Scholars & Affiliates

A/P/A Institute Visiting Scholars 2022-23
Asian/Pacific/American Studies Assistant Professor & Visiting Scholar Working Group
Asian/Pacific/American Graduate Student Working Group
A/P/A BRIDGE
A/P/A Reads
Graduate Scholars in A/P/A Archives
A/P/A Alumni Group

Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program in the NYU Department of Social and Cultural Analysis

Since 1996, the Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program In the NYU Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, together with the A/P/A Institute at NYU, has been the home for students, faculty, staff, and alumni who sought to collaboratively explore the complex A/P/A experience — deciphering the present, reclaiming the past, and anticipating the future. Ten years later, in September 2005, the A/P/A Studies Program, together with NYU’s Programs in Africana Studies, American Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Latino Studies, and Metropolitan Studies, came together to form a new, interdisciplinary, one-of-a-kind Department of Social & Cultural Analysis (SCA). A/P/A Studies offers a minor and major course of study, and boasts a growing list of accomplished faculty. While the Program and Institute have become separate entities since A/P/A Studies became part of the SCA Department, they still work closely together to collaborate on exciting conferences, events, and new research. Learn more about the A/P/A Studies Program in the Department of Social & Cultural Analysis. The Asian/Pacific/American Studies Research Guide is an NYU Libraries directory of books, special collections, and online resources related to A/P/A Studies.

Affiliated Faculty

A/P/A Institute Visiting Scholars 2022-23

The A/P/A Institute at NYU Visiting Scholar Program extends specified courtesy titles and privileges to scholars of distinction who visit the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University in order to engage in research and scholarship, and in general scholarly and cultural interaction with New York University’s faculty and students. Learn more and apply here.

Tomie Arai will co-curate, with Diane Wong, Archive as Memorial. Created by, for, and about A/P/A communities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise in anti-Asian violence, this in-person and digital exhibition will showcase artifacts and interviews from A/P/A Voices: A COVID-19 Public Memory Project. The exhibition, which received Asian Women’s Giving Circle Arts and Activism Grant, will serve as an interactive gathering space for A/P/A communities to process, heal, memorialize, and dream during a time of immense trauma.

Neilesh Bose will work on Lands of Liberty, Countries of License: The Life of Taraknath Das, 1884 – 1958, a biographical book centered around Taraknath Das, an early twentieth century Indian migrant, nationalist, and revolutionary active in the US during the era of Asian exclusion. Bose will explore the effects of immigration law, anti-colonialist movements in North America, and global histories of migration on South Asian migrants in the US during the early twentieth century. While at NYU, he will also collaborate with Barnard College and Loyola Marymount University to convene a conference titled, Labor of Love: Performance and Politics in the South Asian Diaspora, in September 2022.

Ching Ming Cheung will digitize a selection of photographs and films that she has taken over the past fifty years to develop a project entitled, “Chronology of a Life in Photographs.” These selected photographs and films document immigrant stories in New York City, the downtown NYC Arts Movement, and Hong Kong in transition from 1978-1986.

Begoña Simal-González will work on writings surrounding environmental criticism and A/P/A literature and culture, which build upon their previous work, Ecocriticism and Asian American Literature. In particular, Simal-González will research the function of waste and hoarding in A/P/A texts, which will be part of a new project, “LYG2: Communities of Waste.”

Daniel H. Inouye will conduct research on a book project that examines the origins and early history (1910-20) of Japanese American social movements and struggles for civil rights in the face of anti-Japanese sentiment in the western US. Inouye’s investigation also explores the impact of the alien land laws in California. 

Sue Jeong Ka will continue to conduct research for The Un/Banned Image Library: A Case of Japanese Manga, part of her ongoing project on banned books in US prisons. Through her research, Ka aims to reveal that the banning of manga reflects broader patterns of prison censorship’s racial, social, and cultural discrimination.

As an extension of her work as the 2022-23 Writer-in-Residence, E. Tammy Kim will draw on NYU faculty members and archives to research the US-South Korea military relationship. Her essay project combines reporting and family history to update our understanding of the binational “alliance” and power relations in the Pacific. 

Audrea Lim

Runchao Liu will work on her/their book project, Sounding Orientalism: Radical Sounds and Affects from Asian American Women Who Rock, which offers a counter-narrative against the discourse of Asian American rock music as a novelty and the myth of Asian American apoliticism. In addition, Liu will dive into NYU’s Riot Grrrl Collection and the A/P/A Institute at NYU’s archival materials to gather additional primary sources for the project’s work on Asian American musical activism and critique on the unrepresentability of Asian bodies in the American rock music landscape and in history.

