Professor Takahashi received her Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Southern California, an M.S. in Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, and an A.B. in Architecture from UC Berkeley.  Her research interests include social capital and health among APIs, access to social services for populations in need (e.g., homeless individuals and persons living with HIV/AIDS), the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) syndrome, and community participation and environmental governance in Southeast Asian cities (especially Bangkok, Thailand and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).

Dr. Takahashi’s first book on the NIMBY syndrome, which was entitled, Homelessness, AIDS, and Stigmatization: The NIMBY Syndrome in the United States at the End of the Twentieth Century, was published in 1998 (Oxford University Press).  Her second book, Rethinking environmental management in the Pacific Rim (2002, with Amrita Daniere) assessed the roles of community participation, state intervention, and nongovernmental organizations in managing urban development and environmental degradation in Bangkok, Thailand (Ashgate Publishing). She
also has 45 published articles and book chapters. She is currently working on a book that analyzes the disruptive dimensions of social capital for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders living with HIV/AIDS.

Professor Takahashi is co-PI on a grant with Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team (APAIT) in Los Angeles on a UC California HIV Research Program grant that is studying HIV and viral hepatitis co-infection among Asians in Los Angeles. She is also working with APAIT and Guam Communications Network (Long Beach/San Diego) to evaluate their HIV prevention capacity building programs targeting Asian and Pacific Islander groups in Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego.

Panel Title: “The Transnational of National(ist) Discourse in Asian/American Literature”

When might national—even nationalist—discourse hold within it the possibilities of transnational dynamics? Is national(ist) discourse sometimes used to express transnational desires and affiliations? How are multiple national(ist) loyalties/affinities/histories “layered” one upon another in a sort of palimpsest that operates transnationally? Do multiple national(ist) affinities always translate into a transnational sensibility more critical of the nation-state?

In literary and cultural studies, we’ve moved from an era that emphasizes immigrant literatures and the dynamics of assimilation to one that emphasizes the textual production of diaspora and more transnational affiliations. This panel seeks to address the continuing tensions between these critical models. What traces of immigrant rhetoric remain and why do they linger (whether or not one is speaking of an immigrant generation)? Is the rhetoric of immigration sometimes used to express a more diasporic sensibility? When and why do we continue to see nationalist discourse when multiple national affiliations are involved?

Asian/American literature has long been marked by the perils of multiple national affiliations. Certainly, one may consider the demand for performances of loyalty to the United States; this demand only reveals how accusations of traitorous behavior are
always just beneath the surface for those now considered the “model minority,” for the immigrant generation and beyond. For refugees forced to leave their homelands, too, how might the national(ist) rhetoric of one country be employed to express national
(ist) sentiments for another? One may also consider how literary texts negotiate the demands of national(ist) and transnational sensibilities, say, for example, the tensions among the terms “overseas Chinese,” “Chinese diaspora,” and “Chinese Americans.”

One may wish to consider how solidarities with other people of color and other diasporas may embrace and yet undermine more nation-based fantasies of a multicultural state. When might “trans-racial solidarity” speak to the instability of national(ist) identity? How do gender and/or sexual difference shape the relations between what we consider national and the transnational? How do histories of occupation and colonialism affect the employment of national(ist) discourse?

Proposals should critically assess Asian/American texts that wholeheartedly embrace nationalist rhetoric, texts that purposefully use nationalist rhetoric in order to critically dismantle it, texts that are marked by the tensions between national affiliations
and transnational connections, or even texts that test the limits of the term “transnational.”

Deadline for presentation abstracts: September 15, 2008
Please note any need for audio-visual equipment.

