WORKSHOP SESSION 3: 5:15pm - 6:15pm
PHIL YU: Angry Asian Blogger: Getting Angry on the Internet and Making It Count
Phil Yu founded AngryAsianMan.com, a hyperconnected hub in the Asian American blogosphere that has been drawing tens of thousands of people daily since 2001. The Washington Post called AngryAsianMan.com "a daily must-read for the media-savvy, socially conscious, pop-cultured Asian American.” Phil's mixture of humor and criticism has made his website perhaps the most influential website in Asian America. Phil's commentary has been quoted in stories for the Los Angeles Times, NPR, USA Today, MSNBC, Newsday, CBS News, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Before being a rockstar blogger, Phil worked for the Center for Asian American Media in San Francisco and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
Phil will be hosting a Q & A session, so be prepared for an interactive, enlightening, and fun workshop!
RACHEL WHITE: Navigating the Movement as a White Woman
Rachel White is a Christian junior at Duke University studying International Comparative Studies with a focus in South Asia. She firmly believes that revolution isn't just about the oppressed. Revolution means all hands on deck, working for a change -- both those in power and those who have been oppressed are a part of a broken system.
"I benefit from a system that works to my advantage -- probably to an extent that I don't even fully understand, because I have never had to operate outside of it. Not because I want to, just the opposite, in fact. But my desire doesn't change my reality: I am white.
But it wasn't like I always realized this. Until coming to Duke, I was mostly oblivious to the concept of race, viewing it as an intellectual description devoid of any personal experience or engagement with it on my behalf. Growing from that into where I am now has been a struggle, marked by much confusion, hatred, guilt, and prayer, as well as much honest encouragement/support/feedback from friends and mentors (some of color, some not) along the way.
My hope is that this workshop will provide a space for honest reflections of a white person becoming more racially sensitive, as well as discuss the dangers of becoming a "snowflake" or being exceptionalized, and finally the potential of becoming an ally and an advocate for social change."
SIMON HO & FAITH VILLANUEVA: Beyond Yellow Fever: Asian American Sex & Sexuality
Simon Ho is a Duke senior and Vice President of Cultural Affairs for Duke’s Asian Students Association. He has presented his research on Asian American sexuality at academic conferences including the American Sociological Society and Association of Asian American Studies. As a student activist, he was integral in bringing various conferences to Duke, including the first annual TAASCON in 2011 and ECAASU in 2012. His favorite contribution to Duke’s Asian American population was the creation of the 2013 issue of Yellow Pages, Duke’s premier Asian American student magazine.
A graduate of Duke University's class of 2012, Faith Villanueva is passionate about representations of Asian Americans in pop culture, from television shows to food politics. As a Tsinoy-American, Faith is also interested in the narratives of marginalized identities within Asian America, and has written about being Tsinoy-American at Duke in the 2013 publication of Yellow Pages. Faith has been involved with the East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU) conference for the past 2 years as well as a volunteer at the first TAASCON at Duke in 2011.
"Asian American sexuality is a topic with a special weight among college-age Yellow people. In this workshop, we provide a discussion about Asian American sexuality’s history, its current patterns, and the structures that inform its existence. Moreover, we will address media representations, masculinity/femininity, exoticism, courtship/dating/marriage patterns, and cultural/social expectations."
REMI SUN: The Asian American Vote: What Is It and Why Is It Importantt
Remi Sun is a junior at Duke University majoring in Political Science and Japanese. Originally from San Jose, California, he has actively been involved with Duke's Asian Students Association for three years, which has helped him broaden his understanding of Asian American issues.
"Asian Americans represent one of the fastest growing ethnic minorities in the United States, with enormous potential political strength. Yet historically, they also possess some of the lowest rates of political participation. The past two presidential elections have shown promising increases, but Asian Americans remain underrepresented at the voting booth and in office. This workshop works to tackle the question of why, by looking at past voting trends, barriers to participation, and the challenges in building a cohesive coalition. It draws on studies of Asian American political participation to help understand current AA political views. And most importantly, it hopes to underscore the need for Asian Americans to vote to bring their issues to the forefront of national discussion."
ABNER YANG & SCOTT HUANG: Tackling Institutional Failure: Student Activism at the University of Florida
Abner is a recent graduate of the University of Florida, receiving a B.A. in Classical Studies and Chinese in addition to a minor in Linguistics. He spent three years on the executive board of the Asian American Student Union at UF, originally as an ad hoc chair and then Campus Affairs Chair, working on academic advocacy projects.
Scott is currently a senior at the University of Florida studying Economics and minoring in Chinese and Entrepreneurship. He served on the executive board of the Asian American Student Union at UF from 2010-2011 where he advocated for Asian American Studies on campus, planned bi-weekly workshops on various diversity issues, and organized a leadership conference. Scott also served on the executive board for Asian Kaleidoscope Month 2012, the largest Asian Heritage Month in the southeast region.
"The purpose of this workshop is to look into the steps taken at the University of Florida, starting in the fall of 2011, to address the lack of Asian history courses in the curriculum. The insight provided here will hopefully show how we succeeded, how we failed, how we managed this long-term project, as it is still an ongoing process at the university, and how that could be applied to petition processes at your own school. We hope to discuss and inspire people to attack large-scale projects and the wins and losses to expect as we search for institutional reform and continuing legitimacy in academic environments, ones which are pertinent to us all as students."
SRUTI PISHARODY: Exploring Identity through Dance
Sruti Pisharody is an Indian American and a classical Bharatanatyam dancer who loves to dabble in other classical and folk styles of dance. Most of Sruti's younger years were characterized by the struggles of fitting into small town America,and at the age of 6, her mother decided she should be a classical Indian dancer. More than 13 years of dance have now wrought an unrecognizable change in Sruti's life: a new, defiant identity has emerged.
"I would like to perform a very short piece of classical Bharatanatyam dance before I begin. Then I will introduce myself and my background and how I grew up. I mostly want to explain how through dance I learned to celebrate my culture, heritage, and religion, rather than feeling ashamed of a background that was very different from the conservative, all-white culture I was exposed to at school. I no longer cared if I looked out of place wearing a salwar kameez in a Wal-Mart if my mom took me grocery shopping after dance practice. I learned how to be proud of who I was and defiantly show the world all I had to offer. I also want to show how I learned to communicate effectively through dance, without second-guessing myself. At this point in the program I would like to teach a small piece of abstract dance and then take suggestions from the audience to create a story and show it through dance."
