Prof. Zai Liang's presentation focuses on the substantial challenges faced by small businesses in Manhattan Chinatown and the subsequent transitions they have made in the post-Covid pandemic era. Attendees will gain insights into the key findings conducted during Summer 2025 by the specialized research team from SUNY Albany, in collaboration with t…

Prof. Aleah Ranjitingh will present her research on Chinese-Caribbean immigrants in the United States, and the ways in which they understand self in terms of race and ethnicity. Centering on identity formation as persons of Chinese descent, but also with a distinct ethnic identity as voluntary immigrants from the Caribbean (Rogers 2001), Prof. Ranj…

Japans global appeal is undeniablebut how well do official narratives match what international audiences actually want? Drawing on his role as a Cool Japan Producer for the Japanese Cabinet Office, Benjamin W. Boas highlights the need to shift from a government-branded Cool Japan paradigm to the more participatory, fan-driven Your Japan. He examine…

In Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community (Stanford University Press, 2024), historian William Gow argues that Chinese Americans in Los Angeles strategically used their performances in both Hollywood films and Chinatown tourist attractions to influence perceptions of race and national identity durin…

Vina Orden will present on her essay in CUNY FORUM Volume 11:1, examining how narratives in popular media can perpetuate or challenge existing power structures and colonial mentalities. Orden explores this through the complex dynamics behind the pop culture success of comics like The United States of Captain America. Her analysis delves into the di…

Much queer theory in America is based on white male experience and privilege, excluding people of color and severely limiting its relevance to third-world activism. Within the last three decades, chronicles from gay lesbian bisexual transgender intersex queer (GLBTIQ) communities within the South Asian diaspora in the United States have appeared, b…

Francisco Delgado will read and discuss his novella, On Remembering My Friends, My First Job, and My Second-Favorite Weezer CD (TRP: The University Press of SHSU, July 2025). Winner of the 2024 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize, the book tells the story of Cody Taitano, a CHamoru man who reflects on his teenage years in 1999 while navigating the complexi…

Team Community Compass addressed the challenges faced by Asian immigrants in New York City with limited English proficiency, who struggle with language and cultural barriers when navigating the healthcare system. Initial community engagement, including a survey in three languages, revealed that while language-specific providers were often accessibl…

Team Amplify focused on addressing the digital struggles of Asian-owned small businesses, particularly restaurants, that were challenged by the post-pandemic relaunch. The projects core hypothesis was that improving a restaurants digital visibility would increase foot traffic, attract delivery customers, improve brand recognition, and strengthen cu…

Leekyung Kang, the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Queens College School of Arts (Fall 2024), will present on her recent work inspired by Buddhist cosmology's cyclical nature, creating a series of paintings, print, and installation that interrogate the formal aspects of what is architecturally defined as a form of chamber. Beginning with the v…

Join the celebration! AAARIs annual fundraiser is attended by Asian and non-Asian academic, business, civic and community leaders, faculty, staff and students. At the gala, AAARI will be honoring distinguished CUNY alumni, leaders from the community, and student scholarship recipients. Proceeds from the gala go towards AAARIs academic publications …

The Asian American / Asian Research Institutes 2025 symposium, co-organized with NYU Steinhardt, explores the intersections of identity, culture, history, and systemic factors in shaping mental health experiences within Asian and Asian American communities. Centered around three key themes, the symposium aims to address both longstanding and emergi…

The Asian American / Asian Research Institutes 2025 symposium, co-organized with NYU Steinhardt, explores the intersections of identity, culture, history, and systemic factors in shaping mental health experiences within Asian and Asian American communities. Centered around three key themes, the symposium aims to address both longstanding and emergi…

The Asian American / Asian Research Institutes 2025 symposium, co-organized with NYU Steinhardt, explores the intersections of identity, culture, history, and systemic factors in shaping mental health experiences within Asian and Asian American communities. Centered around three key themes, the symposium aims to address both longstanding and emergi…

Join us to celebrate the Asian American / Asian Research Institutes 24th anniversary as part of The City University of New York! AAARIs fundraising gala will convene over 200 supporters, community leaders, and advocates committed to uplifting and advancing the Asian American Pacific Islander community. In line with our mission, this years event wil…

Join pioneering LGBTQ+ activist Daniel C. Tsang for a special conversation reflecting on his 50 years of activism, including his groundbreaking 1975 article Gay Awareness in Bridge Magazine, one of the first to address LGBTQ+ issues in the Asian American community. Tsang will discuss the evolution of LGBTQ+ rights, his personal journey, and the ong…

This panel discusses the "Localized History Project," which addresses the lack of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) history in New York State's Eurocentric, test-driven curriculum. The Project advocates for both a "content and pedagogical revolution" to shift who is perceived as a historian and knowledge creator. The Pr…