Please email 250-500 word abstracts to the panel chair:

Susan Muchshima Moynihan, Assistant Professor
Department of English
State University of New York at Buffalo
Email: sm246@buffalo.edu

I would humbly like to post the following information on my book: Legacies of Struggle: Conflict and Cooperation in Korean American politics (Stanford University Press, 2007) for anyone interested in community-based organizations in Koreatown. The manuscript was the product of my Ph.D. dissertation at UCLA and my first insight into Koreatown community politics which turned out to be a humbling experience after watching the passion and hard work of community organizers in Koreatown. Below I’ve included a book summary. The book touches on a wide range of topics such as building “ethnic solidarity” in suburbanizing communities; the politics of negotiating the multiracial context of ethnic enclaves; the political strategies organizations have used to tackle inequality (e.g. labor and gender) within the community; the dyamics of intergenerational conflict and cooperation among leaders; the historical evolution of Koreatown; and the process of ethnic identity formation among a diversifying second generation.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback or suggestions you may have in terms of content and course adoption, especially since it will help me plan out my new book on children of immigrant families. If you would like a free copy to consider for course adoption, you can stop by the Stanford booth at the conference or click on the following link: http://www.sup.org/instructors/instructors.cgi?x=exam.

http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?isbn=0804756570
http://www.amazon.com/Legacies-Struggle-Conflict-Cooperation-American/dp/

0804756589/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216675262&sr=8-1

LEGACIES OF STRUGGLE explores the intergenerational dynamics of first-generation (foreign-born) and 1.5/ 2nd generation (American-born) organizations in post-Riot Koreatown, LA in order to understand how community-based organizations, can navigate traditional ethnic power structures and the evolving, multiracial context of ethnic enclaves like Koreatown to achieve their political goals. In particular, the book examines the different strategies that these 1.5/ 2nd generation-run ethnic organizations use to create a sense of ethnic solidarity among their constituents against the forces of mobility and assimilation that have fractured the broader ethnic community. Although Koreatown is becoming divided by intergenerational conflict, class polarization, and suburban flight, the book shows how Korean American organizations are able to cultivate ethnic political solidarity through the centralized resources and institutional infrastructures of the old enclave economy, which continues to expand economically despite the suburbanization of Korean American residents. Because the immigrant elite control the enclave’s resources, Chung argues that the American-born leadership must strategically negotiate its political agenda and mainstream ties within traditional immigrant power structures.
Based on a broad survey of Koreatown politics and an in-depth analysis of two organizations, the book identifies two ways 1.5/ 2nd generation ethnic organizations have cultivated ethnic political solidarity: one based on an middle-class approach to ethnic political solidarity that works in accommodation to the immigrant elite (Korean Youth and Community Center (KYCC)) and the other on a broader social justice framework of ethnicity based on alliances with outside interest groups (Korean Immigrant Workers Advocate (KIWA)). Both cases challenge the traditional assumption that assimilation undermines ethnicity as a meaningful framework for political solidarity among the American-born generation. These diverse strategies ultimately lead to the diversification and specialization of ethnic political structures, not its disintegration. Legacies of Struggle reveals how such community-based organizations have thus created innovative spaces for political participation among Korean Americans.

In the latter case, KIWA’s progressive mission and strong stance against the exploitative labor practices of Korean businessowners in regards to Korean and Latino workers have raised major opposition from Korean immigrant businessowners and other members of the traditional ethnic elite. As opposed to isolating themselves from the ethnic community, Chung shows how KIWA is able to do what mainstream labor unions can not—that is, mobilize a strong but malleable co-ethnic membership by providing a progressive space for diverse Korean American activists excluded from the conservative immigrant-dominated power structure. However, because the organization lacks substantial funding and support from the ethnic elite, KIWA’s success ultimately lies in its ability to cultivate alliances with labor unions, leftist racial organizations, and other progressive groups outside Koreatown in order to employ external pressure against immigrant powerholders with minimal financial costs.

Chung’s research makes several contributions in terms of understanding how children of immigrants and contemporary ethnic politics are challenging traditional scholarship on assimilation and incorporation. First, it shows how 1.5/ 2nd generation organizations in the contemporary era can re-create the ideological and institutional foundations of ethnic solidarity among their membership despite socioeconomic mobility and class-based divisions. The study considers how community-based organizations are adopting new political strategies to accommodate to the shifting demographic patterns of post-1965 immigrant populations, whose assimilation trajectories are too diverse to fit traditional one-dimensional models of political participation.

