Ronald Takaki, 1939-2009

The Asian American Studies program expresses its profound sorrow at the loss of Ronald Takaki, world-renowned Asian American scholar and public intellectual. He had retired in 2002. After struggling for almost two decades with multiple sclerosis, he died by his own hand on May 26, 2009.

Born on April 12, 1939 in Honolulu, Takaki was the descendent of a sugar plantation laborer who migrated to Hawaii from Japan in the late 19th century. His father died when he was seven years old, so he and his two siblings were raised by his mother and his Chinese stepfather, who operated a Chinese restaurant in Honolulu. In his later years, Takaki would talk about how he had enjoyed surfing more than studying until a Japanese American teacher at Iolani High School encouraged him apply to the College of Wooster in Ohio. At Wooster, he found himself regarded as a foreigner. He became interested in the study of American history. At Wooster, he met his wife Carol Rankin who, together with his three children and seven grandchildren, survive him.

After graduating in history in 1961, Takaki went on to UC Berkeley, where he earned Ph.D. in 1967 in American history with a dissertation on the history of slavery in the U.S. He was hired that year to teach African American history at UCLA. After being denied early tenure, he accepted a position beginning in 1972 in the UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies program, which had emerged from the 1969 campus wide student strike. His classes were popular and well attended, and in 1981 he received a coveted Distinguished Teaching Award.

While he served as Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department from 1975 to 1977, Takaki helped craft an Ethnic Studies major. Later, he worked toward the establishment of an American Cultures requirement that all undergraduates take a course intended to broaden their understanding of racial and ethnic diversity. In the early 1980s, he also helped develop the nation’s first Ph.D. program in Comparative Ethnic Studies. During the past two decades, about 130 graduate students have earned doctoral degrees. They have gone on to become professors at virtually every UC campus. Ethnic Studies alumni can also be found teaching at many state universities in California and in other states from Hawaii and Washington to Delaware and Tennessee. They have also been placed at private universities around the country, from Cornell and NYU on the East Coast to Claremont and USC on the Pacific Coast.

A prodigious scholar, Takaki authored almost a dozen books between the early 1970s and 2002, including the critically acclaimed Iron Cages: Race and Culture in 19th Century America (1979). Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans (1989) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and selected by the New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year and by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the best 100 non-fiction books of the 20th century. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (1993) won the American Book Award. Double Victory: A Multicultural History of America in World War II (2000) was is the first major study of the “Greatest Generation” from the perspectives of our nation’s diverse racial and ethnic minorities. Like many of Takaki’s other works, this book focuses on the voices and viewpoints of ordinary people whose stories are commonly ignored. Takaki also wrote books and conducted workshops for K-12 educators. Indeed, his work has changed the way American history is taught. In 2002, he received the Fred Cody Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement, and in 2009, he was recognized by the Association for Asian American Studies with its Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Besides being awarded the Goldwin Smith University Lectureship and the Distinguished Messenger Lectureship at Cornell University in 1988 and 1993, he received honorary doctorates from Wheelock College, the College of Wooster, Macalester College, Northeastern University, the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts College of Art, and Whitman College. He was invited to lecture in Austria, the Netherlands, Armenia, Russia, South Africa, Japan, and New Zealand.

A prominent advocate of multicultural education, Takaki appeared on such national television programs as the NBC “Today Show,” ABC “This Week with David Brinkley,” CNN “International Hour,” “Cross Fire,” and the PBS “Jim Lehrer Newshour” to discuss issues of race, diversity, multiculturalism, and affirmative action. In 1997, he was asked to advise President Bill Clinton on his major speech on race. Between 1980 and 2004, he faced Nathan Glazer in public debates on the issue of affirmative action at five different universities. In 1997, the Council on Foreign Relations hosted a debate between Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Takaki at the opening plenary session of its conference on America’s diversity and America’s foreign policy.

The Asian American Studies program was honored to have worked with Ronald Takaki.