In Decoding Ambedkar, Prof. Vivek Kumar re-examines Dr. B.R. Ambedkars vast intellectual contributions, challenging his reductive portrayal in Indian academia and media. It contrasts his domestic erasure with the significant global recognition of his ideas on society, politics, and justice. By analyzing his unique theories on the Hindu social order…

Since 2004, the CUNY Asian American Film Festival (AAFF) has celebrated the creativity and vision of student filmmakers from across the City University of New York. With over $15,400 in cash prizes awarded to CUNY students from City College, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, Lehman College, College of Staten Island, Queens College, and New York Cit…

Join the Asian American / Asian Research Institute for a special AANHPI Heritage Month screening of the documentary Chinatown Rising, followed by Q and A with co-director Josh Chuck.โดย Josh Chuk

Much queer theory in America is based on white male experience and privilege, excluding people of color and severely limiting its relevance to third-world activism. Within the last three decades, chronicles from gay lesbian bisexual transgender intersex queer (GLBTIQ) communities within the South Asian diaspora in the United States have appeared, b…

How does racism influence the formation and development of organizational life in a racialized community? In this paper, Prof. Simon Yamawaki Shachter extends on Du Boiss concept of double consciousness to explain community organizations roles and development. Combined with the concepts of oppositional consciousness from social movements and decoup…

Join Densho and the Localized History Project for a virtual workshop exploring the histories and stories of young Japanese Americans impacted by wartime incarceration. The workshop will share histories of schooling and resistance during Japanese American incarceration, the enduring legacies of this history in New York State, and how Densho utilizes…

Cherry Lou Sys debut novel Love Cant Feed You (Dutton, 2024) is a heartfelt and poignant exploration of love, sacrifice, and survival in the face of adversity. It follows the journey of a young immigrant woman from the Philippines having to navigate the complexities of a challenging relationship while grappling with the harsh realities of her life.…

This presentation examines survey results from three screenings of The Cost of Living (2023, Sixty First Productions), a documentary highlighting the financial struggles of three families in Flushing. The film is part of the Undo Poverty: Flushing (UPF) collaboratives efforts to combat poverty and reduce stigma through a narrative change approach. …

Migrant workers have long been called upon to sacrifice their own health to provide care in facilities and private homes throughout the United States. What draws them to such exploitative, low-wage work, and how do they care for themselves? In Caring for Caregivers: Filipina Migrant Workers and Community Building during Crisis (University of Washin…

Co-editors Nicholas D. Hartlep, Terrell L. Strayhorn, and Fred A. Bonner II will present on Belonging in Higher Education: Perspectives and Lessons from Diverse Faculty (Routledge, 2024), a new book that illuminates autoethnographic stories of belonging in higher education in the United States. These narratives celebrate diverse experiences and off…

Co-curator Prof. Jayne Cole Southard will present on the exhibition, Legacies: Asian American Art Movements in New York City (1969-2001), an expansive survey of rarely-seen artwork and archival material by artists that constitute and exceed Asian American, a label denoting a cultural and national identity invented in 1968. Utilizing an interdiscipl…

This panel presentation introduces an ongoing project to recover and translate the Japanese-language writings of the Issei novelist and teacher Ginko Okazaki (pen-name of Masue Shinozaki Orimo, 1895-1973). Ginko was part of a cohort of highly educated Japanese women who emigrated to the United States in the 1920s. Alan K. Ota, nephew of Ginkos daug…

Prof. Christine Balance, the 2024 CUNY Thomas Tam Visiting Professor at the CUNY Graduate Center, will present ongoing research and writing from her book project, Making Sense of Martial Law. In it, she studies what the diverse and contradictory poetics of Philippine martial law (1972-1986) perform and reveal about authoritarianism and cultural mem…

Join the Asian American / Asian Research Institute, and the Committee on Institutional Equity and Diversity (CIED) at the CUNY School of Professional Studies, for a screening of the documentary, But Youre Not Black (2020), directed by Danilelle Ayow. Following the screening will be a discussion with our guest scholar speaker Dr. Aleah N. Ranjitsing…

Popular discourse around British Muslims has often been dominated by a focus on Muslim women and their sartorial choices, particularly the hijab and niqab. Dr. Fatima Rajina takes a different angle and focuses on Muslim men, examining how factors like the global war on terror influenced and changed their sartorial choices and use of language. Rajin…

Author/professor Aruni Kashyap will read from his new story collection, The Way You Want to Be Loved (Gaudy Boy, 2024).โดย Aruni Kashyap

For October, Filipino American History Month, the Asian American / Asian Research Institute is excited to uplift the voices of student researchers and activists. During this interactive workshop, attendees will hear from Gabriela Sagun, a Ph.D. Student at Duke University studying Security, Peace, and Conflict, with a focus on conflict-related viole…

