For over five decades, Asian American studies have been acknowledged as a scholarly field in U.S. colleges and universities. However, except in California, students seeking to major or minor in this study area often face obstacles. This situation is gradually improving. In 2022, Duke University introduced an academic minor in Asian American studies. Harvard University, previously criticized for insufficient ethnic studies courses, hired two tenured professors in Asian American studies over the past two years. Vanderbilt University launched a new major and minor in this field in 2023. The same year, Williams College began offering a concentration, similar to a minor, and Fordham University introduced a minor. Amherst College, where I work, recently developed a major in Asian American and Pacific Islander studies, starting in fall 2024.
This makes Amherst the first liberal arts college nationwide to have its own major in this field. The Claremont Colleges in Southern California – Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Pomona, and Scripps – have offered a shared major for 25 years. Public high schools nationwide are also seeing an increase in Asian American content. These initiatives were not initiated overnight. Students at these and other campuses advocated for Asian American studies for years. Across the U.S., student activists in regions like the South, Northeast, and Southwest continue to urge for more course offerings and inclusion of majors or minors in the curriculum. But if student advocacy and faculty interest alone spurred curricular change, Asian American studies and related fields would have been established on campuses much earlier.
At Amherst, students have advocated for attention to Asian American studies for 50 years. The recent commitment to more coursework and the hiring of permanent faculty, rather than temporary visiting professors, is partially in response to tragedy. Programs began expanding as incidents of violence against Asian Americans, such as the 2021 murders of spa workers in Atlanta, rose during the COVID-19 pandemic. Former President Donald Trump’s repeated labeling of COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus” fueled racial hostility. Historically, ethnic studies programs emerged following public discrimination protests. Establishing Black, Native, Latino, and Asian American studies in California followed the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and protests.
The discriminatory incidents that heightened during the pandemic spurred increased activism among Asian American students. They sought to embrace their heritage and see their histories and experiences reflected in academic course offerings. These events also made university leaders realize that, unlike their stereotype as problem-free high achievers, Asian Americans face distinctive discrimination, often being viewed as “forever foreign.” Their presence in college curricula deserves more attention. As more institutions offer Asian American studies programs, the course content is also diversifying. Cultural studies, literary studies, and other interdisciplinary humanities subjects are the most common in Asian American programs. The field also incorporates history and sociology, disciplines questioning who holds power across racial lines and why.
Current focal points in Asian American studies include critical race theory and critiques of the United States as an “empire” and its militarization. Advocates for Asian American studies might align with political views supporting Palestinians and affirmative action, which resonate with these subjects. Political activism has always been fundamental to Asian American studies, which emerged in the 1960s and 1970s through student activism. However, the field’s roots in the humanities and social sciences focused on the humanities have meant that some other disciplines were overlooked. This is now shifting.
In recent years, the Association for Asian American Studies, the largest professional group in the field, has emphasized the importance of including more research on Asian America within the social sciences, such as political science, anthropology, economics, and psychology. At an April 2024 symposium, the organization connected faculty from psychology, education, political science, and other fields to Asian American studies and vice versa. It also provided mentoring for these faculty members. It is expected that the field will continue to grow and add more areas of representation on different campuses. A more comprehensive examination of Asian American experiences may improve understanding of the conditions that have led to the proliferation of these programs in higher education institutions. Understanding the rise in violence against Asian Americans, for example, requires knowledge of U.S. military interventions in Asia and their impact on the social psychology of Americans.