Asian American Studies

Asian American Studies is an academic discipline which critically examines the history, experiences, culture, and policies relevant to Asian Americans. It is closely related to other Ethnic Studies disciplines, such as African American Studies, Middle Eastern studies (including Jewish studies and Arab studies), Latino/a Studies, and Native American Studies.

Asian American Studies appeared as a field of intellectual inquiry in the late 1960s as a result of strikes by the Third World Liberation Front, a group of students of color at San Francisco State University and at the University of California, Berkeley, which demanded that college classroom instruction include the histories of people of color in the United States told from their perspectives. The demand for Ethnic Studies was a critical response to the Eurocentric bias in university curriculum. As a result, a College of Ethnic Studies (the only such "college" at any American university at the time) became established at San Francisco State University with American Indian Studies, Asian American Studies, Africana Studies, and Latino/a Studies as its four units, and four ethnic studies programs became established at the University of California, Berkeley. The Association for Asian American Studies, a professional organization designed to promote teaching and research in the field, was established in 1979.

Drawing from numerous disciplines such as sociology, history, literature, political science, and gender studies, Asian American Studies scholars consider a variety of perspectives and employ diverse analytical tools in their work. Unlike "Asian" Studies which focuses on the history, culture, religion, etc. of Asian people living in Asia, Asian American Studies is interested in the history, culture, experiences, of Asians living in the United States.

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