The views and opinions expressed on this site and blog posts (excluding comments on blog posts left by others) are entirely my own and do not represent those of any employer or organization with whom I am currently or previously have been associated.
Academic Version: Applying my personal experiences and academic research as a professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies to provide a more complete understanding of political, economic, and cultural issues and current events related to American race relations, and Asia/Asian America in particular.
Plain English: Trying to put my Ph.D. to good use.
I am very pleased to present an interview with my friend and colleague, Professor Leslie K. Wang, faculty in Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, regarding her new book Outsourced Children: Orphanage Care and Adoption in Globalizing China. Her book explores the political, economic, and cultural dynamics of western humanitarian organizations caring for orphan children, many with special needs, in modern China. The book’s description:
It’s no secret that tens of thousands of Chinese children have been adopted by American parents and that Western aid organizations have invested in helping orphans in China — but why have Chinese authorities allowed this exchange, and what does it reveal about processes of globalization?
Countries that allow their vulnerable children to be cared for by outsiders are typically viewed as weaker global players. However, Leslie K. Wang argues that China has turned this notion on its head by outsourcing the care of its unwanted children to attract foreign resources and secure closer ties with Western nations. She demonstrates the two main ways that this “outsourced intimacy” operates as an ongoing transnational exchange: first, through the exportation of mostly healthy girls into Western homes via adoption, and second, through the subsequent importation of first-world actors, resources, and practices into orphanages to care for the mostly special needs youth left behind.
Outsourced Children reveals the different care standards offered in Chinese state-run orphanages that were aided by Western humanitarian organizations. Wang explains how such transnational partnerships place marginalized children squarely at the intersection of public and private spheres, state and civil society, and local and global agendas. While Western societies view childhood as an innocent time, unaffected by politics, this book explores how children both symbolize and influence national futures.
What initially motivated you to research this dynamic of international adoption from China?
My interest in the topic of adoption dates back to when I studied abroad as a college student at Peking University during the late 1990s. At the time few Westerners lived there and Chinese society and economy was beginning to change very quickly. One day I visited the Forbidden City and was surprised to see two white American couples with strollers each carrying a Chinese baby girl. For the first time I became aware that children were being both abandoned and internationally adopted, and I wanted to find out how their movement across borders related to China–U.S. relations. Once I returned to the U.S. these issues became the focus of my senior honor’s thesis, then my master’s thesis, and eventually expanded into my dissertation and ultimately this book.
What’s your most notable or poignant memory in the time that you spent in China researching this topic?
During my fieldwork in orphanages, I was most touched by the moments when young children expressed deep care and compassion for each other. For example, oftentimes when another child was crying or in distress, kids as young as toddlers would run over to alert me to come help. One of the most poignant memories I have is from the four months I spent volunteering with a Western humanitarian group I call Tomorrow’s Children, which ran an infant palliative care unit on one floor of a Chinese state-run orphanage. I spent weeks getting to know a hilarious, spunky, and intelligent three-year-old girl with heart failure named Rose. Despite her poor physical condition, this tiny child would ask to “hold†other babies in the unit, clapping her hands before reaching out to hug them. I still have photos from these times, which I hold dear because Rose passed away shortly after.
Your book highlights the challenges faced by special needs youth in China. As China continues to modernize, how has its treatment of people (and particularly children) with special needs evolved through the years?
China does not have a great track record in terms of its treatment of individuals with disabilities, including children. Part of this is due to the state’s single-minded emphasis on furthering economic modernization and raising China’s global status since the late 1970s. To attain these goals, authorities have sought to create a productive, “high quality” workforce that only includes those who are able-bodied. Consequently, those who are seen as unable to contribute to this national agenda have been cast to the societal margins. Furthermore, there are lasting and pervasive cultural stigmas against disability in China that state officials have only exacerbated by maligning special needs children as undue burdens on their families and the country. That said, since the early 1980s, a set of policies has been enacted to protect the rights of disabled people. There is general consensus, however, that these laws have not been enforced uniformly, especially within rural areas with little access to financial, medical, and educational resources.
