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

Author Anisa Rahim will discuss her book, An American Meo: A Tale of Remembering and Forgetting (Spuyten Duyvil, 2023), a hybrid work of nonfiction, fiction, and myth that explores identity, heritage, and the weight of generational memory. Born in America but deeply rooted in the culture, history, lore, and generational trauma of the Meo people Muslims from the Mewat region of India Rahim takes readers on a riveting journey through family, history, and her own coming of age. An American Meo is an archival exploration that uncovers hidden stories of her family's past alongside the broader history of a people, a region, a language, and a world on the verge of being forgotten.

Author Abigail Savitch-Lew will discuss her debut novel Livonia Chow Mein a gripping, four-generation saga set in Brownsville, Brooklyn, centered on a Chinese family-owned restaurant and its deep roots in a neighborhood shaped by waves of immigrant and working-class communities. When two tenements on Livonia Avenue burn to the ground in 1978, killing one resident and displacing dozens of others, the novels central mystery ignites pulling readers across a century of history to uncover what really happened and who was responsible. Savitch-Lew traces the intertwined lives of Chinese, Jewish, and Black families whose fates are bound together by a single block, a single restaurant, and the slow erasure of the communities they built. The novel contemplates themes of Black-Asian solidarity, displacement, and what it means to truly belong to a place.

The Evanston and Rock Springs Chinatowns were constructed by the Union Pacific Railroad Company after 1869 as they needed labor for the railroad and coal mines. At the same time, Chinese laborers were scapegoated for white unemployment, which culminated in the passage of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Newspapers emphasized that Chinese laborers, mostly men, were heathens who sent remittances to family in China. Within this context of anti-Chinese sentiment, a fight broke out between white and Chinese coal miners on September 2, 1885 and white miners led a mob that burned the Rock Springs Chinatown and murdered at least 28 Chinese residents. The Almy community of Chinese coal miners were robbed and driven out with the massacre survivors to the Evanston Chinatown. This talk discusses preliminary results from archaeological collaboration with Dr. Dudley Gardner and Chinese American descendants on the Wyoming Chinatowns, which provide tangible insight into silenced histories of Chinese immigrant labor, transpacific migration, and racial exclusion.

In the past decade, Korean entertainment has gained global recognition, with Korean movies and TV shows winning Oscars and Emmys, and K-Pop groups becoming wildly popular. In Manhattan, Koreatown has become a popular destination for both locals and tourists, drawing them in with its bars, restaurants, and day spas. Jinwon Kim argues that Manhattans Koreatown has become a new type of ethnic enclave, what she dubs a transclave. This commercialized ethnic space exists solely for consumption, leisure, and entertainment, and has been shaped by South Koreas nation-branding strategy, new economic and cultural strategies, patterns in Korean migration, and shifts in tourism and urban policies in New York City.

Across Continents employs Goan literary subjectivity as epistemology to critique a specific limitation of postcolonial thought, one that does not account for the situations or afterlife of Portuguese colonialism. Employing various novels, R. Benedito Ferro considers the relationship between Portuguese and British colonialisms through the displacement of Goan characters betwixt Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. The experiences of these figures in dealing with the processes of nation, statecraft, and political intrigue at various historical junctures offer a comparative understanding of the tumultuous conditions of postcoloniality in the making of marginalized subjectivity across continents.

Shekar Krishnan, Member, New York City Council, District 25

This presentation examines heritage language as a social technology within immigrant homes, exploring how families negotiate intergenerational identity, linguistic labor, and the pressures of assimilation in English-dominant society.

Featuring artists from Hindus for Zohran, Pakistanis for Zohran, and the Palestinian Youth Choir, the panel will examine how the arts catalyze grassroots mobilization and fortify community bonds. Through a moderated dialogue and audience Q and A, speakers will share firsthand insights into building powerful, arts-driven coalitions.

Being an immigrant New Yorker is an experience of contradictionspride in recent civic gains and resistance to an anti-immigrant and xenophobic regime. In this conversation, panelists will explore the moment through the lens of challenges and possibilities for Asian American New Yorkersopportunities for multiracial solidarity, deeper examination of internalized racism and Islamophobia, openings for building cross-class solidarity and ongoing commitment to strengthening civic and political power.

This panel brings together Dalit movement workers, leaders, and writers to analyze the erasure of caste identity within recent South Asian political milestones and to provide a roadmap for building authentic, inclusive solidarity across the diaspora.

This roundtable examines the essential role of young people as trusted messengers in immigrant and BIPOC households, arguing that passing the Student Voter Empowerment Act and Vote 17 NY is critical to fostering youth leadership, overcoming barriers to civic participation, and securing political representation for the decade to come.

