Not Your Model Minority

Abstract

This roundtable offers a conversational case study of how a film retrospective on Asian American documentary filmmaker, producer, and activist Renee Tajima-Peña turned into a series of community care and coalition-building events, co-curated by precariously employed faculty at San José State University, California. The curators behind Not Your Model Minority: The Art and Activism of Renee Tajima-Peña had envisioned the retrospective as a way of showcasing Tajima-Pena’s hidden legacy, particularly the way in which her archival work in documentary practice connects the struggles of Asian Americans with African Americans and Latinx communities, essentially curating solidarity among aggrieved communities. Moved by the turn of events brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and the spike in anti-Asian violence unleashed by it, the curators remade the film retrospective into a deeply needed time-space for feminist-oriented communal sharing and caring, fostering acts of intersectional intimacy and promiscuous care.