China recently rolled back its “One Child” policy and now allows two children per family. How do you think this change will affect international adoption in China?
For the past decade the trend of Chinese international adoptions has completely transformed. Most notably, whereas the majority of available children were once healthy female infants, now most international adoptees are children with minor to major special needs (many of them boys). Secondly, the overall rates of Western adoption have dramatically decreased as more domestic adoptions have taken place and more families have founds ways to keep additional children. The ending of the One Child Policy will likely intensify all of these shifts as citizens can have two children without penalty.
Beyond helping the Chinese children in their care, what are some other motivations on the part of the western humanitarian NGOs in this dynamic?
From my experience, the majority of Western humanitarian aid groups in China that are involved with orphan care are faith-based — typically Christian and Catholic. Although many volunteers would have liked to proselytize, they were limited in doing so by China’s atheistic stance toward religion. Therefore, I found that many of these groups engaged in “lifestyle evangelism,” in which they tried to use their work to set an example for local people to follow; they accomplished this by encouraging locals to care more about marginalized youth and by importing first-world care practices and philosophies about children into local orphanages. So beyond merely helping institutionalized youth, I would say that numerous Western NGOs were also motivated to expose Chinese people to more global notions of human rights.
The luster surrounding China’s meteoric economic rise during the last 30 years seems to be waning, as citizens from both developed and less-developed nations are increasingly weary about the negative impacts of globalization. How do you think this recent trend will affect international adoption from China going forward?
While it is true that China’s development has slowed down in recent years, I don’t believe that this has impacted Western parents’ desire to adopt. If anything, the demand for Chinese children (especially healthy female infants) has increased over time and stayed high in countries across the global north. The major difference is that domestic changes in China have shifted the supply of adoptable youth to include more disabled, ill, and older kids. So I would say that the lower numbers of adopted Chinese children have more to do with the implementation of domestic Chinese state policies that don’t specifically have to do with international adoption.
One country that has transitioned from being less-developed to highly-developed is South Korea. They were also a source of large numbers of international adoptions but have dramatically reduced the number of its children adopted internationally in recent years. Do you think China is headed in that direction?
Definitely. As I noted earlier, China is already headed in that direction. For the case of South Korea, during the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics government authorities were heavily critiqued for “exporting” babies to other countries. As a result, the South Korean government began to slow adoptions and ultimately decreased them by more than two-thirds. In China’s case, the numbers have dropped dramatically from a high of roughly 14,000 foreign placements in 2005 to fewer than 3,000 in 2014. Since the emphasis now is on special needs children, who have low chances of domestic adoption due to cultural stigmas against disabilities, this trend may continue for some time. It’s conceivable that China will eventually stop adoptions altogether, though it is unclear when that time might be.
Here are some more announcements, links, and job postings about academic-related jobs, fellowships, and other related opportunities for those interested in racial/ethnic/diversity issues. As always, the announcements and links are provided for informational purposes and do not necessarily imply an endorsement of the organization or college involved.
Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL) is a leading, national non-profit organization working toward social justice in the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities. The organization’s mission is to champion social justice and achieve parity and empowerment for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders by supporting and mobilizing community-led movements through advocacy and leadership development on critical public health issues.
Under the supervision of the APPEAL Executive Director and Program Manager, the Program Coordinator is responsible for coordinating activities of the ADEPT Project, a data dissemination project funded by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program and some activities of the APPEAL PROMISE Network, a national network of individuals and organizations working towards a tobacco-free AA and NHPI community. This position will include the following duties and responsibilities:
Compile and analyze data on AA and NHPI tobacco control and related social justice issues
Disseminate data on AA and NHPI tobacco control to community organizations, policymakers and ethnic and mainstream media
Plan, implement, monitor and troubleshoot project activities and progress
Assist with the production and distribution of Network materials including factsheets, toolkits and case studies
Provide ongoing technical assistance, support, and follow-up to partner organizations
Write and submit required program and documentation of progress and participate in regular communication with funders
Represent APPEAL at conferences, meetings and other events
Work effectively with diverse communities and marinating consistent communication with community partners, coalitions, and community leaders
Coordinate meetings and trainings with other staff and partners (e.g. scheduling, locating meeting venues, coordinating travel, etc.)
