Race and Racisms in Asia/Asian Studies

Due to its imperialist origins, the field of Asian Studies both inherits and perpetuates racist hierarchies premised on white supremacy and Black abnegation. Scholars of Asia must therefore confront the uncomfortable fact that studying Asia is neither anti-racist nor apolitical. After all, “Asia” and “Asian” are not neutral categories. Historically and today, these terms have paired phenotype (“yellow” skin) with supposedly distinctive modes of governance (“Oriental despotism”) or ostensibly immutable ethical orientations (“Confucian values”).  Anti-Black racism and ethnic, caste, and religious discrimination have also featured in Asian societies past and present, while essentialist notions of indigeneity and occupational purity have dictated who has a voice in both politics and academe. Although exclusionary thinking and hierarchies of difference are rife, a more inclusive and equitable Asian Studies is possible. This panel brings together scholars working on various regions and time periods to discuss how the straightforward profundity of saying that Black Lives Matter can fundamentally reorient Asian Studies teaching and research. Asian Studies may be intrinsically political, but our work can strive for justice rather than oppression.

Featuring:

Convener: AAS President Christine Yano (University of Hawai`i at Mānoa)

Moderator: Jolyon Thomas (University of Pennsylvania)

Panelists:

Veronika Kusumaryati (Georgetown University Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs)

Adeana McNicholl (Vanderbilt)

Ramnarayan Rawat (University of Delaware)

Chinua Thelwell (College of William and Mary)

Don Wyatt (Middlebury College)