On behalf of all AAAS members, the AAAS Executive Board and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Asian American Studies, we would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of the late Him Mark Lai. Often called “the dean of Chinese American history,” Professor Him Mark Lai was a self-trained pioneering scholar who worked avidly towards legitimizing Chinese American Studies. His selfless commitment to this field, and to the larger field of Asian American Studies, has made him a great role model for many scholars, teachers, and activists. He leaves a legacy of scholarship and service that will last for generations to come.

Rick Bonus

President

Association for Asian American Studies

————————————

Rick Bonus

Associate Professor

Dept. of American Ethnic Studies

Univ. of Washington

Seattle, WA  98195-4380

(206) 543-3929

On behalf of the executive board and the membership of the Association for Asian American Studies, including the editorial board of the Journal of Asian American Studies, I would like to join the communities of academics and activists who are mourning the loss of Prof. Ronald Takaki.  A most worthy recipient of our association’s most recent Lifetime Achievement Award, Prof. Takaki was a towering figure in Asian American Studies, having pioneered in vividly historicizing the presence of Asians in America, taught countless students in the most critical and inspiring ways, and mentored hundreds of teachers and scholars who themselves have emulated his leadership in many campuses.  His body of work, including his books, essays, lectures, as well as his distinguished record of service to countless communities and families within and outside of academia, represent a most generous legacy of scholarship and service that will hold so many of us in gratitude and admiration. 

Rick Bonus

President

Association for Asian American Studies

——————————————–

Rick Bonus

Associate Professor

Dept. of American Ethnic Studies

Univ. of Washington

Seattle, WA  98195-4380

(206) 543-3929

BERKELEY – Remembering Ron Takaki (AsianWeek) By Beleza Chan

It is with great sadness to announce that Professor Emeritus Ronald Takaki passed away on the evening of May 26th, 2009. He is survived by his wife, Carol Takaki, his three children Dana, Troy, and Todd Takaki, and his grandchildren.

Ron Takaki was one of the most preeminent scholars of our nation’s diversity, and considered “the father” of multicultural studies. As an academic, historian, ethnographer and author, his work helped dispel stereotypes of Asian Americans. In his study of multicultural people’s history in America, Takaki seeked to unite Americans, today and in the future, with each other and with the rest of the world.

He was a professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught over 20,000 students during 34 years of teaching.

Born in 1939, Professor Takaki was the grandson of immigrant Japanese plantation workers in Hawaii. He graduated from the College of Wooster, Ohio, in 1961. Six years later, after receiving his Ph.D. in American history from UC Berkeley, Takaki went to UCLA to teach its first Black history course.

As a Professor, Takaki hoped that his students would learn that skills of critical thinking and effective writing could be used in a revolutionary way. Epistemology, critical thinking, or in Takaki’s words “how do you know, you know, what you know about the America and the world you live in?” was a question Takaki posed to his students to challenge the way they looked at history, current policies, and even life.

In 1972, Professor Takaki returned to Berkeley to teach in the newly instituted Department of Ethnic Studies. His comparative approach to the study of race and ethnicity provided the conceptual framework for the B.A. program and the Ph.D. program in Comparative Ethnic Studies as well as for the university’s multicultural requirement for graduation, known as the American Cultures Requirement.

The Berkeley faculty has honored Professor Takaki with a Distinguished Teaching Award.

Takaki has lectured in Japan, Russia, Armenia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Austria, and South Africa.

He has debated Nathan Glazer and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. on issues such as affirmative action and multicultural education.

Takaki is a fellow of the Society of American Historians; its executive secretary, Mark Carnes stated that Takaki “has re-shaped American history.”

In 1997, Professor Takaki helped President Bill Clinton write his major speech on race, “One America in the 21st Century.”

Professor Takaki was the author of 12 books. Iron Cages: Race and Culture in 19th Century America has been critically acclaimed. Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans has been selected by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the best 100 non-fiction books of the 20th century, and A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America is read on college campuses across the country and has over half a million copies in print.

