Americanist Dinner Forum: Foundations and New Directions in Asian American Studies
Since its inception, Ethnic Studies has contributed to innumerable scholarly and political projects in the struggle to reimagine and actualize a more just and equitable society. The recent rise in discursive and physical violence against historically oppressed communities of color signals a renewed urgency to support and expand curricular offerings across Ethnic Studies subfields. This panel brings together faculty and students to celebrate the recent union between the American Culture Studies Program and the Asian American Studies Minor at WashU. Panelists will critically revisit the rise of Asian American Studies and its distinctive social movement roots, as well as reflect on the development of the Minor program on campus. Informed by these historical foundations, panelists will offer emergent perspectives to reimagine the scholarly and political objectives of the field. Importantly, they will also consider the future of Asian American Studies programs at WashU and beyond.
This Americanist Dinner Forum has been organized by Daniel K. Woo, postdoctoral fellow in the American Culture Studies Program. The panel will be moderated by Zachary Manditch-Prottas, lecturer in American Culture Studies and African and African American Studies. He earned his Ph.D. in African American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. His research and teaching work at the nexus of African American literature, Black cultural studies, and gender and sexuality studies.
Linling Gao-Miles is a senior lecturer in Global Studies. She received her graduate training at Nagoya University, in Japan, with a focus on intercultural studies and ethnographic research on Chinese migration, identity, and multiculturalism. Gao-Miles has published on identity among children of Chinese immigrants as well as on emerging suburban ethnic neighborhoods in Australia. Her teaching and research interests broadly lie in culture and identity, transnationalism and global migration (global Chinese migration to traditional immigrant countries in the West, in particular), and the impact of transnationalism and migration on global consumer cultures and transnational spatial formations.
Gao-Miles worked on developing the Asian American Studies minor in 2015-16 while simultaneously launching the Asian American Speaker Series. She led the Asian American Studies minor from 2016 (when it was established) to 2022 (when the minor was transferred to AMCS). She has served on different university committees including the Commission on Diversity and Inclusion, a university-wide initiative, from 2015-2017 as a Vice Chair.
Chris A. Eng is an Assistant Professor of English and faculty affiliate of the American Culture Studies Program and Asian American Studies Minor at WashU. His research explores the productive tensions between Asian American studies and queer of color critique and has appeared in such venues as American Quarterly, GLQ, and Journal of Asian American Studies.
Paige McGinley is an Associate Professor of Performing Arts and Director of the American Culture Studies Program. A historian of 20th-century theater and performance, she is currently completing People Get Ready, a study of the ethos and practices of rehearsal in the long civil rights movement.
Maurice Wang (he/him) is a senior from California studying Political Science with a minor in Asian American Studies. He has been passionately involved with Asian student programming as well as Asian student activism throughout the course of his academic career at WashU, including serving as a Co-President for the Asian Multicultural Council, working on the disaggregated data campaign, and facilitating discussions for Asians Demanding Justice. This summer he worked on A People's History of Washington University for his Civic Scholars Program to build a community wiki for student organizing histories and resources. After graduating, he's hoping to explore project management in higher education and/or non-profit organizations.
Daniel K. Woo is a postdoctoral fellow in Ethnic Studies. He received his Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include Asian American Studies, relational race analysis, and Afro Asian politics, specifically in the realms of social movements and popular culture. His book manuscript, tentatively titled Asian Americans in the Cipher, explores how underground Asian American rappers from racially-mixed localities navigate Hip Hop as a critical site of polycultural and Afro Asian community formation.
This event will take place in person in DUC 234. Due to the continuing pandemic, food will not be served and AMCS strongly encourages everyone to wear masks for this event, as some members of our community are immunocompromised.
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