Commitment to the philosophy of APPEAL, to build community capacity and to provide technical assistance and training in a community competent manner
Other duties as requested by the Program Manager and Executive Director
Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in public health or other relevant field, plus three years work experience or commensurate experience required
Understanding of and experience working with Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities (and other diverse communities) required
Experience in program coordination required
Ability to work effectively with cross-cultural communities. Experience working with communities of color and LGBT communities is desired
Ability to advocate for AA and NHPI communities on issues including those related to tobacco and its risk factors and other social justice areas
Strong research and analytical skills desired
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish positive relationships with community members and organizations required
Self-motivated and having the ability to balance working independently and part of a diverse team
Ability to multi-task, provide consistent follow-up, and prioritize effectively
Strong verbal communication and writing skills required
Proficiency with PC-based computers and Window, experience with Microsoft Office suite: Word, Excel, Outlook and Internet required, PowerPoint desired
Some travel may be required
Email resume and cover letter to: PCposition@appealforhealth.org Please include position title in subject line.
OR
Send resume and cover letter to: APPEAL—Program Coordinator
Hiring Committee:
300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Ste. 620
Oakland, CA 94612
Interviews will be granted according to the qualifications of the applicant. APPEAL is an equal opportunity employer. Women and people of color are encouraged to apply.
To honor the 29th anniversary of the death of Vincent Chin (June 23, 2011), an online version of “Vincent Who?” can be viewed for free. This limited-time offer (until the end of July 2011) is brought to you by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (APAP) and the producers of “Vincent Who?”
Also on the new site is the latest touring schedule for 2011-12, more research material on the Vincent Chin case and ordering information for your very own V. Chin t-shirts from Blacklava.
Please note that this new site, vincentwhomovie.com, along with the APAP website, are the only sites affiliated with the non-profit efforts of APAP and the film’s producers, including the documentary’s writer/producer, Curtis Chin. Because there may be unaffiliated, for-profit sites, we encourage you to turn to vincentwhomovie.com and APAP.
May we continue to learn from, and honor the memory of, Vincent Chin! Thanks for your continued support!
Here are some more announcements, links, and job postings about academic-related jobs, fellowships, and other related opportunities for those interested in racial/ethnic/diversity issues. As always, the announcements and links are provided for informational purposes and do not necessarily imply an endorsement of the organization or college involved.
Lecturer Positions: Asian American Studies, UC Irvine
The Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine invites applications for a part-time Non Senate Faculty position with primary responsibility in teaching an upper division interdisciplinary course in Asian American Studies for academic year 2011-12. Minimum base salary per course is $5579. The appointment dates would be as follows: Fall Quarter 2011 (09/19/11 to 12/9/11) or Winter Quarter 2012 (01/04/12 to 03/23/12). We are looking for applicants who can teach the following courses:
Applicants with a Ph.D. preferred. Applicants who are ABD or have a M.A., M.F.A., or equivalent will be considered. UC graduate students must have filed their dissertation or have a degree in hand by mid-August 2011 to be eligible to teach in Fall 2011 and by mid-December 2011 to be eligible to teach in Winter Quarter 2012. Preference will be given to applicants who can teach in the Fall quarter. You may apply for one, some, or all courses, but please note that all course availability is subject to budgetary approval.
The Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine offers a major, minor, a graduate emphasis, and contributes to the Ph.D. Program in Culture and Theory. Applications will be accepted until positions are filled. However, to ensure fullest consideration, all applications materials should be submitted by May 6, 2011. Send materials via e-mail attachment to Jim Lee at jkl@uci.edu to include:
Cover letter
Curriculum vitae
Teaching evaluation summaries (no raw data needed)
Two letters of recommendations sent directly from the recommender
Complete sample syllabi of the course(s) you are proposing
Indicate quarters available (Fall/Winter)
The University of California, Irvine is an equal opportunity employer committed to excellence through diversity and has an ADVANCE Program for Faculty Equity and Diversity.
James Kyung-Jin Lee
Chair, Department of Asian American Studies
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-6900
o: 949.824.8716
f: 949.824.7006
Check us out on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/uciasianam and Twitter @UCIAsianAm
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) invites applications for the inaugural competition of its Public Fellows program. The program will place eight recent Ph.D.s in staff positions at partnering agencies in government and the non-profit sector for two years, beginning in some cases as early as September 2011. Fellows will participate in the substantive work of these agencies and receive professional mentoring. Compensation will be commensurate with experience and at the same level as new professional employees of the hosting agency and will include health insurance.
This program, made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, aims to demonstrate that the capacities developed in the advanced study of the humanities have wide application, both within and beyond the academy. ACLS seeks applications from recent Ph.D.s who wish to begin careers in administration, management, and public service by choice rather than circumstance. Competitive applicants will have been successful in both academic and extra-academic experiences.
Fellowship Details:
Stipend: $50,000 – $78,000 dependent on position. Health benefits will also be provided
Tenure: Two years; start dates will vary but range from September 2011 to as late as February 2012 (if security clearance is necessary)
Summer Youth Career Exploration Program Project Coordinator
Boat People SOS, Inc. (BPSOS) is a national Vietnamese-American community-based organization with 30 years of service. Our mission is to empower, equip and organize Vietnamese-American individuals and communities in their pursuit of liberty and dignity. Our local branch provides programs and services are in the areas of community development, immigration and translation services, health programming, youth programming, and workforce readiness programming.
BPSOS-Delaware Valley seeks a highly motivated, enthusiastic and responsible individual for our part-time Project Coordinator position for our Summer Youth Career Exploration Program (SYCEP). This position will be based out of our Philadelphia office in the BPSOS-Delaware Valley Branch. The SYCEP Project Coordinator is part of a seasonal team designed to provide citywide access to Southeast Asian immigrant youth, ages 16-21, who are interested in exploring career opportunities in a broad array of fields over a six week period. This position requires a flexible schedule and the ability to work nights and weekends from May to August.
Responsibilities:
Recruit, interview and support 25 Southeast Asian immigrant youth in SYCEP Program
Conduct parent/youth informational sessions for the program as needed
Recruit and maintain relationships with employers throughout the program
Conduct youth enrollment sessions in accordance with applicable labor laws and practices
Assess youth readiness for program referrals
Review the quality of youth enrollment files
Enter data files into proprietary database
Maintain filing system for youth and provider files, including payroll, timesheets, and other HR paperwork as necessary
Organize, plan and carry out six professional development for youth on WorkReadiness
Embody and integrate excellent customer service into daily work
Serve as an example of professionalism
Travel to worksites throughout the City of Philadelphia
Translation of brochures, flyers and pamphlets of information as needed
Requirements:
Must have experience in working with immigrant communities and/or high needs communities
Excellent organization skills
Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment
Highly-developed interpersonal abilities
Flexible work schedule (some nights and weekends required)
Bilingual in Vietnamese/English preferred
Access to transportation preferred
PC computer literacy, proficient in Word, Excel and Internet usage
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Salary: Negotiable, depending on experience and qualifications. Seasonal position. To apply: Send cover letter, resume and list of three professional references to:
Human Resources
Fax: 703-538-2191 – hr@bpsos.org
Hyphen and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop are very excited to present the 2011 Asian American Short Story Contest – the only, national, pan-Asian American writing competition of its kind. Prize: $1,000, publication in Hyphen magazine and the honor of “Short Story of the Year.”