AsianWeek will be running a series of articles on honoring and remembering Ronald Takaki on AsianWeek.com. If you would like to contribute with written pieces, pictures, or videos, feel free to contact Beleza Chan at belezachan@gmail.com

May 22, 2009

UCLA Asian American Studies Center
Him Mark Lai: Dean of Chinese American History, Passes (1925-2009)

Him Mark Lai, the internationally noted scholar, writer, and “Dean of Chinese American History” was born on November 1, 1925 in San Francisco’s Chinatown.  His ten books, more than 100 essays, and research in English and Chinese on all aspects of Chinese American life are published and cited in the U.S., the Americas, China, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

Lai was a member of Amerasia Journal’s editorial board for more than 30 years and a contributing writer.  Among his works published by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press are: A History Reclaimed: An Annotated Bibliography of Chinese Language Materials on the Chinese of America (1986); in 2000 Amerasia  Journal published his autobiographical essay: “Musings of a Chinese American Historian.”

With the writer Ruthanne Lum McCunn, historian Judy Yung, and editor Russell C. Leong serving as the co-editors, the UCLA Asian American Center Press will be publishing his autobiography in 2009-2010.

* * *

Him Mark Lai was born in San Francisco Chinatown to immigrant parents from Nam Hoi District, Guangzhou, and attended local schools including Francisco Junior High, Nam Kue Chinese School, and was graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1947 with a degree in mechanical engineering and until his retirement worked for Bechtel Corporation.

In late 1949, he began volunteering for Chung Sai Yat Po, the first daily paper to support the People’s Republic of China, and became a member of organizations active in persuading students to return to China to serve the new government.  He also joined the Chinese American Democratic Youth League, more familiarly known as Mun Ching, where he met Laura Jung, a new immigrant, whom he married in 1953.

According to Ruthanne Lum McCunn:

“Lai joined the Chinese Historical Society of America soon after its founding in 1963.  These events, together with contemporaneous changes in the status of minorities spurred by the Civil Rights movement, led Lai towards developing a Chinese American identity, and in 1967, he accepted a proposal by Maurice Chuck, editor of the bilingual East/West, the Chinese American Weekly to write a series of articles on Chinese American history.  This marked the beginning of Lai’s career in reclaiming the Chinese/American experience-a fortuitous confluence of his passion for history and his deep commitment to his bicultural heritage and democratic principles.

His East/West articles-revised and annotated-became the cornerstone for the classic A History of the Chinese in California, A Syllabus, co-edited with Thomas W. Chin and Philip P. Choy, as well as the basis for the first Chinese American history course in the United States, which Lai team taught with Choy at San Francisco State College in Fall 1969 and which resulted in another classic Outlines: History of the Chinese in America.  Lai’s first scholarly essay, “A Historical Survey of Organizations of the Left Among the Chinese in America,” published in the Fall 1972 issue of the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars-together with subsequent revisions-remains a standard reference.  So do Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island 1910-1940, co-authored/translated with Genny Lim and Judy Yung; Lai’s “Chinese on the Continental U.S.” in the Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups; his From Overseas Chinese to Chinese American: a History of the Development of Chinese during the Twentieth Century (in Chinese) and articles in the Encyclopedia of Chinese Overseas and Huaquiao Huaren baike quanshu [Encyclopedia of Chinese and people of Chinese descent overseas];  his studies of Chinese newspapers and schools, district associations, and communities in the Pearl River Delta.”

Indeed, almost every researcher or scholar who has studied Chinese Americans during the past forty years is indebted to Him Mark Lai’s pioneering and lifelong work based on primary Chinese-language sources.  According to editor Russell C. Leong, “Him Mark Lai gave Chinese Americans a voice in history because he listened to ordinary people both in America and China and trained himself to read what they felt and thought–in the Chinese language. His legacy challenges us to listen, to think, and to feel more deeply–to untangle, to clarify, and to refine the historical and political record of our lives here.”

The UCLA Asian American Studies Center is also grateful for Him Mark Lai’s support of the work of others as a long-standing member of the editorial committees of Amerasia Journal and of Chinese America: History & Perspectives, the two leading scholarly journals which have collectively published the most materials on Asian Americans and Chinese Americans during the past four decades.

-Russell C. Leong
Editor, Amerasia Journal, UCLA

May 8, 2009

For Immediate Release
Contact Jolie Chea
(310) 825-2974
jchea@aasc.ucla.edu

“UCLA Asian American Studies Center To Celebrate Its 40th Anniversary”

The UCLA Asian American Studies Center will be celebrating its 40th anniversary with an outdoor reception and program on Saturday, May 16, 2009 from 4-7pm at Dickson Plaza on the UCLA campus. The event will also pay special tribute to Director and Professor Don T. Nakanishi, who will be retiring after 19 years of distinguished leadership of the Asian American Studies Center and a 35-year career at UCLA. The event is free and open to the public. Please visit the web site: http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/archives/40thcelebration.htm

The title sponsors of the celebration are David Nishida and Dr. Tina Yamano Nishida of Los Angeles and Tokyo, who have established the David Nishida and Tina Yamano Nishida Distinguished Scholars Endowment at the Asian American Studies Center. Both are UCLA alumni. David is president and CFO of Hudson Japan, an investment company, while Tina is an educator and writer. They have two sets of twin boys.

The UCLA Asian American Studies Center was established during the 1969-1970 academic year as a result of faculty, student, alumni, and community advocacy. “The Center,” the founding steering committee wrote in its proposal to the UCLA administration in 1969, “will hopefully enrich the experience of the entire university by contributing to an understanding of the long neglected history, rich cultural heritage, and present position of Asian Americans in our society.”

Through its programs in research, teaching, publications, library and archival collecting, leadership training, and community partnerships, the Center has pursued its original mission, and has sought to enrich and inform not only the UCLA community, but also an array of broader audiences and sectors in the state, the nation, and internationally.
Today, UCLA is the largest and most comprehensive research and teaching institution in the field of Asian American Studies. It has the largest faculty with over forty tenured professors in twenty-five departments across the university, including the Department of Asian American Studies, which was established in 2004. The Department teaches over 60 classes annually, enrolls over 3,000 students, and offers an undergraduate major and minor, and a MA degree. UCLA annually produces more MA theses and PhD dissertations on Asian American Studies topics than any university in the nation.

The UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press publishes two national journals, Amerasia Journal and AAPI Nexus, and has released over 200 books, reports, and bibliographies, including classics like Roots: An Asian American Reader (1971), and the National Asian Pacific American Political Almanac. The Center’s Library and Special Collections are national resource treasures of the field of Asian American Studies. The Center continues its legacy of building mutually beneficial partnerships with a wide array of organizations, museums, and other programs in Southern California and nationwide, and its innovative web-based programs like the US-China Media Brief have a world-wide reach. The Center’s endowment, which has been generously supported by thousands of donors over the years, includes six endowed academic chairs, and numerous fellowships, scholarships, research funds and academic prizes.

The Center has produced a number of renowned leaders, scholars, and writers during its four decades, including Morgan Chu, the nation’s top intellectual property attorney; Lisa Hasegawa, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development; Stewart Kwoh, Asian Pacific American Legal Center; Judy Chu, Chair, California Board of Equalization; Chanchanit (Chancee) Martorell, Thai CDC; Angela Oh, civll rights leader; Joel Jacinto, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans; Yen Espiritu, Professor, UCSD; Gary Okihiro, Professor, Columbia; Franklin Odo, Director, Smithsonian Institution; Justin Lin, film-maker; Jeff Chang, writer; Erin Kahunawaika`ala Wright, University of Hawaii-Manoa, among many others.

Professor Don Nakanishi is being recognized for his leadership as Director of the Asian American Studies Center since 1990. During those 19 years, the Center experienced unprecedented growth, stability, and national visibility and impact of its faculty, publications, policy research work, archives, community and campus programs, and endowments.

