Asian American Studies

Asian American Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Asian America about about their new books.

Lisa Nakamura, "The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet" (U Minnesota Press, 2026)

March 18, 2026

The Inattention Economy

Lisa Nakamura
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the …

Guoqi Xu, "The Idea of China: A Contested History" (Harvard UP, 2026)

March 8, 2026

The Idea of China

Guoqi Xu
Hosted by Lucas Tse

What counts as China, and who counts as Chinese? China became a capitalist superpower by investing in globalization. Now that it has established its …

Dafeng Xu, "Chinatown: San Francisco's 1906 Earthquake and the Paradox of American Immigration Policy" (JHU Press, 2026)

February 4, 2026

Chinatown

Dafeng Xu
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in North America and one of the largest Chinese enclaves outside Asia. Spanning 30 city blocks and h…

LiLi Johnson, "Technologies of Kinship: Asian American Racialization and the Making of Family" (NYU Press, 2025)

January 28, 2026

Technologies of Kinship

LiLi Johnson
Hosted by Ailin Zhou

Delving into the complex interplay of race, kinship, and technology, Technologies of Kinship: Asian American Racialization and the Making of Family (N…

Kong Pheng Pha, "Queering the Hmong Diaspora: Racial Subjectivity and the Myth of Hyperheterosexuality" (U Washington Press, 2025)

January 25, 2026

Queering the Hmong Diaspora

Kong Pheng Pha
Hosted by Donna Anderson

This episode features Dr. Kong Pheng Pha discussing his recently published book, Queering the Hmong Diaspora: Racial Subjectivity and the Myth of Hype…

Jenny Banh, "Fantasies of Hong Kong Disneyland: Attempted Indigenizations of Space, Labor, and Consumption" (Rutgers UP, 2025)

January 25, 2026

Fantasies of Hong Kong Disneyland

Jenny Banh
Hosted by Donna Anderson

Fantasies of Hong Kong Disneyland: Attempted Indigenizations of Space, Labor, and Consumption (Rutgers UP, 2025) examines the attempt to transplant Di…

George Fisher, "Beware Euphoria: The Moral Roots and Racial Myths of America's War on Drugs" (Oxford UP, 2024)

January 24, 2026

Beware Euphoria

George Fisher
Hosted by Emily Dufton

George Fisher, the Judge John Crown Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, just released his new book Beware Euphoria: The Moral Roots and Racial My…

Scott A. Mitchell, "The Making of American Buddhism" (Oxford UP, 2023)

December 30, 2025

The Making of American Buddhism

Scott A. Mitchell
Listen:

Scott A. Mitchell is the Dean of Students and Faculty Affairs and holds the Yoshitaka Tamai Professorial Chair at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in…

Jean Pfaelzer, "California, a Slave State" (Yale UP, 2023)

December 29, 2025

California, a Slave State

Jean Pfaelzer
Hosted by Shu Wan
Listen:

California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russ…

Yunxiang Gao, "Arise Africa, Roar China: Black and Chinese Citizens of the World in the Twentieth Century" (UNC Press, 2021)

November 8, 2025

Arise Africa, Roar China

Yunxiang Gao

Arise Africa, Roar China: Black and Chinese Citizens of the World in the Twentieth Century (University of North Carolina Press, 2021) explores the clo…

Robert L. Worden and Jane Leung Larson, "A Chinese Reformer in Exile: Kang Youwei and the Chinese Empire Reform Association in North America, 1899-1911" (Brill, 2025)

October 10, 2025

A Chinese Reformer in Exile

Robert L. Worden and Jane Leung Larson
Hosted by Li-Ping Chen

A Chinese Reformer in Exile: Kang Youwei and the Chinese Empire Reform Association in North America, 1899-1911 is an encyclopaedic reference work docu…

Jamil Jan Kochai, "The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories" (Viking, 2022)

September 22, 2025

The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories

Jamil Jan Kochai
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

The first story in Jamil Jan Kochai’s newest collection has an interesting title and premise. “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” leads T…

Tracy Slater, "Together in Manzanar: The True Story of a Japanese Jewish Family in an American Concentration Camp" (Chicago Review Press, 2025)

August 28, 2025

Together in Manzanar

Tracy Slater
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced Executive Order 9066, which authorized the confinement of tens of thousands of Japanese an…

K. Ian Shin, "Imperial Stewards: Chinese Art and the Making of America's Pacific Century" (Stanford UP, 2025)

August 23, 2025

Imperial Stewards

K. Ian Shin
Hosted by Donna Anderson

This episode, which is co-hosted with Delaney Chieyen Holton, features Dr. K. Ian Shin discussing his recently published book, Imperial Stewards: Chin…

Uzma Quraishi, "Redefining the Immigrant South: Indian and Pakistani Immigration to Houston During the Cold War" (UNC Press, 2020)

August 20, 2025

Redefining the Immigrant South

Uzma Quraishi
Hosted by Ian Shin

In Redefining the Immigrant South: Indian and Pakistani Immigration to Houston During the Cold War (UNC Press, 2020), Uzma Quraishi (Sam Houston State…

Darren W. Davis and David C. Wilson, "Racial Resentment in the Political Mind" (U Chicago Press, 2021)

August 18, 2025

Racial Resentment in the Political Mind

Darren W. Davis and David C. Wilson

In Racial Resentment in the Political Mind, Darren W. Davis and David C. Wilson challenge the commonly held notion that all racial negativity, disagre…

Kit W. Myers, "The Violence of Love: Race, Family, and Adoption in the United States"(U California Press, 2025)

August 7, 2025

The Violence of Love

Kit W. Myers
Hosted by Donna Anderson

This episode features Dr. Kit W. Myers, associate professor of History and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Merced, d…

Anand Pandian, "Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls of American Life, and How to Take Them Down" (Stanford UP, 2025)

August 3, 2025

Something Between Us

Anand Pandian

In 2016, Anand Pandian was alarmed by Donald Trump's harsh attacks on immigrants to the United States, the appeal of that politics of anger and fear. …

Joseph O. Jewell, "White Man’s Work: Race and Middle-Class Mobility into the Progressive Era" (UNC Press, 2023)

July 25, 2025

White Man’s Work

Joseph O. Jewell
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

In the financial chaos of the last few decades, increasing wealth inequality has shaken people's expectations about middle-class stability. At the sam…

Carol Nackenoff and Julie Novkov, "American by Birth: Wong Kim Ark and the Battle for Citizenship" (UP of Kansas, 2021)

July 20, 2025

American by Birth

Carol Nackenoff and Julie Novkov
Hosted by Susan Liebell

All nations make rules -- through their constitutions, legislatures, bureaucratic practices – about who counts as a citizen. American by Birth examine…