Acknowledging the significance of inequality within ethnic communities, Chung also reveals how marginalized leftist organizations can use mainstream resources to contest the dominance of traditional powerholders within the enclave based on a new and flexible approach to ethnic solidarity—thereby opening new avenues for political
participation among second-generation Korean Americans who do not fit the traditional mold. Such grassroots strategies are particularly crucial in an era where ethnic enclaves have become the main sites of globalized labor exploitation yet mainstream labor unions are neither interested nor well-equipped to tackle the internal power structures of Asian immigrant communities.

Finally, Chung’s study reveals how the different bases of empowerment—that is, one rooted within the ethnic community and the other in mainstream society—can be harnessed to generate inter-generational and inter-racial cooperation based on “complementary resources” (i.e. mutually providing networks and resources that the other lacks). In this respect, the book underscores the strategic ways in which racial and ethnic populations may find lines of commonality with other minority groups in the post-Civil Rights era, despite the widening ethnic and class interests that divide them.

Closing Date: Continuous with screening of first applications on August 15, 2008.

Position Description: Position Number # 82125, full-time, 9-month, tenure-track position in Ethnic Studies to begin January 1, 2009.

Duties: Teach undergraduate courses from a transnational perspective on Filipino diasporic communities in Hawai`i and the U.S.; the intersections of ethnicity, race, class and gender; and processes of migration. Advise and mentor undergraduate students; seek extramural funding; participate actively and provide professional service to the department, university and the community, particularly with the Filipino community in Hawai`i. The successful applicant should maintain an active program of research and scholarly publication that integrates innovative theoretical analyses with applied research.

Minimum Qualifications: Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies or related interdisciplinary studies, humanities or social sciences field at the time of the appointment, January 1, 2009. Demonstrated ability to teach and conduct research on Filipino diaspora/transnational communities in Hawai`i and/or the U.S.; evidence of excellence in research, teaching, and community service; and commitment to innovative educational strategies and to working with students with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Desired Qualifications: Evidence of research and university-level teaching about the Filipino American experience; ability to teach courses on immigration, transnational communities, and/or ethnic/race relations, Philippine political economy and US-Philippine relations; previous experience in interdisciplinary teaching and collaboration between programs such as ethnic studies and other social sciences or the humanities; evidence of outreach activities to minority communities; ability to contribute to the College of Social Sciences Public Policy Center; a record of peer-reviewed publications.

Salary Range: Actual salary commensurate with experience.

To Apply: Submit cover letter indicating how you can fulfill the duties and satisfy the minimum and desirable qualifications, a curriculum vitae, and three letters of references, to Ibrahim G. Aoude, Chair, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, George Hall 301, 2560 Campus Road, Honolulu, HI 96822.

The University of Hawai’i is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution. All qualified applicants will be considered, regardless of race, sex, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or status as disabled veteran or veteran of Vietnam era. Employment is contingent on satisfying employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Appointments to positions are subject to campus recruitment guidelines and the collective bargaining agreement.

Please see the press release at this link:

http://www.hmongstudies.org/HSJPrintingsPR08.html

The Hmong Studies Journal is a unique and established peer-reviewed Internet-based academic publication devoted to the scholarly discussion of Hmong history, Hmong culture, Hmong people, and other facets of the Hmong experience in the U.S., Asia and around the world. View the journal online at: http://www.hmongstudies.org/HmongStudiesJournal.html

Please contact me if any additional information is required.

Mark Pfeifer editor@hmongstudies.org

UC Riverside is pleased to announce a new Ph.D. Program in
Ethnic Studies.

Beginning September 1, 2008, the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC Riverside will accept applications for new students seeking admission into the Ph.D. Program in the Fall of 2009.

The UCR Ethnic Studies Ph.D. is an autonomous comparative interdisciplinary doctoral program where students can focus on one or more of three graduate areas of specialization:
(1) Theories of Race and Power,
(2) Cultural Politics and Production, and
(3) The State, Law, and Social Transformation.

The comprehensive program prepares students to enter public agencies or the private sector as applied researchers and policy experts, or to pursue careers in academia as researchers and university professors.

