March 23, 2010 | Yvonne Lim Wilson
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All eyes in the field of Asian American studies will be on Austin, Texas in the coming weeks during the annual Asian American Studies Conference, April 7–10. UT Austin’s Center for Asian American Studies is hosting this event that brings together national experts in the field of Asian American Studies.
This year is a special year for the conference as the Association for Asian American Studies celebrates its 30th anniversary and the Center for Asian American Studies at UT Austin celebrates its 10th anniversary.
“It’s a great opportunity to assess the field and to look specifically at Texas,” said Madeline Hsu, UT Center for Asian American Studies director and associate professor.
Texas is home to the third largest population of Asian Pacific Americans, and hosting the conference in Austin is an opportunity to draw attention to Asians in the southern United States, Hsu said.
“The conference encompasses several themes that underscores what is different and important in Texas,” Hsu said.
This year’s conference will take a broader look at Asian migration, highlighting Asian American immigration through South and Central America, as well as through Mexico and the southern United States. Some of the earliest Asians to immigrate to the Americas came through Mexico in 1560 through the Spanish galleon trade, Hsu said.
Vietnamese Americans are another focus of the conference this year since they represent the largest population of Asian Americans in Texas.
Many themes and topics will be covered during the event including religion, South Asian Americans, as well as traditional themes focusing on Chinese and Japanese Americans, literature, cultural studies and film screenings.
During the conference three special awards will be given during the community awards reception. The organization award will be given to SAHELI, an event award to Masashi Niwano of the Austin Asian American Film Festival and the individual award to Amy Wong Mok of the Asian American Cultural Center.
The public is invited to attend and to also take advantage to two free events during the conference. On Friday, April 9 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on the UT Campus, the panel “The UT-10: student activism and ethnic studies” features many of the student protesters who were instrumental in founding the Center for Asian American Studies. On Saturday, April 10 at 2:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. at the Omni Hotel, the plenary “Activism and Asian American Studies” explores the role of activists in establishing ethnic studies programs at universities.
For more information about the conference, visit http://aaastudies.org/2010/index.php
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