Locating Asian American Studies Today: Origins, Identities, and Crises

Abstract

Among the vital issues facing Asian American Studies today is the problem of academic identity. As it emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Asian American Studies seemed to belong naturally with Ethnic Studies programs, with which it shared both intellectual and social interests. Intellectually, Asian Americans as a group shared with other ethnicities common problems of conceptualization and self-definition. Socially, as with other Ethnic Studies programs, the field in its emergence was not just academic, but also sought to introduce into academia new modes of work derived from a conviction in the need to bridge academic work and community involvement.