Now in its fourth year, the 2011 Asian American Short Story Contest will name 10 finalists and one grand prize-winner who will win a cash prize of $1000 and have the winning story published in an upcoming issue of Hyphen. Judges for the 2011 contests include renowned Asian American writers:
Yiyun Li, a 2010 MacArthur Genius Award winner; author of “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,” and, “The Vagrants,” winner of the gold medal of California Book Award for fiction
Porochista Khakpour, author of “Sons and Other Flammable Objects,” a New York Times “Editor’s Choice,” Chicago Tribune “Fall’s Best,” and a 2007
California Book Award winner
Our first contest winner Preeta Samarasan was discovered based on her contest-winning story. She went on to write the acclaimed novel Evening is the Whole Day (Houghton Mifflin), which was long-listed for the Orange Prize.
The deadline for this contest is May 16th. Open to all writers of Asian descent living in the United States and Canada. Please visit http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/shortstory or http://www.aaww.org for more information.
Held in collaboration between San Francisco-based Hyphen, a non-profit news and culture magazine, and The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, the preeminent literary arts organization devoted to Asian American literature — the 2011 Asian American Short Story contest is a unique competition highlighting the amazing literary talent coming out of our communities. Garnering hundreds of submissions from all parts of the country and representing all peoples of Asian America, this contest has proven itself as a major cultural event.
Lecturer Position: Hmong American Studies, Wisconsin – Madison
Visiting Assistant Professor in Hmong American Studies
Asian American Studies Program
University of Wisconsin-Madison
2011-2012
Application Deadline: June 10, 2011 or until filled. PhD required.
Disciplines sought: Hmong Studies, Sociology, American Studies, Asian American Studies, Counseling Psychology, Education, Human Development and Family Studies, Nursing, Community Studies, Public Health, Psychology, Communication Arts, or an interdisciplinary or related discipline.
The Asian American Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is hiring a visiting assistant professor for 2011-2012 who will teach courses about Hmong in the United States with a contemporary focus. We are interested in someone who has already completed their PhD and who already has experience teaching at least one college level course. Experience or strong interest with community based research or service learning is desirable but not required.
A critical race, race relations, or ethnic studies perspective is preferred. This position also includes providing consultation about the future of Hmong Studies as a field and involvement in programming (e.g., speakers, conferences, research institute, etc.) in the Asian American Studies Program. The teaching load will be 2 courses per semester.
This will be the fourth year that we are hiring a visiting assistant professor in Hmong American Studies. It is part of a longer term strategy to identify and promote the development of new scholars in this area, with the hope that we will have a pool of scholars to select from for a permanent tenure line in the future.
During the Visiting Assistant Professor’s year at UW, we provide mentoring, professional development support, and opportunities to strengthen one’s academic profile. The visiting assistant professor will have an office in the Asian American Studies Program and have opportunities to meet and work with members of the academic and local Hmong community. Previous visiting assistant professors have gone on to post-docs and tenure track positions.
We have already put two courses in the timetable for the Fall (generically titled so that they can be tailored to the interests of the instructor).
Asian Am 240 Hmong Experiences in the U.S.
Asian Am 540 Hmong American Studies
This is a 33.33% appointment for the Fall 2011 semester, beginning on August 29, 2011 and ending on January 12, 2012. The salary is $5,700 for the one course (33.33% of the full time academic rate of $34,202.) If you are interested in being considered for this position, please send the following:
Your curriculum vita, including names and phone numbers of teaching references listed
A letter describing:
Your teaching perspective
A sample syllabi for either of the two courses listed above
Discussion of your specific area of expertise in teaching about Hmong Americans and what the course content for a topic specific course in this area might be
Please apply BY EMAIL by June 10, 2011 to both:
luttal@wisc.edu
aasp@mailplus.wisc.edu
with the subject line: VAP 2011-2012 YOUR FULL NAME
If you have any questions about this position, please contact: Lynet Uttal, Director, Asian American Studies Program, luttal@wisc.edu
Here are some more announcements and links out that have come my way relating to Asians or Asian Americans. As always, links to other sites are provided for informational purposes and do not necessarily imply an endorsement of their contents.
