Asian America. Pawan Dhingra

Foreword and Acknowledgments

      We write this foreword and acknowledgments during what may perhaps be one of the most unprecedented historical moments in United States history; it’s certainly an unprecedented moment in our lives. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to dominate the headlines and impact communities in unequal and devastating ways. Alongside the spread of the coronavirus has been the virulent growth of anti-Asian racism. At the same time, the United States has been racked with uprisings, led primarily by the black community but with significant support from other communities of color and many whites to express their outrage over yet another case of flagrant anti-black police violence, specifically the brutal death of George Floyd, but indeed to protest generations of systemic racism that not only plagues our criminal justice system but many other institutions that organize American life. The second edition of this book, therefore, comes at an especially critical time as it uses insights from inside and outside of the academy to shed light on systemic racism, community formations, and modes of resistance.

      In some sense, this book has been nearly a lifetime project for us. Each of us has been trained within sociology PhD programs and has been employed in sociology departments, even training future sociologists. Yet we also have studied within and been employed within American or Asian American Studies programs/departments in the West Coast, Midwest, and East Coast. This dual upbringing has made us acutely aware of the benefits but also the gaps within any one particular school of thought. We see Asian Americans as not simply a fundamental population of the United States but as a necessary site, alongside other minority and immigrant groups, for elucidating social science questions on the nation, globalization, intersectional approaches to race and class, media, interpersonal solidarity and conflict, identity, and much more. As the neoliberal academy moves towards greater collaboration across departments/programs and demands a more measurable “output” from scholars and teachers, we believe that recognizing the history and contributions of the study of Asian Americans across a variety of fields is all the more urgent.

The second edition of this book came to be because of the foresight of Polity Press. We would like to thank Jonathan Skerrett for taking the initiative to move forward on updating this text. None of us could have possibly anticipated that its completion and publication would come at a time like this. We also want to thank those who have used the book in professional and/or personal settings, for that has allowed a second edition.

      This book is only possible because of a number of colleagues that we have worked with in different capacities over the course of our careers. With a book such as this, there are too many individual scholars to list for special acknowledgment, so we will not even try. In some respects, this entire book is an acknowledgment of the work they have done. We would like to give special recognition to our past and present colleagues at Bucknell University, Oberlin College, the Smithsonian Institution, Tufts University, Rutgers University, the University of California, Davis and Amherst College. We would like to thank our families and close friends for putting up with yet another book project. Their support and enthusiasm around this project have made this all the more worthwhile.

      Pawan Dhingra

      Robyn Rodriguez