Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI) - The City University of New York (CUNY)

New York contains the highest portion of total Asian Americans and Asian population of any U.S. city, with over 16% to 17% of its population since 2020. A significant proportion of the AA population is first- and second-generation immigrants, who have suffered various types of traumas before and after migration. The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of recent anti-immigrant rhetoric also pose greater...

New York contains the highest portion of total Asian Americans and Asian population of any U.S. city, with over 16% to 17% of its population since 2020. A significant proportion of the AA population is first- and second-generation immigrants, who have suffered various types of traumas before and after migration. The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of recent anti-immigrant rhetoric also pose greater...

New York contains the highest portion of total Asian Americans and Asian population of any U.S. city, with over 16% to 17% of its population since 2020. A significant proportion of the AA population is first- and second-generation immigrants, who have suffered various types of traumas before and after migration. The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of recent anti-immigrant rhetoric also pose greater...

New York contains the highest portion of total Asian Americans and Asian population of any U.S. city, with over 16% to 17% of its population since 2020. A significant proportion of the AA population is first- and second-generation immigrants, who have suffered various types of traumas before and after migration. The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of recent anti-immigrant rhetoric also pose greater...

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has proved extremely controversial, as it risks the lives of Iranians, people across the Middle Eastern conflict zone, and U.S. troops. Its impact on the nations of the Persian Gulf and global energy trade remains a cause for concern during the war and after the ceasefire. The choking of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries 20% of global non-renewable energy supplies, h...

Khnh L and Alisha Nguyen will present on their research exploring the history, development, and impact of Vietnamese dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs in five U.S. states with significant Vietnamese populations. Using a multiple-case study approach, this project examined how these programs support heritage language preservation and the raciolinguistic identity development of Vietna...

Born to Chinese immigrant parents, the Moy siblings grew up in an America that questioned their citizenship and denied their equality. Sophisticated and self-consciously modern, they challenged limitations and stereotypes in the United States and sought new opportunities in Chinas tumultuous republic. Sometimes the risks they took paid off, but their occasional recklessness also led to infidelity,...

Prof. Yuchen Chen will present on their project examining Chinese immigrants and real estate entrepreneurs in West Queens, exploring their placemaking practices in the emerging new Chinatown. Prof. Chen focuses on how Chinese ethnic media platforms mediate these processes and introduces the concept of infrastructure to understand diasporic identity and placemaking. By shifting the focus to the mat...

Prof. Prithi Kanakamedala will present on their project examining the life of George DeGrasse and his family, who lived on land in New York City donated by Aaron Burr in the early nineteenth century. DeGrasse, listed as being born in Calcutta, India, and often claiming to be Burrs former servant, becomes the focus of a reevaluation in light of new research suggesting Burr may have had a secret Bla...

In their study, Prof. Esther Son explores the mental health challenges and barriers to accessing services faced by Asian American/Asian college students at the College of Staten Island/CUNY, particularly after the pandemic. Focusing on ethnic variations, the research uses a mixed-methods approach, combining online surveys and Photovoice, to better understand these students unique experiences with...

Prof Sally Wen Mao will present on Sally Forth, Sad Girl!, a novel-in-progress following a Chinese American poet living in an artist residency in Shanghai. The story explores themes of solitude, diasporic wandering, heartbreak, and art-making as the protagonist connects with fellow artists and seeks adventure. Professor Mao will read excerpts from the novel-in-progress and present some of the resu...

Editor Meqin Wang, with contributors Midori Yamamura, Vicki Kwon and Stephanie Benzaquen-Gautier, will present on Contemporary art and ecological Transformation in East and Southeast Asia (Manchester University Press, March 2026), an edited volume that examines how contemporary art in East and Southeast Asia confronts environmental destruction, ecological degradation, and social injustice in the b...

