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Confusion regarding affirmative action programs combined with ambiguous and secretive college admission processes have generated a growing resentment amongst the Asian American community specifically in the ways that they view other racial and ethnic minorities. Although affirmative action is popularly believed to disadvantage Asian Americans, this paper makes the case that the false narrative of affirmative action is more harmful to Asian Americans than affirmative action programs themselves because of how these misconceptions generate intense divisions within the Asian American community. After a brief personal preface, this paper establishes the historical origins of the affirmative action myth as well as introduces research that shows how negative portrayals of affirmative action are misleading. After discussing the current consequences of repealing affirmative action in college admissions, the second part of this paper investigates contemporary views of affirmative action from both students and parents who identify as Asian American. Lastly, this paper discusses applications of the research findings to modern Asian American movements towards self-determination.

Confusion regarding affirmative action programs combined with ambiguous and secretive college admission processes have generated a growing resentment amongst the Asian American community specifically in the ways that they view other racial and ethnic minorities. Although affirmative action is popularly believed to disadvantage Asian Americans, this paper makes the case that the false narrative of affirmative action is more harmful to Asian Americans than affirmative action programs themselves because of how these misconceptions generate intense divisions within the Asian American community. After a brief personal preface, this paper establishes the historical origins of the affirmative action myth as well as introduces research that shows how negative portrayals of affirmative action are misleading. After discussing the current consequences of repealing affirmative action in college admissions, the second part of this paper investigates contemporary views of affirmative action from both students and parents who identify as Asian American. Lastly, this paper discusses applications of the research findings to modern Asian American movements towards self-determination.

This paper seeks to address the ways in which multiethnic Asian American voices have been marginalized in Asian American spaces. I conducted interviews with three participants who self identify as multiethnic Asian Americans and discuss how language, phenotypic features, and family play a role in the multiethnic Asian American experience.

Many historical studies of Asian immigration in the United States focus on the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1965, since this Act led to a dramatic increase of Asian immigration and significantly revised former immigration policies. However, war bride legislation—laws governing the immigration of the foreign-born wives of American servicemen—represents an interesting area of political and legal analysis. Between the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act which established highly restrictive national-origin quotas and the 1965 INA, thousands of Asian women immigrated to the United States as war brides, unrestricted by quotas. Their immigration represents a complex period of history during which the category of “immigrant” was consistently revised, racialized, and expanded. My paper surveys the history of these Acts and Amendments and argues that this legislation aimed to replace the perpetual foreigner myth with a gendered and “colorblind” myth about immigrant spouses—a precursor to the model minority myth.

California's Filipinx population is one of its largest Asian American subgroups with an extensive history of socioeconomic accounts, although higher education in the state has shown a drastic lack of underrepresentation for Filipinx and Filipinx Americans. This study focuses on the University of California, Berkeley, a selective public institution, and the disparities in effectively reaching parity within admissions applications and enrollment rates among California's significant Filipinx population. According to 2019 data published by the University of California Infocenter, more than 87,000 high school students applied to Berkeley with a 16% admit rate. Filipinx/Filipinx Americans accounted for only 3,468 (3.9%) of Berkeley's applications with only 489 (14%) admitted. When we keep in mind that Filipinxs identify as the largest Asian American subgroup of California, we see a huge discrepancy in numbers. In this paper, I utilize a variety of different resources that encapsulate the greater challenges of Filipinx students within both K-12 and higher education to pinpoint the institutional cause of low enrollment. This includes the disproportionate representation of Filipinx faculty, the racialization of Filipinx as a model minority, and the distinct educational values instilled in Filipinx culture. My data collection further consists of interviews among UC Berkeley undergraduate students, alumni, and faculty. Conversations were emphasized to highlight the socioeconomic elements they believed to be a contributing cause, what short-term and long-term effects culminated from the rate of Filipinx admission at Berkeley, and their impression on current California educational policies such as Proposition 209 and Proposition 16.

Hoang Minh Phan never wanted to leave Vietnam. After his father was shot and killed by the Viet Cong, he vowed that he would stay by his mother's side and care for and protect her. However, one fateful morning, Hoang finds himself in a boat with other refugees looking to escape Vietnam. Realizing the situation he was in too late, he journeys to Malaysia, Greece, and finally settled in Texas, where he begins to rebuild his life. This paper explores not only Hoang's story, but the complicated history of many Southeast Asian refugees who escaped Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam after the American Wars in Southeast Asia.

What would data disaggregation for Asian Americans look like, and why does it matter? Disaggregating the broad category of “Asian” or “Asian American” into subgroups which take national or ethnic origin into account can help to illuminate the disparities present between different Asian American communities. This would allow for a more accurate assessment of need and thus equitable resource allocation for historically disadvantaged groups, for instance Southeast Asian refugee populations such as the Lao, Cambodian, Hmong, and Vietnamese. In this paper, I will discuss the concept of Asian American panethnicity and how it negatively impacts marginalized subgroups by perpetuating the “model minority” myth, masking the disparities revealed in disaggregated data on educational attainment, for example. I will then use Rhode Island’s 2016 “All Students Count Act” as a case study to explore the debate surrounding this issue, arguing that data disaggregation to substantiate the need for affirmative action should not be considered race-based discrimination, but a race-conscious practice that can support and facilitate success in more disadvantaged Asian American communities.

This analysis of Kim’s Convenience as both a theatrical text and televised sitcom examines the growing trend in diverse representations of daily life in Western media, and the successes achieved by these multicultural media texts. By focusing on a Korean-Canadian immigrant family, Ins Choi seeks to normalize the experiences of the Asian diaspora in North America. In a time of growing Asian representation in the West, this paper advocates for increased presentation of these stories in the media.

To the community,As mass media showcased the increasing instances of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia towards the Asian diaspora, the chief editors saw that there was a lack of research literature on the Asian American experience, both before and during the onset of the pandemic. By providing a platform that empowers students to share their academic work, the AARJ continues the vision initiated by student activists in the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strikes by de-centering academic gatekeeping against people of color and reinforcing the importance of Asian American and Asian Diasporic studies as a scholarly field. We are proud to announce the publication of this first issue of the Asian American Research Journal (AARJ) at UC Berkeley. We created this journal because we saw that UC Berkeley lacked a platform for undergraduate and graduate students to publish their research and scholarly work centered on Asian American and Asian Diasporic experiences, identities, and communities. For our initial publication, we chose the theme “Building Our Voices”. We envisioned a space to recognize and showcase student papers commenting, analyzing, and advising on the various contemporary issues facing the Asian American community, as well as how historical legacies of trauma, discrimination, and oppression continue to affect past, present, and future generations. In addressing the need for a platform for student work and voices, we encouraged a broad range of submissions to capture the multifaceted, non-monolithic stories of the Asian American and Asian diaspora. We are beyond thankful to the editors, designers, authors, faculty editors, and community members for bringing this inaugural journal to fruition and are excited for this publication to continue supporting future generations of scholars to come. We especially thank the tireless efforts of our journal-building community: Anya Fang, our logo designer; Jamie Noh, our chief designer; Rachel Lee and the eScholarship tea

This paper is concerned with the experiences of  LGBTQ Pilipinx American undergraduate leaders who are in charge of developing retention programs and resources for fellow queer Pilipinx American students at UC Berkeley. Using semi-structured interviews, this research draws upon the personal experiences of queer Pilipinx American undergraduate at UC Berkeley who  been involved in student organizing and retention event planning. As descendants of immigrants, uprooted and diasporically displaced by centuries of colonial and imperial regimes, and as members of the pan-ethnic “Asian American” category, observing the existence of queer Filipinx Americans may allow us to further unpack and disaggregate underlooked AAPI experiences. Thus, I interrogate how queerness, gender, and sexuality inform the ways queer Pilipinx Americans navigate higher education, how the experiences they faced as queer subjects growing up, be it positive, negative, or somewhere in between, affected their path to college, and the factors that led them to do the work they are currently doing. This work will allow me to develop a theoretical framework that destabilizes, complicates, and expands our current understandings of queer Asian diasporic experience within educational research.

Hoang Minh Phan never wanted to leave Vietnam. After his father was shot and killed by the Viet Cong, he vowed that he would stay by his mother's side and care for and protect her. However, one fateful morning, Hoang finds himself in a boat with other refugees looking to escape Vietnam. Realizing the situation he was in too late, he journeys to Malaysia, Greece, and finally settled in Texas, where he begins to rebuild his life. This paper explores not only Hoang's story, but the complicated history of many Southeast Asian refugees who escaped Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam after the American Wars in Southeast Asia.

California's Filipinx population is one of its largest Asian American subgroups with an extensive history of socioeconomic accounts, although higher education in the state has shown a drastic lack of underrepresentation for Filipinx and Filipinx Americans. This study focuses on the University of California, Berkeley, a selective public institution, and the disparities in effectively reaching parity within admissions applications and enrollment rates among California's significant Filipinx population. According to 2019 data published by the University of California Infocenter, more than 87,000 high school students applied to Berkeley with a 16% admit rate. Filipinx/Filipinx Americans accounted for only 3,468 (3.9%) of Berkeley's applications with only 489 (14%) admitted. When we keep in mind that Filipinxs identify as the largest Asian American subgroup of California, we see a huge discrepancy in numbers. In this paper, I utilize a variety of different resources that encapsulate the greater challenges of Filipinx students within both K-12 and higher education to pinpoint the institutional cause of low enrollment. This includes the disproportionate representation of Filipinx faculty, the racialization of Filipinx as a model minority, and the distinct educational values instilled in Filipinx culture. My data collection further consists of interviews among UC Berkeley undergraduate students, alumni, and faculty. Conversations were emphasized to highlight the socioeconomic elements they believed to be a contributing cause, what short-term and long-term effects culminated from the rate of Filipinx admission at Berkeley, and their impression on current California educational policies such as Proposition 209 and Proposition 16.

What would data disaggregation for Asian Americans look like, and why does it matter? Disaggregating the broad category of “Asian” or “Asian American” into subgroups which take national or ethnic origin into account can help to illuminate the disparities present between different Asian American communities. This would allow for a more accurate assessment of need and thus equitable resource allocation for historically disadvantaged groups, for instance Southeast Asian refugee populations such as the Lao, Cambodian, Hmong, and Vietnamese. In this paper, I will discuss the concept of Asian American panethnicity and how it negatively impacts marginalized subgroups by perpetuating the “model minority” myth, masking the disparities revealed in disaggregated data on educational attainment, for example. I will then use Rhode Island’s 2016 “All Students Count Act” as a case study to explore the debate surrounding this issue, arguing that data disaggregation to substantiate the need for affirmative action should not be considered race-based discrimination, but a race-conscious practice that can support and facilitate success in more disadvantaged Asian American communities.

To the community,As mass media showcased the increasing instances of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia towards the Asian diaspora, the chief editors saw that there was a lack of research literature on the Asian American experience, both before and during the onset of the pandemic. By providing a platform that empowers students to share their academic work, the AARJ continues the vision initiated by student activists in the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strikes by de-centering academic gatekeeping against people of color and reinforcing the importance of Asian American and Asian Diasporic studies as a scholarly field. We are proud to announce the publication of this first issue of the Asian American Research Journal (AARJ) at UC Berkeley. We created this journal because we saw that UC Berkeley lacked a platform for undergraduate and graduate students to publish their research and scholarly work centered on Asian American and Asian Diasporic experiences, identities, and communities. For our initial publication, we chose the theme “Building Our Voices”. We envisioned a space to recognize and showcase student papers commenting, analyzing, and advising on the various contemporary issues facing the Asian American community, as well as how historical legacies of trauma, discrimination, and oppression continue to affect past, present, and future generations. In addressing the need for a platform for student work and voices, we encouraged a broad range of submissions to capture the multifaceted, non-monolithic stories of the Asian American and Asian diaspora. We are beyond thankful to the editors, designers, authors, faculty editors, and community members for bringing this inaugural journal to fruition and are excited for this publication to continue supporting future generations of scholars to come. We especially thank the tireless efforts of our journal-building community: Anya Fang, our logo designer; Jamie Noh, our chief designer; Rachel Lee and the eScholarship tea

Many historical studies of Asian immigration in the United States focus on the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1965, since this Act led to a dramatic increase of Asian immigration and significantly revised former immigration policies. However, war bride legislation—laws governing the immigration of the foreign-born wives of American servicemen—represents an interesting area of political and legal analysis. Between the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act which established highly restrictive national-origin quotas and the 1965 INA, thousands of Asian women immigrated to the United States as war brides, unrestricted by quotas. Their immigration represents a complex period of history during which the category of “immigrant” was consistently revised, racialized, and expanded. My paper surveys the history of these Acts and Amendments and argues that this legislation aimed to replace the perpetual foreigner myth with a gendered and “colorblind” myth about immigrant spouses—a precursor to the model minority myth.

This paper seeks to address the ways in which multiethnic Asian American voices have been marginalized in Asian American spaces. I conducted interviews with three participants who self identify as multiethnic Asian Americans and discuss how language, phenotypic features, and family play a role in the multiethnic Asian American experience.

This analysis of Kim’s Convenience as both a theatrical text and televised sitcom examines the growing trend in diverse representations of daily life in Western media, and the successes achieved by these multicultural media texts. By focusing on a Korean-Canadian immigrant family, Ins Choi seeks to normalize the experiences of the Asian diaspora in North America. In a time of growing Asian representation in the West, this paper advocates for increased presentation of these stories in the media.

This paper is concerned with the experiences of  LGBTQ Pilipinx American undergraduate leaders who are in charge of developing retention programs and resources for fellow queer Pilipinx American students at UC Berkeley. Using semi-structured interviews, this research draws upon the personal experiences of queer Pilipinx American undergraduate at UC Berkeley who  been involved in student organizing and retention event planning. As descendants of immigrants, uprooted and diasporically displaced by centuries of colonial and imperial regimes, and as members of the pan-ethnic “Asian American” category, observing the existence of queer Filipinx Americans may allow us to further unpack and disaggregate underlooked AAPI experiences. Thus, I interrogate how queerness, gender, and sexuality inform the ways queer Pilipinx Americans navigate higher education, how the experiences they faced as queer subjects growing up, be it positive, negative, or somewhere in between, affected their path to college, and the factors that led them to do the work they are currently doing. This work will allow me to develop a theoretical framework that destabilizes, complicates, and expands our current understandings of queer Asian diasporic experience within educational research.