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Research and Scholarship

The Department of Asian American Studies congratulates Professor Diane C. Fujino on her new book, Contemporary Asian American Activism: Building Movements for Liberation.  

From the publisher's summary: "In the struggles for prison abolition, global anti-imperialism, immigrant rights, affordable housing, environmental justice, fair labor, and more, twenty-first-century Asian American activists are speaking out and standing up to systems of oppression. Creating emancipatory futures requires collective action and reciprocal relationships that are nurtured over time and forged through cross-racial solidarity and intergenerational connections, leading to a range of on-the-ground experiences.

Bringing together grassroots organizers and scholar-activists, Contemporary Asian American Activism presents lived experiences of the fight for transformative justice and offers lessons to ensure the longevity and sustainability of organizing. In the face of imperialism, white supremacy, racial capitalism, heteropatriarchy, ableism, and more, the contributors celebrate victories and assess failures, reflect on the trials of activist life, critically examine long-term movement building, and inspire continued mobilization for coming generations."

Professor Fujino co-edited this new book with Robyn Magalit Rodriguez, professor and chair of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Davis.

Department Spotlight

Our department would like to give a special shout out to one of our majors, Felix Dong, for publishing his opinion piece This Can’t Keep Happening: Anti-Asian Incidents in the The Bottom Line (March 3, 2022), UCSB's student-run newspaper.

In his article, Felix discusses how traumatic the rise in anti-Asian incidents have been on the Asian American community in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic. He goes on to describe anti-Asian hate crimes in recent history, both in the US and on the UCSB campus. For these reasons, Felix argues, "[w]e cannot keep hearing these names on the news, sending our prayers, and continuing this cycle." He encourages his readers to take action, from calling their representatives to volunteering with community organizations. Most importantly, he argues, we must "spread awareness and talk about what is happening...We must talk about racism and address it, however uncomfortable it may be. These uncomfortable conversations mean addressing our own internal bias, vulnerabilities, and trauma but are also an opportunity for us to come together as a community."

Thank you, Felix, for your illuminating article! We hope it drives more community members to have difficult conversations and take action against anti-Asian hate.