The Social Justice Fund currently makes 8 to 10 grants annually of up to $2,000 for grassroots activist projects in the US and around the world, giving priority to those with small budgets and little access to more mainstream funding sources. Please read these guidelines carefully and review our rosters of past grants on our website before applying to the Muste Institute for funding.
Next deadline: April 19, 2010 (for grants decided in mid-June). Subsequent deadlines to be posted after May 1, 2010. The Muste Institute’s Social Justice Fund considers proposals:
For new projects or campaigns, or efforts to expand existing work
For projects with expense budgets under $50,000
For projects which are local, regional, national or global in scope
From groups located anywhere in the world
From grassroots organizations with annual expenses of less than $500,000
From groups with limited or no access to more mainstream funding sources
From groups that may be unincorporated or incorporated*
From groups with or without 501(c)3 status or a fiscal sponsor*
From groups which have not received Social Justice Grants from us in at least two years
The Social Justice Fund’s priority is to support:
Direct grassroots activism and organizing
Groups with diverse, representative and democratic internal leadership structures
Groups which have or can obtain sufficient economic and in-kind support from a diversity of sources to carry out their regular work, but need additional support for a particular project
You can visit the A.J. Muste Institute website for more information on eligibility and how to apply.
Vietnamese Oral History Project
I’m emailing today because we all have one common interest — preserving Vietnamese history and culture. My friend Linh Tran and I are starting a new project and hope that with your help, we can turn our ambitions into a reality.
Our mission is to record, document and preserve the stories of every single Vietnamese refugee who fled the country after the Fall of Saigon. We as Vietnamese people have a very unique, important story and unless we make efforts to preserve those histories in some way, it’ll be lost in text books, in our children and our children’s children. Although there have been some attempts to document our story, not one project has done it on the global scale that we want to reach.
This is why Linh and I want to start to collect individual stories of this journey — modeled after the nationally recognized StoryCorps and Steven Spielberg’s Jewish Film Archive. We are compiling a video documentary, archive and multimedia-driven project that will serve the Vietnamese people, let them tell their stories and also be a platform to educate others from different origins and backgrounds about our story. It’ll temporarily be called “From Vietnam to Freedom” and will be housed online.
We’re emailing you because we’d like for you to either contribute your story, someone else’s story or help us connect more with the Vietnamese community to spread the word. We know with your help, we can truly make a difference in our global community. We hope that you’ll contribute in some way.
Thanks very much.
Best,
Kim Thai, kthai6@gmail.com
Linh Tran, tranl847@gmail.com
Mavericks of Asian Pacific Islander Descent announces the 1st Asian Pacific Islander TV Pilot Shootout sponsored by Fox Diversity. The winner will receive the opportunity to pitch a TV executive at Fox.
Writers will submit a synopsis, logline, and sample pages from a completed original television pilot script as well as submit a video of a two minute television pilot pitch. The top five pitch ideas chosen by judges will be matched with directors who will also be selected by submission process. The directors will be given seed money partially derived from the entry fees and work with the writer to develop a 1 minute teaser of the pilot. Actors and production crew are also encouraged to apply to be considered for the chosen projects. Submission deadline for writers is June 9.
The five completed teasers will premiere at the Japanese American National Museum’s ID Film Fest October 10, 2010. The ID Film Fest will include screenings and workshops. The co-presenters of the ID Film Fest will include JANM, director Justin Lin and You Offend Me, You Offend My Family, director Quentin Lee, producer and writer Koji Steven Sakai, director Jessica Sanders, and Phil Yu of AngryAsianMan.com.
