Speakers Bureau Speaker
Karen J. Leong, Tempe
Karen J. Leong is Director of the Asian Pacific American Studies Program at Arizona State University. She is an associate professor of Women and Gender Studies and Asian Pacific American Studies, and an affiliate faculty of History. Karen received her doctorate in US History from the University of California at Berkeley. Her own research focuses the intersections of gender, race, and culture in U.S. History. She published the book The China Mystique: Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong, Mayling Soong Chiang, and the Transformation of American Orientalism in 2005 with University of California Press. She also is co-coordinator of the Japanese Americans in Arizona Oral History Project, and is currently writing a book for that project.
Asian Americans in Arizona
While most people do not consider Asian Americans to be a large presence in Arizona, the Asian American community is the fastest growing community percentage-wise in the state, based on the most recent census reports. What factors have contributed to this increase, and what impact will this growing community make on this already rapidly changing state? At the same time, "Asian American" relates to people from widely diverse backgrounds, whether ethnic, geographical, socioeconomic, or religious. How is the community in Arizona itself changing internally, and what will the effect of those changes be? Finally, Asian Americans have often been perceived nationally as the "model minority" because this group boasts the highest educational levels on average, and seemingly enjoys socioeconomic mobility. What myths have helped or hurt this community? Leong introduces audiences to a general history of Asian Americans in Arizona from the 19th century to the present, their motivations for coming to the Southwest, and the unique community patterns that have developed over time. This presentation also addresses federal and state policies that have shaped this community over time, and suggests key challenges facing them in the future.
• Host organization provides PowerPoint, if available.
Japanese Americans in Arizona
How is the Japanese American community in Arizona unique from other Japanese American communities nationwide, and what has this particular community contributed to the development of Arizona? Much of what we know about Japanese Americans in the state is based on the internment of Japanese Americans at Poston and Gila River during World War II. Yet Japanese Americans in Arizona lived, worked, and contributed to the development of Arizona as a state before, during, and after the war. Leong, co-coordinator for the Japanese Americans in Arizona Oral History project, discusses the history of Japanese Americans in Arizona, including a prominent Japanese American who took a Euroamerican name and was one of the founders of APS; the only soy sauce factory in Arizona that supplied soy sauce to Asian communities throughout the western and southern states; Japanese American railroad workers; and the Japanese American flower growers along Phoenix’s Baseline Road. Leong discusses this oral history project itself. and its purpose in learning more about Japanese Americans in pre-war and post-war Arizona.
• Host organization provides PowerPoint, if available.
Japanese-American Internment in Arizona
The state of Arizona is of particular interest to those who want to learn more about the Japanese internment during World War II. The only two internment camps located on American Indian land were on the land of the Gila River Reservation and the Colorado River Indian community—both in Arizona. The two camps at Gila River and Poston, respectively, brought close to 30,000 new residents to Arizona in 1942. Japanese Americans at both camps made material contributions to Arizona’s infrastructure and economy while interned. Unlike in other western states, some in Arizona’s Japanese American community were not removed, and their experiences for the most part have been overlooked in histories of internment. This talk will address the complexities of the internment in Arizona and for Arizonans.
• Host organization provides PowerPoint, if available.
A Present Absence: Hollywood's History of American Diversity
Whether Irish or Italian, Jewish or Catholic, Mexican American or American Indian and so on, Hollywood films provide a provocative record of changing social attitudes toward diversity in the United States. This presentation will explore some key patterns, utopian visions, and some surprises from the 1930s through the 1990s that both reflect and have challenged American understandings of ethnicity, race, religion, and other forms of diversity.
