Week 2_Anna Pak_ASA114

Image: A cover for The Kebra Nagast, a medieval Christian Ethiopian text, wherein Ethiopia “appropriates” the Judeo-Christian Ark.

In a show of vehement passion, San Juan proposes that instead of enabling ethnic studies as an institutionalized mouthpiece for multiculturalism, he advocates for “historicizing the ethnic predicament” (Anderson and Lee 275). That is, analyze ethnicity/racism and power structures within a historical/geopolitical context. An example of multiculturalism can be found in the medieval literature discipline. Post-9/11 saw a rise in both conservative nationalism and interest in Islam. This sparked a shift from a Euro-centric study to a more globalized view (e.g., medieval Christian Ethiopian texts), as seen in current medieval literature classes at UC Davis. However, the question remains whether this approach is truly radical. What, then, are specific ways to have this field and ethnic studies be more “oppositional” (Anderson and Lee 287)? As for Hu DeHart, she describes how Asian American success was perceived due to their “largely immigrant nature” (8), indicating the significance of globalization in shaping the immigrant Asian American experience. Could this view hold up when describing non-immigrant Asian Americans, such as expatriates or internally colonized groups? She also cites Asian Americans as bridge builders or culture brokers who utilize transnationalism to affect change between/within nations. 

Works cited:

Anderson, W. W., & Lee, R. G. (2005). Displacements and diasporas: Asians in the Americas. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Hu-DeHart, Evelyn. 1999. Introduction: Asian American Formations in the Globalization. Edited by Evelyn Hu-DeHart. Across the Pacific: Asian Americans and Globalization. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Image Source: https://www.amazon.com/Kebra-Nagast-Queen-Sheba-Menyelek/dp/1463524137