MAPID’s focus is to assist, develop, and promote Asian Pacific Islanders in entertainment. Producer of Breaking the Bow which involved over 70 API artists, MAPID conducts an API writing group, presents Battle of the Pitches, and co-presents the successful short screenplay competition with the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Complete instructions can be found at mapid.us/tvpilotshootout. For more information, contact Ken Choy at ken@mapid.us.
The 2010 Census deadline is approaching, and as you know, it is critical to have the entire Asian American community participate. An accurate count can help us receive our share of over $400 billion in annual federal funds for services our community needs. Unfortunately, past decades have shown that Asian Americans are among the groups most likely to discard their Census forms.
Fill In Our Future is a campaign created by AAPI Action to promote and encourage the participation of the Asian American community in the 2010 Census. Our website, fillinourfuture.org, features frequently asked Census questions, in-language resources (in over 24 Asian languages), informational brochures, sample Census forms, in-language assistance guides, celebrity and community leader PSA’s (Public Service Announcements) and monthly contests and giveaways. The larger campaign also includes media and community outreach, workshops, a speaker’s bureau and training seminars.
As the Asian American and Pacific Islander population continues to grow and change, the data from the Census will help leaders obtain the best services, resources, and programs to meet our community needs. Please utilize and share the following resource links with your readers: Website, Facebook Fan Page, and Twitter.
Here are some more announcements and links out that have come my way relating to Asians or Asian Americans. As always, links to other sites are provided for informational purposes and do not necessarily imply an endorsement of their contents.
My name is Reimar Macaranas and I am the Community Program Manager at Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP). I wanted to ask for your help in outreaching to your Asian and Pacific Islander students in regards to the paid summer internship we have offered each year for the past 13 years.
This is a two-month summer internship where we put interns in Asian and Pacific Islander community-based organizations (a full list of past
organizations we have worked with is on the website link provided) for 4 days of the week, where they would be working hands-on with communities on specific projects the organizations have proposed to us. The other day of the week, they would be at LEAP, going through workshops, community dialogues and panels to not only increase personal development, but community development as well.
Reimar Macaranas
Community Program Manager
Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP)
(213) 485-1422×4102
(213) 485-0050 (fax)
rmacaranas@leap.org
www.leap.org
Call for Applications: “Settling Into Motion“ – The Bucerius Ph.D. Scholarships in Migration Studies. The ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius Ph.D. scholarship program in migration studies “Settling Into Motion” offers up to eight scholarships for Ph.D. theses addressing migration in changing societies.
For 2010, research applications on “Migration, Diversity and the Future of Modern Societies†are especially welcome. Qualified Ph.D. students of – in a broad sense – social sciences can apply until 25 February 2010. Please find further information as well as the online application on the program’s website.
Migration leads to increasing diversity in many countries all over the world. Sometimes this results in challenges of established institutions as well as cultural practices of modern societies. Current migrant populations are more heterogeneous than ever before: migrants and their descendants have not only different religious, cultural and ethnic roots, but they also differ with regard to their citizenship status, as well as their professional and economic backgrounds.
At the same time, governments in receiving societies frequently react to this phenomenon with integration schemes that implicitly address a non-existent homogeneous “migrant populationâ€. On the other hand, there are examples where diversity and cultural pluralism are seen as strength and advantage. We encourage the following topics, but will also consider other approaches:
Diversity and political order
Migration and cultural, ethnic and religious diversity
Integration policies
Cultural policy and the management of diversity
Concepts and categories in migration and integration debates
Innovative approaches both in terms of subject matter and methodology are highly encouraged.
Re-SEAing SouthEast Asian American Studies. Memories & Visions: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.
