Amerasia Journal is pleased to announce the publication of “Asian American Folklore: Passages and Practices”, our first issue devoted exclusively to Asian American Folklore Studies. This project is undertaken by two of the leading scholars in this area of study, Jonathan H. X. Lee (San Francisco State University) and Kathleen Nadeau (California State University, San Bernardino).
Issue 39:2 “Asian American Folklore: Passages and Practices” explores how Asian American Studies and folklore studies converge. One of the most important insights Lee and Nadeau offer is that Asian American folk practices are living, breathing, and constantly transforming, not simply vestiges of immigrant pasts, as evidenced by articles examining topics that range from Asian American graphic narratives to origami, from Chinese American children’s folk literature to Chinatown architecture. In particular, Lee and Nadeau make a claim for a uniquely Asian American folklore that has its roots in Asian America, with ties to diasporic and transnational cultures that link Asian Americans to Asia from the past to the present.
“Asian American Folklore: Passages and Practices” includes Cathy Schlund-Vials’s incisive study of the first Asian American graphic narrative collection, Secret Identities, as she argues that the comic book form provides Asian Americans a venue to imagine alternate histories and futures. Art historian Winston Kyan excavates over a century of Chinatown architecture to show how it has reflected the changing perceptions of U.S.-China relations, while Lorraine Dong offers a comprehensive catalog of Chinese American children’s folktales written for an American audience. Brett Esaki presents truly novel research into Japanese American origami practices, focusing on how the work of origami designer Linda Mihara embodies the social interactions and history of the Japanese American community.
The issue also features a roundtable on the controversial charges that Richard Aoki was a FBI informant. Organized by long-time UCLA Asian American Studies Center Publications Coordinator and Asian American Movement veteran Mary Uyematsu Kao, the forum on this complex affair brings together insights from Aoki’s old and new compatriots: Douglas Daniels, Harvey Dong, and Wayie Ly.
Published by UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center since 1971, Amerasia Journal is regarded as the core journal in the field of Asian American Studies.
ORDERING INFORMATION: Copies of the issue can be ordered via phone, email, or mail. Each issue of Amerasia Journal costs $15.00 plus shipping/handling and applicable sales tax. Please contact the Center Press for detailed ordering information.
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