4.26.2010

new book: asian american studies now

Another book to add to my always-growing list... I recently heard about a recently publishd anthology, Asian American Studies Now: A Critical Reader, edited by Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and Thomas C. Chen.

It's described as an introduction to Asian America for both academics and a general audience, raising questions about the relationship between Asian American Studies as an academic field and the social justice work going on in Asian American communities. Here's some basic info:
Asian American Studies Now: A Critical Reader
Edited and with an Introduction by Jean Yu-Wen Shen Wu and Thomas C. Chen
Rutgers University Press, April 2010
Paper $37.50 / ISBN: 978-0-8135-4575-2
Cloth $80.00 / ISBN 978-0-8135-4574-5 / 672 pages

Asian American Studies Now truly represents the enormous changes occurring in Asian American communities and the world, changes that require a reconsideration of how the interdisciplinary field of Asian American studies is defined and taught. This comprehensive anthology, arranged in four parts and featuring a stellar group of contributors, summarizes and defines the current shape of this rapidly changing field, addressing topics such as transnationalism, U.S. imperialism, multiracial identity, racism, immigration, citizenship, social justice, and pedagogy.

Jean Yu-wen Shen Wu and Thomas C. Chen have selected essays for the significance of their contribution to the field and their clarity, brevity, and accessibility to readers with little to no prior knowledge of Asian American studies. Featuring both reprints of seminal articles and groundbreaking texts, as well as bold new scholarship, Asian American Studies Now addresses the new circumstances, new communities, and new concerns that are reconstituting Asian America.
The editors' stated goal is "to urge those active in the field to consider with a new sense of urgency just how Asian American Studies relates -- or should relate -- to the work of anti-oppressive social transformation today." I'm looking forward to picking up this title. For more information, visit the Rutgers University Press website here.

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