Asian American Studies

Asian American studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that emerged from the civil rights struggles of the 1960s in the United States and provides scholarly and critical analyses from the perspectives of Asian American communities. As an academic field of inquiry, Asian American studies has been uniquely shaped by the evolving historical contexts and dynamics surrounding the ethnic and diasporic diversity inherent in the shifting demographics of an Asian American population that includes more than 40 different self-identified subgroups. With approximately 52 active academic programs on college campuses across the United States, the content and structure of these programs are as varied as the population itself. This entry provides a brief overview of Asian American studies, with a focus on the current landscape of the ...