Publication Spotlight | Asian American Studies at Illinois

A book cover. The art depicts a family running among a flock of birds.

A. Naomi Paik Days after taking the White House, Donald Trump signed three executive orders—these authorized the Muslim Ban, the border wall, and ICE raids. These orders would define his administration’s approach toward noncitizens. An essential primer on how we got here, Bans...

With Stones in Our Hands: Writings on Muslims, Racism, and Empire

Junaid Rana After September 11, 2001, the global War on Terror has made clear that Islam and Muslims are central to an imperial system of racism. Prior to 9/11, white supremacy had a violent relationship of dominance with Islam and Muslims. Racism against Muslims today borrows...

A book cover. A man stands between two tall, gray walls, turning to look back at the viewer, while another man stands despondently in the background. The sky overhead is dark red, with orange clouds. A watchtower looms overhead. Text reads: "Rightlessness: Testimony and Redress in U.S. Prison Camps Since WWII." Author A. Naomi Paik.

Rightlessness: Testimony and Redress in U.S. Prison Camps since World War II

A. Naomi Paik Rightlessness: Testimony and Redress in U.S. Prison Camps Since World War II is the 2018 winner of Best Book in History from the Association of Asian American Studies. "A conceptually...

A white book cover featuring a close-up image of a door propped slightly open. The cast of the shadows suggests that the source of light comes from behind it. Text reads "South Korea's Education Exodus: The Life and Times of Study Abroad." Edited by Adrienne Lo, Nancy Abelmann, Soo Ah Kwon and Sumie Okazaki

South Korea's Education Exodus: The Life and Times of Study Abroad

Adirenne Lo | Nancy Abelmann | Soo Ah Kwon | Sumie Okazaki South Korea's Education Exodus analyzes Early Study Abroad in relation to the neoliberalization of South Korean education and...

A black and white book cover. Two stylized, silhouetted figures stand between twisting pillars. The figure on the left appears to be trapped in the tight space, while the figure on the right is dancing. Text reads: "Imperial Blues: Geographies of Race and Sex in Jazz Age New York" Author Fiona I.B. Ngo.

Imperial Blues: Geographies of Race and Sex in Jazz Age New York

Fiona I. B. Ngô In this pathbreaking study, Fiona I. B. Ngô examines how geographies of U.S. empire were perceived and enacted during the 1920s and 1930s. Focusing on New York during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Ngô traces the city's multiple circuits of jazz music and...

A book cover with a black background. Several circles in soft grays and blues adorn the cover, shot through with thin black lines. Text reads "Uncivil Youth: Race, Activism, and Affirmative Governmentality." Author Soo Ah Kwon.

Uncivil Youth: Race, Activism, and Affirmative Governmentality

Soo Ah Kwon In Uncivil Youth, Soo Ah Kwon explores youth of color activism as linked to the making of democratic citizen-subjects. Focusing attention on the relations of...

A book cover featuring an oil painting. Two gray and black shapes suggest the image of feet, viewed from behind on a brown and blue field. It looks as though the person is looking into the distance. Text reads: "Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in the South Asian Diaspora." Author Junaid Rana

Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in the South Asian Diaspora

Junaid Rana Terrifying Muslims highlights how transnational working classes from Pakistan are produced, constructed, and represented in the context of American empire and the recent global War on Terror. Drawing...

A book cover featuring a photo of a woman carrying a book under her arm. Only the lower half of her face is visible. Text overlaid on the book reads "The Intimate University." Author Nancy Abelmann. A subtitle along the bottom reads "Korean American Students and the Problems of Segregation"

The Intimate University: Korean American Students and the Problems of Segregation

Nancy Abelmann The majority of the 30,000-plus undergraduates at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign—including the large population of Korean American students—come from nearby metropolitan Chicago. Among the campus’s largest non-white ethnicities, Korean American...

A book cover featuring a black and white photo of a crowd seen from above. A motion blur gives the image the impression of hasty movement. A red field is below. Text reads "Transnational South Asians: The Making of a Neo-Diaspora." Editors Susan Koshy and R. Radhakrishnan.

Transnational South Asians: The Making of a Neo-Diaspora

Susan Koshy | R. Radhakrishnan Transnational South Asians examines the interrelationship between South Asian diaspora and globalization. It shows how the...

A book cover featuring a still from a black-and-white film. A woman rests her head against a man's shoulder. His hand is on her hair, as if to comfort her. The image is overlaid with calligraphic characters and colored blue. Text reads: "South Korean Golden Age Melodrama: Gender, Genre, and National Cinema." Editors Kathleen McHugh and Nancy Abelmann.

South Korean Golden Age Melodrama: Gender, Genre, and National Cinema

Kathleen McHugh | Nancy Abelmann Immediately following the Korean War, South Korea’s film industry flourished with vibrant local production of high-quality films. Characterized by its stunning melodramas, this "Golden Age" of South Korean cinema produced a body of work as...

A book cover featuring a purple background. Overlaid in lighter purple is a block print-style illustration of a flower. Text reads: "Five Faces of Exile: The Nation and Filipino American Intellectuals." Author Augusto Fauni Espiritu.

Five Faces of Exile: The Nation and Filipino American Intellectuals

Augusto Fauni Espiritu Colonialism and empire have rarely been seen from the perspectives and experiences of the colonized. Five Faces of Exile addresses this gap by exploring a wide range of perspectives on colonial...

A yellow, white, green, and red book cover. A collage of abstract images and the lower half of a woman's face on the right side. Title reads "Sexual Naturalization: Asian Americans and Miscegenation." Author Susan Koshy.

Sexual Naturalization: Asian Americans and Miscegenation

Susan Koshy Sexual Naturalization offers compelling new insights into the racialized constitution of American nationality. In the first major interdisciplinary study of Asian-white miscegenation from the late...

A book cover featuring a black and white photo of several Japanese children leaning out a window, their hands outstretched in the two-fingered sign for either victory or peace. One holds an American flag. Text in cursive-primer print reads: "Wherever I Go, I Will Always Be a Loyal American: Seattle's Japanese American Schoolchildren During World War II." Author Yoon K. Pak.

Wherever I Go, I Will Always Be a Loyal American: Schooling Seattle's Japanese Americans during World War II

Yoon K. Pak Wherever I Go, I Will Always Be a Loyal American is the story of how the Seattle public schools responded to the news of...