A recently concluded external review of the Center by a national team of scholars concluded that, “The Asian American Studies Center at UCLA is indisputably the leading Asian American Studies center in the country and an exemplary ethnic studies center of any kind, the gold standard against which all the rest are measured.”

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Professor Nakanishi graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School, and received his BA from Yale University and his PhD from Harvard University, both in political science.
Nakanishi is a pioneer in the national development of Asian American Studies. He co-founded Amerasia Journal in 1970 when he was a Yale undergraduate, and served as the second national president of the Association of Asian American Studies. He also has written over 100 books, articles and reports on Asian American politics and education. Among his many former students are faculty members at colleges across the nation and world, renowned writers and artists, as well as elected officials, community leaders and educators.

In recognition of Nakanishi’s long commitment to serve and advance Asian Pacific Americans locally and nationally through innovative community-based research and partnerships, the Don T. Nakanishi Fund for Outstanding Engaged Scholarship has been established to recognize exemplary community research by UCLA faculty and students. More information can be found at: http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/archives/40thcelebration.htm
Award-winning news anchor and UCLA Professor Tritia Toyota, California Assembly members Mike Eng and Warren Furutani and UCLA Vice Chancellor Claudia Mitchell-Kernan will be among the featured speakers at the 40th anniversary event. The Chinatown Kung Fu and Lion Dance Troupe, Samahang Modern, and others also will perform.

RSVP is requested. Please call (310) 825-2974 or email jchea@aasc.ucla.edu

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We wanted to thank you for making the 2009 AAAS meetings in Honolulu a success!  The commitment of our members combined with stimulating panels and discussions made this conference meetings a valuable experience.  I wanted to thank the AAAS program and site committee members for their dedication and time!  We feel fortunate to work with our colleagues throughout the nation and are reminded what great things can be accomplished when collaborating. In addition, I wanted to extend a special thanks to Anna Gonzalez, Pia Sengsavanh, and Genevieve Clutario for working with us to make the conference move so smoothly.  Finally, I wanted to extend my appreciation to our president Rick Bonus for his visionary leadership and support!

We look forward to seeing you in Austin, Texas next year!

Best regards,
Mary Yu Danico and Jonathan Okamura
co-chairs AAAS program committee 2009

Subject: NY Times Interactive Maps on Foreign born

The NY Times (Mar 15, 2009) has just made available interactive maps from 1880 - 2000  (with the county location of  23 foreign born populations. You may have to register to access it but there is no cost.

It is titled REMADE IN AMERICA: THE NEWEST IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR IMPACT”

GO TO HTTP://NYTIMES.COM/IMMIGRATION

On Left side of screen click on IMMIGRATION EXPLORER

This brings up a composite map of the U.S., year 2000.

On Left side click on  box to select Country or Region of  Origin

Map will come up with colored circles indicating density of Foreign Born for the given year, beginning with 2000 (see marker along timeline at top)

If you click on any of the circles on the map, it will give you the Total Population and Foreign Born for that country or regional group for the year you select

If you go to the time line date bar at the top and click on any CENSUS YEAR, 1880 - 2000, the map will change and show you distribution in that census year

Hope you find this useful as you prepare your essays for our US Immigration encyclopedia.

Dear Colleagues,

The Secretariat is trying to communicate more effectively with all its members.  We are establishing an email notification directly from the Secretariat to you concerning issues such as upcoming conference info, elections, etc.  We are imputing emails of those who are paid members beginning January 2009 - January 2010. We encourage you to renew your membership if you have not already done so as we will be regularly sending out news starting Monday, March 2, 2009.

Thanks,

AAAS Secretariat

Anna, Pia, and Genevieve

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you to all of our members who accepted nominations to run AAAS board positions.  It speaks well for our Association to have many answer the call to help lead out organization and members into the future.  I am pleased to announce that the following individuals have won elected positions:

Northern California: Kieu Linh Valverde
Midwest: Anita Mannur
N. England/Central Eastern Canada: Cathy Schlund-Vials
Interior West/South: Rudy Guevarra
Please join me in congratulating the newest members of our board!

Rick Bonus
President