About Asian American Studies
Immigration from Asian countries has changed the face of Minnesota. Once known for its cultural homogeneity, Minnesota has become a magnet for immigrants from countries throughout Asia. The 2000 U.S. Census has reported that Minneapolis and St. Paul have the greatest concentration of Asian Americans in the interior of the United States. The Census has also found that the state's Asian American population increased by 130% since the 1990s (from 78,000 to over 180,000) including 24,000 mixed race Asian or Pacific Islanders. The burgeoning Asian American population makes Minnesota an exciting research site for studying and addressing the challenges faced both by new refugees and immigrants and by earlier generations of Asian Americans.
Beginning in 1998, faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students, and Twin Cities artists, leaders, and activists organized the Asian American Studies Initiative at the University of Minnesota. They recognized a need to reframe for Minnesota a discipline traditionally centered in the East and West Coasts and sought to establish an academic presence on campus. In 2003, those efforts became a reality when the Regents of the University of Minnesota voted to establish the Asian American Studies Program and undergraduate studies minor.
Our Asian American Studies Program recognizes both the uniqueness of Minnesota's Asian American populations and their commonalities with each other and with other Asian American communities across the nation. Our curriculum, research projects, and outreach work are all shaped by community interests and concerns. And with its locale, community resources, and faculty, the University of Minnesota is helping to create new models of teaching Asian American history, politics, literature, and cultures.
Pictured at top: Zha Blong Xiong, General College, with undergraduate research assistants
