Symposium - Look East: Locating Asia in Asian American Studies (USC)

On April 20, 2007, the University of Southern California will host a special symposium entitled, LOOK EAST:LOCATING ASIA IN ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES.

This symposium explores the opportunity to more fully engage Asia as a site for rethinking Asian American experience and consciousness. Today's extensive global networks and relative ease of travel have fueled the growth of a surprising reverse "brain drain" as well as the formation of transnational families, expatriate communities, and new conceptions of ethnic and national identity. Put together these trends address the significance for studying Asian Americans in Asia. At the same time, cities like Tokyo, Seoul, and Beijing have become magnets for global migration, which calls for comparison between immigrants there and in America's more familiar ethnic communities. Researchers, then, have the chance shed light on Asian America through the study of comparative immigrant enclaves, reverse migration, and other processes taking place in Asia.

This is an all-day event that will feature presentations by many distinguished faculty in Asian American Studies. The event is FREE, but space is limited, so attendees must contact Wendy Cheng ASAP to reserve a space.

LOOK EAST: LOCATING ASIA IN ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES
April 20, 2007
Parkside International Residential College, USC
Room 1016
10 a.m. ˆ 5:15 p.m.
For parking, enter Gate 6. For campus map:
www.usc.edu/about/visit/upc/driving_directions


SCHEDULE

10:00 ˆ 10:30 Registration and Opening Reception

10:30 ˆ 10:45 Opening Remarks

10:45 ˆ 12:15
Roundtable 1: Reflecting on Homeland(s)
 L O N K U R A S H I G E , University of Southern California
"Japan and Japanese American Studies"
 X I A O J I A N Z H A O , University of California, Santa Barbara
"China, Chinese, and Chinese Immigrants in the Study of Chinese America"
 V I E T N G U Y E N , University of Southern California
"Not Like Going Home: On Ambivalent Returns to the Source"
 K A R E N T E I Y A M A S H I T A , University of California, Santa Cruz
"Travessia"

12:15 ˆ 1:15 Lunch at Parkside Commons

1:15 ˆ 2:45
Roundtable 2: Transnational Identities, Work, and Politics
 M A R Y Y U D A N I C O , Cal Poly Pomona
"Gyopos in Transition: Experiences of Korean Americans living in Korea"
 R H A C E L P A R R E N A S , University of California, Davis
"Liminal, Partial, and Bare-Life Citizenship: The Racial and Economic Incorporation of Asian Temporary Labor Migrants in Asia and the United States"
 A U G U S T O E S P I R I T U , University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
"`The Philippine Problem': A Century of Trans-Pacific Movements and Debates"

2:45 ˆ 3:00 Break

3:00 ˆ 4:15
Roundtable 3: Diasporic Cultures and Communities
 E D W A R D J . W. P A R K , Loyola Marymount University
"Predicament of Transnationality: Koreans in Beijing and Tokyo"
 T H E O D O R E S . G O N Z A L V E S , University of Hawai'i at Manoa
"Lost in Manilla"
 P H U O N G N G U Y E N , University of Southern California
"Farewell, Saigon, I will be back, I swear: The Music of Post-1975 Vietnamese Refugee Nationalism"

4:15 ˆ 5:15 Closing Session: Discussion of Asia Study Tour

5:45 ˆ 7:45 Dinner at offsite location

Space is Limited. Please register with Wendy Cheng ASAP.