Margo Machida will conduct research at the NYU Fales Library and Special Collections on the late Chinese American painter Martin Wong (1946-1999), and other Asian American artists and artist collectives active in the downtown New York arts communities from the 1970s through the 1990s.

Minh Nguyen will develop a series of writings on communitarian art and cultural production across Asia and its diasporas with particular focus on regions with historic memories of communism, such as China, Vietnam, and Indonesia. “Communitarian” broadly refers to collective working modes, self-organized education, and engagements with state-official and countercultural socialist aesthetics.

Jennifer Pranolo will draw from the A/P/A collections at NYU to develop a pedagogical archive for teaching and writing about the intersection of emerging technologies and Asian American new media art. She will also conduct research for an article on the work of the artist Ian Cheng entitled, “The User and the Digital Subaltern: Ian Cheng’s AI Mythologies,” which will be part of a larger project on the history and aesthetics of simulation in contemporary art, cinema, and computational culture.

Maya Singhal will continue their ethnographic and historical research on African American and Chinese American crime, criminalization, and mutual aid in New York City. Their dissertation, Yellow Peril, Black Power, explores the various ways that crime can work as a form of mutual aid—a set of practices around which people collaborate to secure resources, protection, and social mobility—in the absence of, or in opposition to, the state.

Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz will conduct interviews and archival research on Asian American and Pacific Islander communities’ labor towards liberation. These interviews and research will be part of a larger oral history and public art commissioned project and body of work.

Jacinda Tran will research the transnational and transhistorical visual archives of US intervention in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam to complete her American Studies dissertation, “Search and Destroy: Southeast Asia/ns through the Lens of US Visual Warfare.” By analyzing the urban and imperial topographies of Southeast Asian racial formation during and after the so-called Vietnam War, “Search and Destroy” considers technologies of visualization alongside wartime violence, militarized rescue, national securitization efforts, and refugee resettlement. While at NYU, Tran will also analyze the circulation of visual warfare through a range of lenses such as aerial surveillance, chemical deforestation, photojournalism, and interracial conflict, among others.

 

View a list of previous Visiting Scholars. 

Asian/Pacific/American Studies Assistant Professor & Visiting Scholar Working Group

The Asian/Pacific/American Studies Assistant Professor & Visiting Scholar Working Group was founded in Fall 2018 to support NYU junior faculty and post-doctoral scholars working in the field of A/P/A Studies. The group, which will relaunch in Spring 2023, meets at the A/P/A Institute at NYU for co-writing sessions, book chapter and article workshops, and professional development conversations. If you are an NYU faculty member or post-doc interested in joining the group, please email apa.rsvp@nyu.edu.

Asian/Pacific/American Graduate Student Working Group

The A/P/A Graduate Student Working Group is an interdepartmental and interdisciplinary working group for graduate students interested in and/or working on Asian/Pacific/American Studies broadly defined. If you are a graduate student interested in joining the group, please email amitam@nyu.edu.

A/P/A BRIDGE Program

 

MISSION

A/P/A BRIDGE was created by Asian/Pacific/American (A/P/A) student leaders through the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU to cultivate “A/P/A” as a political identity. The group serves to foster spaces for the discussion of race, identity, and politics; and develop community organizing and leadership skills through:

Community Building: Building intentional community by exploring the complexities and diversity of A/P/A as both a political and cultural identity
Education & Dialogue: Fostering open dialogue around race, culture, identity, and activism in efforts to educate ourselves and our communities
Leadership Development: Developing leadership skills and making connections with NYU and NYC organizations to work towards social change

APPLY

A/P/A BRIDGE seeks a diverse group of undergraduate student leaders from various backgrounds (race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, spirituality, academic study, and class). Applicants with a range of experiences are encouraged to apply, and we welcome all applicants with an interest in issues affecting A/P/A communities.

The application form for the 2022-23 cohort of A/P/A BRIDGE is now closed. The 2023-24 application will be posted here in Fall 2023.


HISTORY

In January 2011, three NYU A/P/A Studies majors appealed to the A/P/A Institute at NYU for support and guidance to develop an A/P/A leadership program for NYU undergraduate students. Since then, A/P/A BRIDGE was created and continues to support NYU undergraduates in their education around issues of race and racism, culture, identity, and more.

A/P/A Reads

Launched in Fall 2020, A/P/A Reads is a virtual book club for NYU students with an interest in Asian American and Pacific literature. Members meet monthly to discuss selected works, and engage in meaningful dialogue together. To join the group, please complete this form.