San Francisco State University
March 10-11, 2011
The third tri-annual interdisciplinary Southeast Asians in the Diaspora conference will take place at San Francisco State University. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to sizable populations of Burmese, Cambodian, Filipino, Hmong, Indonesian, Lao, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai, and Vietnamese Americans. This conference will foreground the large Southeast Asian American communities of the Bay Area, Silicon Valley, and the Pacific Northwest, as well as continue to build momentum and grow just as the Southeast Asian American demographics increase in size and visibility here in the U.S. and in particular, on the West Coast.
The main objectives of this conference are:
to encourage the interdisciplinary and comparative study of Southeast Asian
American peoples and their communities
to promote national and international cooperation in the field
to establish partnerships between academia and the community
This two-day conference explores memories (e.g., memories of homeland; memories of war; memories of childhood and growing up American; historical memories; embodied memories; intergenerational memories; technologies of memories; and imagined/created memories) and visions (actual sightings and sites of Southeast Asian Americans and their communities, both real and imaginary). Because this conference takes place after the constitutionally mandated 2010 census, the focus will be on locating/situating Southeast Asian American Studies for the 21st century.
The conference invites proposals for panels, workshops, and individual papers from all disciplines and fields of study that explore the dialectical relationship between memories and visions related to the following topics:
Southeast Asian American health and wellness
Southeast Asian American social justice
Southeast Asian American and critical pedagogy
Southeast Asian American youth cultures
Southeast Asian American folklore, folklife, and religions
Southeast Asian American families, relationships, and communities
Southeast Asian American queer cultures and spaces
Southeast Asian American sexualities
Southeast Asian Americans of mixed heritage/race
Southeast Asian American transnationality, transnationalization, and transnationalism
Sino-Southeast Asian Americans
Explorations of how artists (writers, filmmakers, visual artists) “see†and envision themselves and their communities as Southeast Asian Americans
The location and relationship of Southeast Asia to Southeast Asian America
The shifting demographics of Southeast Asian Americans vis-Ã -vis (in)visibility
Papers will also be considered on any related topics in Southeast Asian American Studies. 250 word abstracts should be submitted by June 15, 2010 to Dr. Jonathan H. X. Lee at jlee@sfsu.edu with the following information: a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, and d) abstract with title.
All papers will go through an internal review process and decisions regarding acceptance of papers for the conference will be communicated by October 15, 2010. Information on previous conferences:
Jonathan H. X. Lee, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies
San Francisco State University
Department of Asian American Studies
1600 Holloway Ave, EP 103
San Francisco, CA 94132
Do you know of any non-profit organizations which benefit the Asian American community? If so, please encourage their Executive Director to consider spending a week at Harvard to sharpen their leadership skills and make their organizations more effective.
For the 5th consecutive year, the Harvard Business School Asian American Alumni Association (HBS4A) will be sponsoring a full tuition, room, board, and materials scholarship for a non-profit organization executive director to attend the Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management program at HBS this July. Alaric Bien, last year’s HBS4A Scholarship recipient and Executive Director of the CISC had this to say after completing the program last year:
“The SPNM experience was truly amazing! Scary and somewhat intimidating at first to be part of a group of such high powered, incredibly sharp and dedicated nonprofit executives from literally all over the world, but what a wonderful privilege to have access to all those resources and knowledge.
The professors were awesome – incredibly expert in their fields, inspiring, great teachers, and they really understand what it’s like to work in the real world of the nonprofit sector. I came back to CISC charged up and eager to put into practice what we learned during that short, but oh so intense week at HBS. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity!”
Previous organizations which have benefited from the HBS4A scholarship include the New York Asian Women’s Center in 2006, the Chinese Community Center in Houston in 2007, the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Association of Philadelphia in 2008, and the Chinese Information and Service Center of Seattle in 2009.
If you know of an Executive Director at a non profit organization which benefits the Asian American community, please direct them to the scholarship website for more information! Thanks to all the HBS4A dues-paying members for helping make this empowering program possible!