Dr. Yonghao Yan examines the development of contemporary ceramics in Jingdezhen, a prefecture in Jianxi, China, and the evolving creative practices at Jingdezhen Ceramic University. Through their own artistic projects, Dr. Yan explores how ceramic art intersects with moving-image practices, including documentary filmmaking, experimental video, and ceramic-based animation. By analyzing selected wor...

Prof. Jayashree Kambl will present on her essay in CUNY FORUM Volume 11:1, focusing on love and gender roles in the recent globally successful films Godzilla Minus One and Past Lives. Prof. Kambl delves into how Godzilla unexpectedly challenges traditional cinematic depictions of romance and gender, offering fresh perspectives on themes of identity and geocultural representation. Both films show h...

Family Amnesia (Daylight Books, 2025) is a visual tribute and love letter honoring author Betty Yus Chinese American family roots in the United States. The art book explores her familys multi-generational resilience and resistance through mixed-media collages, her grandfathers photographs, and own captured images and archival material.

Prof. Zai Liang's presentation focuses on the substantial challenges faced by small businesses in Manhattan Chinatown and the subsequent transitions they have made in the post-Covid pandemic era. Attendees will gain insights into the key findings conducted during Summer 2025 by the specialized research team from SUNY Albany, in collaboration with the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corpora...

Prof. Aleah Ranjitingh will present her research on Chinese-Caribbean immigrants in the United States, and the ways in which they understand self in terms of race and ethnicity. Centering on identity formation as persons of Chinese descent, but also with a distinct ethnic identity as voluntary immigrants from the Caribbean (Rogers 2001), Prof. Ranjitsingh is interested in interrogating: identity a...

Japans global appeal is undeniablebut how well do official narratives match what international audiences actually want? Drawing on his role as a Cool Japan Producer for the Japanese Cabinet Office, Benjamin W. Boas highlights the need to shift from a government-branded Cool Japan paradigm to the more participatory, fan-driven Your Japan. He examines whats working (content exports, inbound-tourism...

In Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community (Stanford University Press, 2024), historian William Gow argues that Chinese Americans in Los Angeles strategically used their performances in both Hollywood films and Chinatown tourist attractions to influence perceptions of race and national identity during the Chinese Exclusion Era. Drawing on oral histo...

Vina Orden will present on her essay in CUNY FORUM Volume 11:1, examining how narratives in popular media can perpetuate or challenge existing power structures and colonial mentalities. Orden explores this through the complex dynamics behind the pop culture success of comics like The United States of Captain America. Her analysis delves into the diverse creative team behind these comics, including...

Much queer theory in America is based on white male experience and privilege, excluding people of color and severely limiting its relevance to third-world activism. Within the last three decades, chronicles from gay lesbian bisexual transgender intersex queer (GLBTIQ) communities within the South Asian diaspora in the United States have appeared, but the richness and contradictions that characteri...

Francisco Delgado will read and discuss his novella, On Remembering My Friends, My First Job, and My Second-Favorite Weezer CD (TRP: The University Press of SHSU, July 2025). Winner of the 2024 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize, the book tells the story of Cody Taitano, a CHamoru man who reflects on his teenage years in 1999 while navigating the complexities of parenthood during the COVID-19 pandemic. P...

Team Amplify focused on addressing the digital struggles of Asian-owned small businesses, particularly restaurants, that were challenged by the post-pandemic relaunch. The projects core hypothesis was that improving a restaurants digital visibility would increase foot traffic, attract delivery customers, improve brand recognition, and strengthen customer loyalty. The team used Tang Pavilion, a Sha...

Team Community Compass addressed the challenges faced by Asian immigrants in New York City with limited English proficiency, who struggle with language and cultural barriers when navigating the healthcare system. Initial community engagement, including a survey in three languages, revealed that while language-specific providers were often accessible, the most significant barrier was the complicate...

Leekyung Kang, the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Queens College School of Arts (Fall 2024), will present on her recent work inspired by Buddhist cosmology's cyclical nature, creating a series of paintings, print, and installation that interrogate the formal aspects of what is architecturally defined as a form of chamber. Beginning with the visual language of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhi...