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K-State Today

April 26, 2013

Michele Janette participates in roundtable on teaching Asian American studies at the Association for Asian American Studies Conference

Submitted by Michele Janette

Teaching Asian American studies poses different challenges and offers different opportunities in a state with 15 percent Asian American population, like California, than in a state with 3 percent Asian American population, like Kansas.

Such differences were the basis for a roundtable about teaching Asian American studies in the Midwest, held at the Association for Asian American Studies Conference last week. K-State faculty member Michele Janette, associate professor of English and head of the department of women’s studies, joined Monica Trieu of Purdue University, Yvonne Lau of DePaul University, and Rachel Endo of Hamline Univerisity, to discuss such issues as bridging international Asian student communities and Asian American student communities.

They also discussed incorporating necessary context for students who don’t enter college with substantial backgrounds in Asian American history or culture, supporting students as they explore their own relation to various identity categories, and highlighting Asian American presence and impact in the Midwest itself. 

Janette also served as discussant and chair for a panel at the conference on Literary Reckonings with Empire.