Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI) - The City University of New York (CUNY)

AAARI
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Building the bridge between CUNY, and the Asian American community.

  1. FEB 7

    From Screen to Clay: Exploring the Relationships Between Image and Material

    Dr. Yonghao Yan examines the development of contemporary ceramics in Jingdezhen, a prefecture in Jianxi, China, and the evolving creative practices at Jingdezhen Ceramic University. Through their own artistic projects, Dr. Yan explores how ceramic art intersects with moving-image practices, including documentary filmmaking, experimental video, and ceramic-based animation. By analyzing selected worksboth institutional and personalshe aims to demonstrate how image and material inform and transform one another, revealing new possibilities for contemporary ceramic expression.

    1 hr

  2. 12/22/2025

    'Godzilla Minus One' Meets 'Past Lives': Romantic Histories and Historic Romances

    Prof. Jayashree Kambl will present on her essay in CUNY FORUM Volume 11:1, focusing on love and gender roles in the recent globally successful films Godzilla Minus One and Past Lives. Prof. Kambl delves into how Godzilla unexpectedly challenges traditional cinematic depictions of romance and gender, offering fresh perspectives on themes of identity and geocultural representation. Both films show how popular culture can shape our understanding of history, belonging, and societal dynamics. She also goes beyond the article to invite connections between the philosophy of romance in Past Lives and its Korean-Canadian-American director Celine Songs 2025 movie, Materialists.

    1h 2m

  3. 12/12/2025

    Family Amnesia: Chinese American Resilience

    Family Amnesia (Daylight Books, 2025) is a visual tribute and love letter honoring author Betty Yus Chinese American family roots in the United States. The art book explores her familys multi-generational resilience and resistance through mixed-media collages, her grandfathers photographs, and own captured images and archival material.

    1h 1m

  4. 12/05/2025

    Transitions & Challenges: Chinatown Small Business after Covid

    Prof. Zai Liang's presentation focuses on the substantial challenges faced by small businesses in Manhattan Chinatown and the subsequent transitions they have made in the post-Covid pandemic era. Attendees will gain insights into the key findings conducted during Summer 2025 by the specialized research team from SUNY Albany, in collaboration with the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation.

    53 min

  5. 11/26/2025

    Chinese-Caribbean Narratives: Migration, Identity and Belonging at Home and Diaspora

    Prof. Aleah Ranjitingh will present her research on Chinese-Caribbean immigrants in the United States, and the ways in which they understand self in terms of race and ethnicity. Centering on identity formation as persons of Chinese descent, but also with a distinct ethnic identity as voluntary immigrants from the Caribbean (Rogers 2001), Prof. Ranjitsingh is interested in interrogating: identity and identification choices in the U.S.; how and if Chinese-Caribbean immigrants understood and experienced anti-Asian hate and discrimination at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic; and if mixed race Chinese immigrants also maneuver mixedness and racial defaults (Barratt and Ranjitsingh 2001).

    57 min

  6. 11/21/2025

    From Cool Japan to Your Japan in 2025: What Japan Gets Rightand WrongAbout Cultural Promotion

    Japans global appeal is undeniablebut how well do official narratives match what international audiences actually want? Drawing on his role as a Cool Japan Producer for the Japanese Cabinet Office, Benjamin W. Boas highlights the need to shift from a government-branded Cool Japan paradigm to the more participatory, fan-driven Your Japan. He examines whats working (content exports, inbound-tourism touchpoints, local city branding) and what still misses the mark (top-down campaigns, language access, and diversity). Boas shares behind-the-scenes examples from NHK WORLD programs and community-level projects in Nakano, and addresses todays so-called overtourism, arguing that many pain points are really problems of mismanagement. In contrast to top-down efforts, grassroots phenomena are filling the gap: from overseas anime fandoms to the growth of riichi (Japanese) mahjong clubs in New York City, organic cultural movements are shaping Your Japanthe personal Japan fans embrace on their own terms. He concludes with practical recommendations for educators, policymakers, and creatives on aligning domestic priorities with overseas expectations.

    47 min

  7. 11/08/2025

    Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community

    In Performing Chinatown: Hollywood, Tourism, and the Making of a Chinese American Community (Stanford University Press, 2024), historian William Gow argues that Chinese Americans in Los Angeles strategically used their performances in both Hollywood films and Chinatown tourist attractions to influence perceptions of race and national identity during the Chinese Exclusion Era. Drawing on oral histories and archival research, the book reveals how these performances were tied to restrictive immigration laws, beginning with the 1875 Page Act. By focusing on the experiences of everyday peoplefrom movie extras to merchantsPerforming Chinatown uncovers the long-overlooked history of how Los Angeless Chinatown and Hollywood shaped each other and, in turn, shaped Asian American identity.

    51 min

  8. 10/25/2025

    Agbayani Worship: Mythmaking, Colonial Mentality, and the Problematics of a Filipino Captain America

    Vina Orden will present on her essay in CUNY FORUM Volume 11:1, examining how narratives in popular media can perpetuate or challenge existing power structures and colonial mentalities. Orden explores this through the complex dynamics behind the pop culture success of comics like The United States of Captain America. Her analysis delves into the diverse creative team behind these comics, including queer, Filipino, First Nation, and South African writers. And she critically questions whether Captain America, despite such diverse creative input, must still operate within a context of imperial power dynamics and the realities of the U.S. nation state.

    50 min
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Building the bridge between CUNY, and the Asian American community.

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