class offering: asian american studies for right now

(and coming back slowly)

Hello, hello.

Long time, no letter! I’m hoping for that to change very soon (look out for a letter from me later this summer!), but in the meantime, I wanted to let you know about a course that I’m teaching, in collaboration with Yanyi of the Asian American Literary Archive.

It’s called Asian American Studies for Right Now, and it’s happening on Tuesdays and Thursdays from July 25 to August 8. Anyone is welcome to sign up.

The dog, the meme, the legend.

For the past 2 years, I’ve taught the course “Foundations in Asian American Studies,” also in collaboration with Yanyi, for our community of creatives. I have always seen the class as an important space to think collectively about the history of Asians in diaspora and—more importantly—to think about our relationship to this history.

But this year felt different for me. So much stuff has been on my mind right now. I have been thinking a lot about the role of anti-Blackness in Asian American communities, and how we should understand Palestine as an issue that’s central to the field.

The goal of this 3-week course is to begin community conversations about two critical issues with which we must contend: anti-Black racism and the issue of Palestine. The first week, we’re going to learn about the frameworks found in Asian American Studies that might help us have productive conversations. The second week, we’ll turn to thinking about how and why anti-Blackness emerges in Asian American communities, and the third week, we’ll discuss why Palestine is an Asian American Studies issue. To help us with having more informed discussions, we’ll read public¹ and scholarly² articles and we’ll consult YouTube teach-ins³ and activist toolkits.

By the end of the course, it is my hope that folks leave feeling like they have the tools to start having these conversations with their communities and/or to incorporate what we talk about within their creative practice.

Thanks so much for reading to the end of this little missive, talk soon! (I promise!)

Warmly,
Ida

P.S. I couldn’t leave you without a pup-date, now could I!?

Higgins continues to stun:

And Girlie continues to be little:

1. Think Vox or The Nation

2. I promise these won’t be that dense! I’ll also take time each class to frame & contextualize them for our conversation. It’s gonna be great!

3. From reputable sources, of course.