UNLV's Asian & Asian American Studies program writes in solidarity with movements and rebellions erupting nationwide demanding an end to the violence and murder of Black people at the hands of police. We are deeply hurt and outraged by the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade as well as the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery. We join Black community activists, organizers, scholars, friends, and countless others leading the charge for peace with justice, and to state unapologetically that Black lives matter and Black life matters.
All of us in the Asian & Asian American Studies program are deeply concerned about the state of the world as COVID-19 wreaks havoc on people’s bodies and lives. Given how suddenly and dramatically our lives have changed over the last month, we are hoping that you, especially students, are taking good care of yourselves and loved ones and doing the best you can to make it through the days. As with most, we are feeling a bit anxious, unsettled, uncertain, annoyed, unnerved, and overwhelmed all at once. Part of this is because we aren’t quite sure what we, as a program, can do to help during this global pandemic. This statement, we hope, is a start.
We, the faculty members of the Asian and Asian American Studies program at UNLV, offer our condolences to the families and friends of the victims in the Atlanta shootings, and we stand in solidarity with all those grieving and made to feel unsafe by this most recent instance of violence against Asian American and Asian Immigrant communities.
The Asian and Asian American Studies program brings two traditionally distinct fields of inquiry together in dynamic conversation: Asian Studies and Asian American Studies. The program's transnational emphasis and research-intensive curriculum focuses on the complex social, cultural, political, linguistic, literary, artistic, and historical aspects of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Asian American life. We examine a wide range of social issues and problems inside these diverse communities—Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Thai, Laos, Vietnamese, Korean, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, indigenous Hawaiian, and many other Asian/Pacific Islanders—to better understand the histories and contemporary experiences of these groups, but above all as a way to better understand the human condition. Comprised of the humanities, social sciences, and the arts, the program engages Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas not as static, monolithic sites but rather as sites of shifting historical, geographic, and geopolitical zones of interaction, struggle, and cooperation. With course offerings and faculty specializing in multiple academic disciplines, our program gives students interdisciplinary and multi-method research and learning skills to communicate and collaborate across cultures and communities, which will give them a competitive advantage in both their studies and in the increasingly diverse, globalized, and interconnected world of the 21st century.
Approved Courses
The following courses have been approved to fulfill the AIS course requirements for either a Bachelor of Arts in Asian and Asian American Studies or a Minor in Asian and Asian American Studies. Students must complete at least 21 credit hours in upper-division (300 or above) courses for the AIS major.
Contact
Mark Padoongpatt, Ph.D.,
Director — Asian and Asian American Studies
Office: CBC-B 421
Mail Code:5027
Phone: 702-895-0847
Fax: 702-895-0850
Email: mark.padoongpatt@unlv.edu
William Jankowiak,
Professor of Anthropology (co-director, Asian Studies emphasis)
Office: WRI-B 108
Mail Code: 5003
Phone: 702-895-3610
Fax: 702-895-4823
Email: jankbill@unlv.nevada.edu