The election of Zohran Mamdani as the first Muslim and Asian American mayor of New York City marked a seismic shift in the citys political landscape. This presentation provides a comprehensive analysis of these historic election results and explores the vital lessons this turning point offers for the future of Asian American political organizing.

BLOOM is a homework companion app that helps bilingual kids understand their English worksheets, one word at a time, by building on the language they already know at home. Roughly two out of three U.S. students are not reading at grade level, not because they dislike reading, but because unfamiliar words cause them to lose the thread of the story. BLOOM bridges the gap between a childs home language and their English homework kids snap a photo of a worksheet, tap any word they dont know, and instantly get a kid-friendly definition plus a translation (like Chinese), all without ever leaving the page. Progress is gamified through a growing flower, rewarding effort rather than just correct answers.

FOCUS is a mobile app that helps students build consistent, sustainable study habits in a world full of digital distractions. Based on Jun Lins own struggle to stay focused while studying, the app tackles a problem he identified as systemic students dont lack motivation, they lack a structured system to reinforce good habits. Rather than solving just one piece of the puzzle like existing gamified timers or distraction blockers, FOCUS combines motivation and self-awareness in one experience: users earn points and build streaks through daily sessions, while a Distraction Shield blocks notifications during focus time.

Easy Peasy is an AI conversation partner built specifically for South Asian immigrant women especially homemakers who face a steep confidence gap in speaking English. Unlike their spouses or children, who practice English daily at work or school, these women often lack safe, judgment-free spaces to build language skills, leaving them isolated during everyday moments like doctor visits, grocery shopping, and school meetings. The app pairs culturally relevant content like recipes and home cooking with a culturally intelligent AI companion offering real-time conversation practice, native-language support, and encouraging feedback.

oin us for a powerful evening of film and conversation on the human consequences of Chinas One-Child Policy, as we screen More Than One Child, a new documentary directed by Vinit Parmar. The 62-minute film follows the lives of three siblings who were separated at birth under Chinas former family-planning regime, tracing their journeys from rural villages to urban migrant neighborhoods as they rediscover one another and confront the legacy of state control over family life. Through intimate interviews, rare archival footage, and a compassionate lens, the film explores themes of displacement, identity, and the enduring emotional impact of policy decisions that once dictated the most personal aspects of citizens lives.

Across the globe, millions of people continue to face systemic discrimination, exclusion, and unequal opportunities based entirely on their inherited status, descent, or ancestral occupation. While deeply associated with the caste system in South Asia, these rigid intergenerational hierarchies affect diverse global populations, including the Roma in Europe, Haratine in Africa, Buraku in Japan, Osu in Nigeria, and Quilombola and Palenque communities in Latin America. Despite distinct cultural origins, these groups share a common reality of deep-seated social stigma, occupational segregation, and severe barriers to basic human rights.

Razid Season, filmmaker and alum of The City College of New York, will screen his latest short film, Elijah, a coming-out story of a second-generation Bengali-American who desires to live life fully as a man in a trans-phobic immigrant culture. Inspired by a real-life story.

New York contains the highest portion of total Asian Americans and Asian population of any U.S. city, with over 16% to 17% of its population since 2020. A significant proportion of the AA population is first- and second-generation immigrants, who have suffered various types of traumas before and after migration. The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of recent anti-immigrant rhetoric also pose greater mental health challenges against the Asian American and Asian communities. However, mental health needs among AAAIs have been under-reported and under-treated due to assessment biases, cultural stigma, and a lack of culturally responsive services and systems of care. The main objective for this workshop is to discuss community needs, obstacles, and innovative approaches of providing trauma-informed and culturally responsive mental health care for Asian American and Asian children and families in the New York metropolitan area, by gathering mental health service providers, researchers, community-based organizations, policy makers and community members.

New York contains the highest portion of total Asian Americans and Asian population of any U.S. city, with over 16% to 17% of its population since 2020. A significant proportion of the AA population is first- and second-generation immigrants, who have suffered various types of traumas before and after migration. The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of recent anti-immigrant rhetoric also pose greater mental health challenges against the Asian American and Asian communities. However, mental health needs among AAAIs have been under-reported and under-treated due to assessment biases, cultural stigma, and a lack of culturally responsive services and systems of care. The main objective for this workshop is to discuss community needs, obstacles, and innovative approaches of providing trauma-informed and culturally responsive mental health care for Asian American and Asian children and families in the New York metropolitan area, by gathering mental health service providers, researchers, community-based organizations, policy makers and community members.