APA Studies Letter
Asian Students Association
To whom it may concern:
Students of Asian heritage at Amherst College – from international students to Asian American students, spanning East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian, and Pacific regions – demand to be seen by the institution and supported in all of our heterogeneity. Asian students at Amherst College have felt perpetually out-of-place on this campus. Isolated from the predominantly Caucasian population and left out of the calls for support of “black and brown bodies” (which match our South Asian peers, but are not necessarily meant to apply), Asian students have struggled to find where we fit both in racial discourse and in Amherst College spaces. This two-ended bind of Asian identity has made it difficult for students to comprehend our place and to comprehend ourselves.
When asked to mediate on their experiences at Amherst College and with Amherst Uprising, Asian students navigated a complex series of emotions, expressing both strong support of their fellow students of color and strong feelings of confusion, in-between-ness, and alienation. One Asian American student powerfully reflects on her experience in an AC Voice article titled “Dear Amherst Uprising (https://acvoice.com/2015/11/17/dear-amherst-uprising/):
I am drawn to Amherst Uprising not just out of compassion for groups different from my own, but out of an intuitive sense that my experience is also connected. But at the same time, I am kept from seamlessly falling into the movement. I sense that my struggle is somehow distinct, but I have trouble articulating why. I am left feeling in-between and paralyzed. I waver in and out of Frost. I waver in and out of the movement. I do not know where to be.
The question of identity faced by this student and by the estimated 250 students of Asian heritage at Amherst College has been made bearable by the presence and support of Asian Pacific American mentors. However, the number of Asian Pacific American faculty members at Amherst College is few and far between. The presence of Asian Pacific American faculty and staff that adequately reflects the diversity of region, gender, class, and sexuality is severely lacking. Support for students of Asian heritage begins with academic support. It means increasing the number of Asian Pacific American professors. It means offering more than one Asian Pacific American course each semester. It means having an Asian Pacific American presence in various departments, so we are not just seen by ourselves, but we are seen by others too.
The current state of APA (Asian Pacific American) studies courses and APA faculty at Amherst College is limited. During this spring semester, the only APA studies course offered is a 15-person American Studies seminar taught by Professor Odo, who has a two year visiting professorship. In the fall, there were only two APA studies courses offered: a first year seminar taught by Professor Hayashi and an American Studies seminar taught by Professor Odo. Amherst College is plagued by both a lack of Asian American studies courses and a lack of diversity in those offered. Currently, there are no South or Southeast Asian American professors teaching Asian American content. There are no Pacific Islander professors teaching Pacific Islander content. The future of Asian American studies at Amherst College appears even bleaker. In the 2017-2018 academic year, when Professor Odo will reach the end of his contract and Professor Hayashi will go on sabbatical, there will be no APA professors teaching APA content at Amherst College.
The lack of Asian Pacific American (APA) studies at Amherst College, in no way, indicates a lack of interest among the student body. In fact, despite the lack of faculty and courses teaching Asian Pacific American studies, Asian and Asian American students have taken it upon themselves to pursue theses, independent projects, and special topics courses in the field of APA studies.
One such student is Kiko Aebi ’16 who wrote an art history thesis on photography surrounding Japanese American incarceration camps titled Visions of Relocation and Remembrance: Intergenerational Visual Representations of the Japanese American Concentration Camps. She faced difficulty in pursuing this topic that was personally important to her, her grandparents having been incarcerated, but institutionally unsupported at Amherst College. Kiko explains how her art history advisors, although very helpful with theory, “didn’t know the history” and therefore, “didn’t know the questions to ask” and “couldn’t fact check.” In writing her thesis, Kiko relied on Franklin Odo, a widely-respected scholar on Japanese American history. She states the importance of not just his knowledge of the history and his ample connections within the academic world, but also his own personal connection to the material. Commenting on a course taught by Professor Odo called “Race and Public History/Memory,” Kiko expressed how it “didn’t feel like a class” and how meaningful it was to be taught this history by “someone who was also invested in the history.” Reflecting on her thesis, Kiko describes this deeply personal exploration of her family and history as “one of the most significant things that I’ve undertaken in my life.”
Another such student is Jenny Li ’16 who wrote an English thesis consisting of two short stories, “Love in Many Languages” and “From Mother to Daughter,” and a digital play, Golden Tears Will Guide Me. In these creative works, Jenny smoothly and poignantly traverses complexities in Asian immigrant and Asian American experiences. Her three stories speak to the language barriers faced by Asian immigrants, intergenerational conflict, and views of mental health in Asian and Asian American communities. Prior to her senior year, having read only one Asian American novel in an Amherst College English class, Jenny initially planned on making her main character of her creative writing thesis racially ambiguous. However, after reading the Asian American novel Everything I Never Told You on her own, she felt that “I finally had some kind of voice. I finally had something meaningful to write about.” While undertaking her thesis, Jenny relied on her English advisor for creative writing advice, but sought the knowledge of Professor Odo who provided her with the historical grounding for her stories and informed her of important Asian American literary works to reference. Following the writing of her thesis, Jenny found that her project allowed her not just to understand herself better, but also to improve her relationship with her parents, as creative writing allowed her to embody the mindset of Asian immigrant characters.
These individual accounts are just two examples of the frustration felt by students who fail to find professors invested in the same histories as them and the affirmation felt by students who realize that their histories are worth learning about. These testimonies explain what it means to have professors who share experiences with them. For these students, the presence of an Asian American professor transcends the realm of academia and the walls of a classroom. Having an Asian American professor validates one’s perspective, one’s voice, and one’s place. The simple fact of having a professor who looks like you secures one with the knowledge that there is someone looking out for you. In an environment where students of Asian heritage often feel unsupported, the grounding that professors can provide is essential.
An increased presence of Asian Pacific American professors at Amherst College is not only beneficial for a niche number of students of Asian heritage. As expressed in the Board of Trustee’s Statement on Diversity, “teaching and learning at their best are conversations with persons other than ourselves about ideas other than our own.” For non-Asian students, Asian American histories, perspectives, and experiences can foster a greater understanding between students of different backgrounds.
When Amherst College fails to support Asian Pacific American faculty and Asian Pacific American courses, it sends a message to all students that Asian Pacific American identity is not important and Asian Pacific American history is not worth learning. When Amherst College sends such a powerful message that whites out Asian identities and nullifies Asian American histories, it is no question as to why students of Asian heritage feel “oppressed, lost, in between, without skin, vulnerable, and waging a war” (Dear Amherst Uprising). With this letter, students of Asian heritage at Amherst College refuse to be invisible any longer and we demand that the institution to support us.
With respect,
Asian Students Association