 

Graduate Scholars in A/P/A Archives

The Graduate Student Employee in Archives at the A/P/A Institute (A/P/A) works on collection building efforts while simultaneously pursuing a Master of Arts degree in the Archives and Public History Program in the History Department at New York University. As part of A/P/A’s ongoing commitment to documenting and preserving A/P/A history, the grad student will help to create and build access to A/P/A collections of the New York area. The student serves as a key resource connecting A/P/A’s network of scholars, researchers, activists, archivists, librarians, artists, curators, and community members with archives.

Gracia Brown, 2021-22
Gracia’s research interests include the East Asian diaspora in the US and Latin America, Critical Mixed Race Studies, and art activism. As a Graduate Scholar in A/P/A Archives, Gracia will organize and digitize A/P/A Institute at NYU’s Basement Workshop Records and assist with the ongoing A/P/A Voices: A COVID-19 Public Memory Project. She is from San Francisco.

Pooja Desai, 2016-17
As the A/P/A Institute Graduate Archives Scholar, Pooja will continue work on cataloging, preserving, and digitizing the video portion of the Jack G. Shaheen Collection on Arabs in U.S. Film and Television for which she created a master inventory in summer 2016. She will also help to assess collections for potential donation to NYU and facilitate intake for new archival material.

Paul Tran, September-December 2015
Paul co-curated, with the Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY), an exhibition to celebrate the organization’s 25th anniversary and to mark the donation of their records to the NYU Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Archives.

Alexandra Giffen, 2013-15
As a Graduate Scholar in A/P/A Archives, Alexandra processed the Yun Gee Papers at the NYU Fales Library & Special Collections and began working on developing digital galleries of A/P/A collections at NYU.

Janice Liao, 2011-13
Inspired by her introduction to archival research during her undergraduate years at NYU, Janice pursued her interest in archives as the Graduate Scholar in A/P/A Archives from 2011-13. One of her major achievements during her first year was assisting with A/P/A Institute’s first NEH-funded Summer Institute, “Re-envisioning American Art History: Asian American Art, Research, and Teaching.” In her second year, she processed the Midori Shimanouchi Lederer Papers.

D. Daniel Kim, 2010-12
D. Daniel Kim worked on the Documentary Heritage Project and assisted in bringing the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and Asian American Arts Centre archives to the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.  Daniel co-curated the A/P/A traveling exhibit Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986 based on the William F. Wu Comic Book Collection housed at The Fales Library & Special Collections at NYU.

Amita Manghnani, 2009-11
As the Graduate Scholar in A/P/A Archives, Amita worked on the Documentary Heritage Archives Survey, identifying existing and potential archival collections relating to the history of A/P/A communities in New York City. She curated A is for Arab a traveling exhibition featuring items from the Jack G. Shaheen Archive, and edited the accompanying publication.

Y.H. Nancy Ng Tam, 2008-10
At the A/P/A Institute, Ng Tam worked on the Documentary Heritage Project, surveyed collections relating to the New York A/P/A community. She has also assisted on a range of projects relating to A/P/A Archives, including processing the George Yuzawa Papers, sorting of the Yoshio Kishi / Irene Yah Ling Sun Collection, and managing the active files of the East Coast Asian American Art Project.

Hillel Arnold, 2008-9
Joining A/P/A Institute as a second year graduate student in the Archives & Public History Program, Hillel Arnold served as a starting member of the Documentary Heritage Project team alongside I-Ting Emily Chu and Y.H. Nancy Ng Tam.  With extensive archives processing and surveying experience from Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives as well as the Woody Guthrie Archives, Arnold was instrumental in helping to jumpstart the DHP.

I-Ting Emily Chu, 2007-9
Emily’s research focus concentrates on Asian/Pacific/American women, activism, and archives. While at A/P/A Institute, Emily co-curated Art, Archives and Activism: Martin Wong’s Downtown Crossings, and was a member of the Documentary Heritage Project team that surveyed Asian American collections in New York.

Dylan Yeats, 2005-7
While at A/P/A Institute, Dylan co-curated The Archivist of the Yellow Peril and curated Persistent Light: Eugenia Sumiye Okoshi and George Mukai. He also worked on the Yoshio Kishi / Irene Yah Ling Sun archive collection and wrote the essay titled “Documenting Exclusion and the Logic of Difference” for the book Yellow Peril: Collecting Xenophobia published by A/P/A Institute, 2008.

A/P/A Alumni Group

The Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program and Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU were founded together in 1996 after a group of dedicated students, faculty, and staff lobbied the administration for a program and place they could call their own. Indeed, we would not be here today—offering an A/P/A Studies major and minor, hiring and supporting faculty and staff, providing public events and programming, and building a major research archive—had it not been for these students. We want to hear from you—whether you majored/minored in A/P/A Studies, took a class, attended an event, or want to get involved now. Please feel free to email us at apa.alum@nyu.edu or complete our alumni form.