijay Kumar(printmaking). The panel was moderated by Asst. Prof. Margo Machida,who opened her remarks with “What does it mean to carry one’s house onone’s back?” To engage the questions of identity, tradition and culture(s) is,she said, “a matter of making conscious decisions about how to constructone’s sense of place and attachments in the world.”

Faculty and ScholarExchange Program Visva-Bharati / TagoreUniversityDr. Jeyaseela Stephen, Chair of Dept.of History at Visva-Bharati, WestBengal, India visited UConn on March18 and 19, 2004 to formalize the fac-ulty and scholar exchange programbetween the Asian American StudiesInstitute and Tagore University as out-lined in a memorandum of under-standing agreed to by all parties inOctober of 2002. The program isintended to promote networks ofknowledge towards a globally inclu-sive world. Among other things, bothinstitutions have also agreed to organ-ize seminars and courses to promoteactive research in a variety of disci-plines and to establish a distance edu-cation component that utilizes digitaldatabase collections of oral historiesand other materials related to under-served populations in both countries.Dr. Stephen met with Vice Provost ofMulticultural and International Affairs,Ron Taylor, and faculty, students andstaff of the Asian American CulturalCenter and AASI.

R. Malla, M. Machida, C. Tian, J. Joshi, S.B. Woo, Chwen’hwa Luh, P. Luh, J. Yang

Asian American Studies MinorStudents are required to take the Introduction to Asian American Studies course and complete 18 credits to qualify. All courses are at the 200-level. Contact us for the Plan of Study and list of Approved Courses.

255600University of ConnecticutAsian American Studies Institute354 Mansfield Road, Unit-2091Storrs, CT 06269-2091

16.............................................................................................................................................................................................................The Asian American

Author Bill Mullen reads from hisnew book Afro Orientalism, Univ.of Minnesota Press in November2004.

Sponsors include The AsianAmerican Studies Institute & theAsian American Cultural Center

Visit AsianAmerican.uconn.edufor updated information.

Asian American Studies

Institute 2003 – 2004

Beach Hall, Room 416Phone: 860. 486. 4751

[email protected]

http://asianamerican.uconn.edu

Faculty & Staff

Director & Prof. of HistoryRoger N. Buckley

Asst. Prof. of Art & Art History Margo Machida

Asst. Prof of Allied HealthUsha Palaniswamy

Asst. Prof of Sociology Bandana Purkayastha

Program SpecialistFe Delos-Santos

Administrative AssistantMaxine Smestad-Haines

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