Prof. Manu Bhagavan will present his biography, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (Penguin, 2023), based on eight years of research and using material in five languages from seven countries and over forty archives. Pandit the most remarkable woman Eleanor Roosevelt had ever met, was a pioneering politician and diplomat celebrated internationally for her brilli…

Representatives from Seneca Insurance Company, the Hartford Insurance Company, and director of the Columbia University Masters in Insurance Management program, will discuss careers in the insurance industry and how they are not only an intricate part of everyday life, but also an exciting and rewarding career path for CUNY students.…

Catherine Chung and Johnny Nguyen (Asian Women For Health), and Preston Dang (Western University-College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific), will discuss their current collaborative two-year research study project, ACCESS-PD: Advancing Comprehensive Care and Enhancing ServiceStandardsin Parkinsons Disease among Asian Americans.…

Poet and editor Russell C. Leong will read from MothSutra, based upon drawings and poetry about an Asian delivery man who rides a bicycle throughout Manhattan as he cycles through his life from East to West. Leong hopes to evoke the inner lives, meditations, hopes and dreams of persons generally invisible to those who order takeout. MothSutra was f…

Born 1941 in Oakland, Californias Chinatown, William Gee Wong is the only son of his father, known as Pop. Born in Guangdong Province, China, Pop emigrated to Oakland as a teenager during the Chinese Exclusion era in 1912 and entered the U.S. legally as the son of a native, despite having partially false papers. 'Sons of Chinatown' is Wongs evocati…

Since 2004, the CUNY Asian American Film Festival (AAFF) has recognized and awarded over $14,900 in cash prizes to student filmmakers enrolled at the City University of New York, including City College, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, Lehman College, College of Staten Island, and Queens College. The CUNY AAFF helps to promote the artistic visual …

For this symposium, AAARI has invited students, scholars, community organizers, and/or practitioners to share their innovative research and creative works, pedagogical projects, programmatic efforts, and other activities that address the broad scope of AAPI Identities."โดย Yung-Yi Diana Pan, Lili Shi and Betty Yu

For this symposium, AAARI has invited students, scholars, community organizers, and/or practitioners to share their innovative research and creative works, pedagogical projects, programmatic efforts, and other activities that address the broad scope of AAPI Identities."โดย Yung-Yi Diana Pan, Chaumtoli Huq and Sudha Setty

For this symposium, AAARI has invited students, scholars, community organizers, and/or practitioners to share their innovative research and creative works, pedagogical projects, programmatic efforts, and other activities that address the broad scope of AAPI Identities."โดย Yung-Yi Diana Pan, Linta Varghese and Rohan Zhou-Lee

For this symposium, AAARI has invited students, scholars, community organizers, and/or practitioners to share their innovative research and creative works, pedagogical projects, programmatic efforts, and other activities that address the broad scope of AAPI Identities."โดย Yung-Yi Diana Pan and Grace Lee

For this symposium, AAARI has invited students, scholars, community organizers, and/or practitioners to share their innovative research and creative works, pedagogical projects, programmatic efforts, and other activities that address the broad scope of AAPI Identities."โดย Frank Wu

Hong Kong was a key battlefield in Asia's cultural cold war. After 1948-1949, an influx of filmmakers, writers, and intellectuals from mainland China transformed British Hong Kong into a hub for mass entertainment and popular publications. Hong Kong Media and Asia's Cold War discusses how Communist China, Nationalist Taiwan, and the U.S. fought to …

On a hot summer day, Wang Guiping attended her divorce trial at the Xiqing Peoples Tribunal. Taking an unfaithful spouse to court would, Guiping thought, help her end a hopeless relationship and actualize her lawful rights upon divorce. Later that day, Guiping would find herself betrayed not only by her husband, but by the court system and her own …

Based on his new book, this presentation explores the recent history of Chinese immigration within the United States and the fundamental changes in spatial settlement that have relocated many low-skilled Chinese immigrants from New York Citys Chinatown to new immigrant destinations. Using a mixed-method approach over a decade in Chinatown and six d…

In The Children of this Madness, Gemini Wahhaj pens a complex tale of modern Bengalis, one that illuminates the recent histories not only of Bangladesh, but America and Iraq. Told in multiple voices over successive eras, this is the story of Nasir Uddin and his daughter Beena, and the intersection of their distant, vastly different lives.…

There is a growing consensus that the discipline of sociology and the social sciences broadly need to engage more thoroughly with the legacy and the present day of colonialism, Indigenous/settler colonialism, imperialism, and racial capitalism in the United States and globally. In Disciplinary Futures, edited by Nadia Y. Kim and Pawan Dhingra, a cr…