It will demonstrate that Asian Americans have long faced exclusions and stereotypes yet also striven for self-representation and self-expression. Our large goal is to show that Asian America is essential to any truly inclusive vision of social justice in the United States.

Asian American Reckonings was organized in collaboration with faculty members from across several academic fields; Professor of History and Environmental Studies Connie Chiang, Bowdoin Professor of Asian Studies and Cinema Studies Shu-Chin Tsui, Professor of English and Asian Studies Belinda Kong, A. Myrick Freeman Professor of Social Sciences Nancy E. Riley, and Assistant Professor of Sociology Shruti Devgan.

Lectures and Workshops 

Past Lectures and Workshops

2024

March 26: Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: a panel discussion moderated by Nancy Riley
February 29: Lecture: Stephanie H. Shih

2023

November 14: Lecture - Michelle Zauner
November 3: Lecture - Peter Feng 
October 18: Oral Workshop - Samip Mallick
October 11: Lecture - Renee Tajima-Peña 

Arts and Literature

December 14, 2023 – June 2, 2024
Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Exhibition: Without Apology: Asian American Selves, Memories, Futures

Curated by Reckonings organizers, this exhibition will open December 14 at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Works by artists such as Tomie Arai, Mel Chin, Hung Liu, Chiura Obata, Alfonso Ossorio, Patrick Nagatani, Stephanie H. Shih, Roger Shimomura, and Shahzia Sikander.

Current
Hawthorne-Longfellow Library

Display: Asian America and Asian Diasporas

This display, curated by Hannah Kim '24, aims to share the vibrancy of newly released literatures by Asian American and Asian diasporic authors. This display can be found on the ground floor of the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library. You can also view the online literature collection. 

Asian American Film Series

Past Lives (at Eveningstar Cinema)

Courses

Fall 2023: 

• Asian American Literature (Belinda Kong)
• Asian American Cinema (Shu-chin Tsui)
• Cultural Encounters With/in Hawai’i (Nancy Riley)
• Digital Stories of South Asian Americans (Shruti Devgan)

Spring 2024:

• Asian America & Empire (Connie Chiang, Belinda Kong, Nancy Riley)
• Imagined Asias (Belinda Kong)
• Japanese American Incarceration: Removal, Redress Remembrance (Connie Chiang)
• Hollywood Imagination of Asia (Shu-chin Tsui)

• 
  Faculty Collaborate on Asian-American Themed Art Exhibition

  Five faculty members collaborate on an exhibition currently showing at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Without Apology explores how Asian American identity has expressed itself through the last eight decades or so.

• 
  Grammy Nominee Michelle Zauner on Identity and “Crying in H Mart”

  Michelle Zauner, leader of the alternative pop band Japanese Breakfast and this semester’s Santagata lecturer, spoke about her sudden rise to fame after publishing her book, Crying in H Mart, and her struggles with identity in the public eye. Zauner was one of the inaugural speakers for Bowdoin’s Asian American Reckonings initiative.

• 
  A Full Year Ahead of Asian American Talks, Courses, Films, and Art

  A group of Bowdoin professors will be offering a diverse slate of courses and programming this year focused on Asian American history, perspectives, and expressions.