For 45 years, Amerasia Journal has published on a wide range of topics – from Asian American history and activism to forums responding to current issues. The latest open-topic issue celebrates this long legacy of centering the Asian American voice and experience. Issue 41:3 (2015) commemorates the journal’s 45th anniversary, with a graphic history of the journal’s covers and Amerasia’s founding publisher and long-time UCLA Asian American Studies Center Director Don T. Nakanishi offering his reflections on how far the journal has come over the past 45 years. We include a reprint of an essay detailing Amerasia’s origins, written by Nakanishi for our 25th anniversary. As Nakanishi recounted then, “I am hopeful that we will continue the legacy of pursuing research that speaks for us, as well as encouraging the creation, sharing, and teaching of works that speak to a new generation of students in our schools and colleges, as well as new audiences in our communities.”
In the tradition of the journal, this issue highlights the history of Asian American activism. Former Associate Editor Glenn K. Omatsu pays tribute to Grace Lee Boggs, who recently passed away at the age of 100. In Omatsu’s words, Boggs “developed a distinct worldview and challenged others to rethink strategies for social change.” Cindy Domingo, the current Chair of the Board of Directors of LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership and Organizing), offers a history of the organization and the relationship between labor, prejudice, and rights in the Philippines and the United States. For our community spotlight, we highlight the work of API Equality—Northern California, a group devoted to increasing the public presence and power of LGBTQ Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
As it has for over four decades, Amerasia Journal offers relevant perspectives on current cultural conversations as they impact Asian America. Here, we convene a roundtable discussing the scandal over poet Michael Derrick Hudson’s use of the Chinese penname Yi-Fen Chou, providing a forum to leading artists and scholars such as Neelanjana Banerjee (Kaya Press), Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis (Asian American Literary Review), Garrett Hongo, Craig Santos Perez, and Margaret Rhee to express their unique points-of-view on the matter. As the renowned poet Hongo notes, “The ‘literary freedom’ upheld by so many that allows a Caucasian poet to adopt a Chinese pseudonym is here a manifestation of cultural dominance—white empowerment feeling free to colonize everything. . .” The issue also presents a catalog of artworks from the recent PIKO: Pacific Islander Contemporary Art Exhibition held at the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum (Long Beach, CA), written by curator Dan Taulapapa McMullin, scholar Michelle Erai, and artist Moana Nepia.
As always, Amerasia Journal features innovative research on politics and culture across the Asia Pacific. Yu-Fang Cho examines what she calls “nuclearism” in Taiwan and the Pacific Islands, analyzing how rhetoric promoting nuclear power is inextricable from American nuclear weaponry. Todd Honma explores Filipino American tattooing practices, and how they raise questions of cultural authenticity. Elaine Elinson reviews Patty Enrado’s A Village in the Fields, a historical novel about Filipino farm workers involved in the Delano grape strike.
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.
Amerasia 41:3 Press Release (PDF Version)
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.
UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press
3230 Campbell Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1546
Phone: 310-825-2968 | Email: aascpress@aasc.ucla.edu
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Amerasia Journal is published three times a year: Spring, Summer/Fall, and Winter. Annual subscriptions for Amerasia Journal are $99.00 for individuals and $445.00 for libraries and other institutions. The annual subscription price includes access to the Amerasia Journal online database, with full-text versions of published issues dating back to 1971. Instructors interested in this issue for classroom use should contact the above email address to request a review copy.
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