GRADUATE FACULTY:
Victoria Bomberry - Native American Literature & Anthropology
Jayna Brown - Black Literature and Performance
Edward T. Chang - Asian Americans & Race Relations
Ralph L. Crowder - African American History
Paul Green - Law, Race, & Education
Jodi Kim - Asian American Literature and Culture
Anthony Macias - Chicano History & Popular Culture
Alfredo Mirandé - Law, Race, Class, & Gender
Jennifer R. Nájera - Race & Ethnicity, Chicana Feminism
Armando Navarro - Chicano Politics & Social Movements
Robert C. Perez - Native American History & Culture
Dylan Rodriguez - Prison Industrial Complex

Edward Taehan Chang
Professor of Ethnic Studies
UC Riverside
Riverside, Ca 92521
951-827-1825
951-827-4341 (fax)

Amalgamation Schemes

Antiblackness and the Critique of Multiracialism

Jared Sexton

Despite being heralded as the answer to racial conflict in the
post–civil rights United States, the principal political effect of
multiracialism is neither a challenge to the ideology of white supremacy
nor a defiance of sexual racism. More accurately, Jared Sexton argues in
Amalgamation Schemes, multiracialism displaces both by evoking
long-standing tenets of antiblackness and prescriptions for normative
sexuality.

In this timely and penetrating analysis, Sexton pursues a critique of
contemporary multiracialism, from the splintered political initiatives
of the multiracial movement to the academic field of multiracial
studies, to the melodramatic media declarations about “the browning of
America.” He contests the rationales of colorblindness and multiracial
exceptionalism and the promotion of a repackaged family values platform
in order to demonstrate that the true target of multiracialism is the
singularity of blackness as a social identity, a political organizing
principle, and an object of desire. From this vantage, Sexton
interrogates the trivialization of sexual violence under chattel slavery
and the convoluted relationship between racial and sexual politics in
the new multiracial consciousness.

An original and challenging intervention, Amalgamation Schemes posits
that multiracialism stems from the conservative and reactionary forces
determined to undo the gains of the modern civil rights movement and
dismantle radical black and feminist politics.
http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/S/sexton_amalgamation.html

August 7, 2008

For Immediate Release

Media Copies:
Contact Letisia Marquez lmarquez@support.ucla.edu; (310) 206-3986

General Info:
Contact Meg Thornton meg@ucla.edu; (310) 825-1006

The UCLA Asian American Studies Center has released the 10th Edition
of its Asian American and Pacific Islander Community Directory for
Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Funding for the directory was
provided by Nielsen Media Research and Toyota Motors Corporation.

For the past three decades, Asian American and Pacific Islander
(AAPI) organizations have been one of the fastest growing service
sectors in California. Los Angeles and Orange Counties, in
particular, are home to the nation’s largest and most diverse
concentration of Asian American and Pacific Islanders. According to
the U.S. Census Bureau, the AAPI population is projected to grow to
20 million by the year 2020. This trend sets the agenda for leaders
and activists to develop essential and responsive community
organizations that will advocate for and address AAPI needs.

The highly acclaimed community directory was first published in 1980
by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center’s Student and Community
Projects (SCP) Unit, and has sought several major goals: forge
stronger campus - community bridges for partnerships; strengthen
community-based research; provide timely and updated information to
service providers and their constituents; and offer greater knowledge
about our AAPI communities.

The 352-page Community Directory provides an updated, annotated, and
indexed listing of more than 1,000 community-based organizations,
media, museum and arts institutions, Asian American Studies programs,
and other groups serving and representing Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

The directory is a useful resource tool for educators, mainstream and
ethnic media, social services staff, elected officials, policymakers,
and business people to link them with the large AAPI community
infrastructure. It is also intended to be a useful resource tool for
college students, offering:

o Community internships available for students
o “College/University Academic and Research Programs and Student Services” section
o Links to scholarship and fellowship resources

New additions in this 10th Edition Directory include:
o Census and Population information
o Glossary of services provided by Organizations
o Maps locating ethnic enclaves

The 10th edition of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community
Directory, (ISBN: 978-0-934052-44-3) can be ordered through the UCLA
Asian American Studies Center for $20 per copy (plus shipping and
handling charges):

(1) Order through the UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press
(pay by credit card):
http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/aascpress/comersus/store/comersus_index.asp

(2) Order by mail
UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press
Box 951546, 3230 Campbell Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1546
(310) 825-2968
Make check payable to “UC Regents”

Bulk order discounts are available. Submit inquiries to aascpress@aasc.ucla.edu
Or call (310) 825-2968

Targeted Asian Group or Constituency/ies
Asian American and Pacific Islander
South Asian/Indian
Bi-/Multi-Racial
Bangladeshi
Chinese
Indian
Filipino/Pilipino
Pakistani
Japanese
Sri Lankan
Korean
Southeast Asian
Pacific Islands
Hmong
Pacific Islanders
Indonesian
Chamorro / Guamanian
Khmer / Cambodian
Fijian
Laotian
Marshallese
Singaporean
Native Hawaiian
Thai
Samoan
Vietnamese
Tongan

Service Areas
Advocacy
Legal Assistance
Arts / Culture
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer
Child Care / Children & Youth
Media
Community / Civic
Mental Health Counseling
Crime Prevention
Employment Training
Crisis Intervention
Professional / Business Network
Directories
Refugee Assistance
Political Organizing
Research
English / English as a Second Language
Scholarships
Health Education
Senior Citizens & Elderly Care
Health / Medical Treatment
Social Services
Housing
Substance Abuse
Information & Referral
Veterans
Labor / Workers Center
Women
Language Translation & Interpretation
Victims Assistance

Send CV, a description of research plans, names of 3 referees, and 2
pieces of recent scholarship by October 15, 2008. Applications can be
submitted electronically to: socchair@bc.edu.

For additional information about the Boston College Sociology
Department and instructions for how to submit your application see
www.bc.edu/sociology.

Assistant Director, Office of Multicultural Affairs
The Assistant Director reports to the Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and is integral in assisting all staff in the overall daily operations of the office. A primary expectation is the creation and administration of new retention initiatives/strategies/programs that target under-represented multicultural students. Collaborations with faculty, the Director of
Retention, the Director of the Office of Student Success, the Office of Admissions, and other professionals are expected. Secondary expectations include the development of diversity programming and initiatives, academic success programming, student leadership programming, and overall support to our students.

The successful candidate for the Assistant Director opening needs to promote and support the Catholic, Jesuit Mission of Creighton University as well as have a commitment to students and their learning. The Assistant Director is also responsible for serving on university wide initiatives that promote diversity and cultural competency of the Creighton community in additional to
other departmental, divisional, and university assignments.

Essential Functions:
Create new retention initiatives/programs/strategies that target under-represented students working in concert with the Asst. Vice President for Student Retention and the Director of the Office of Student Success.

Responsible for organizing annual programs including but not limited to Multicultural Student Leadership Summit and Multicultural Communities in the Big O!

Develop academic support for multicultural students: to include organizing study groups, arranging tutors, time management workshops management of probation and Diversity Scholars caseloads. Coordinate midterm interventions
as necessary.

Ability to provide presentations on various topics related to cultural competency, multiculturalism, identity development, academic success, and leadership.

Assist students with crisis management to include financial aid, scholarship support and advocacy, personal and social issues that may disrupt their academic success. Serve on retention committee and coordinate efforts with the Director of Retention and the Academic Success Instructors.

Develops creative partnerships on campus and in the community that focus on increased educational and co-curricular intercultural interactions.

Serve as an advisor and/or moderator to various Multicultural Organizations

Serve on university-wide committees representing the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Division of Student Services.

Willingness to take on additional responsibilities as deemed appropriate by the Director of the Office of Multicultural
Affairs.

Minimum educational requirements:
Master’s degree with emphasis in Higher Education, Social Work, Education or Student Personnel Administration
required.

Minimum experience required:
3-5 years Higher Education and Multicultural Affairs experience required
Experience in Diversity related program design and facilitation
Must be a strong leader and passion for helping students
Commitment to the ideals of Jesuit education

Job open date: July 25, 2008 Job close date: Open until filled

To apply, contact: Ricardo Ariza, Director, Office of Multicultural Affairs ariza@creighton.edu (402) 280-2469