Hollywood Doesn't Fully Represent Asian Americans Yet

But while the current wave of movies makes the necessary first steps of representation, we must interrogate whose stories are being told. Judging by the roster of what's hitting theaters, Hollywood—and the people talking about its successes—seem stuck in the problematic loop of conflating "Asian" with "East Asian," boiling down the "Asian American experience" to one phrase that doesn't actually suit all.

Read More
“I needed to do this movie”: Awkwafina on her star-making role in The Farewell

Oh, yeah. It was a full-body experience. It’s a unique experience, to leave America and go to where you are “from.” Your whole life, you’re being told that you don’t belong here [in America]. Then you go there [to China] and really realize that you don’t belong there. But then you think about how this is your history too, and you can’t forget that part about yourself. That’s what happened to me.

Read More
The Stories We Tell, and Don’t Tell, About Asian-American Lives

Identity isn’t a prescriptive solution. But when you’re uncertain of your place within society, it can help to have ready-made categories or narratives, even if you choose to reject them. There’s a power in being able to recognize our struggles as the result of paradoxes we live within rather than seeing them as purely private failings. It’s a step toward imagining lives that we might be the authors of, with endings that we write ourselves.

Read More
Fights Over 'Authentic' Chinese Food Have a Long and Complicated History. Now They're Tearing the Culinary World Apart

As Chinese food rises in stature and price, a new wave of white restaurateurs are realizing there’s money to be made in the field, just as Starr and Tepperberg did decades ago. But unlike then, Chinese communities in the U.S. or the U.K. now have the ability to critique the work of these chefs, thanks in part to social media.

Read More
After 50 years, Asian American studies programs can still be hard to find

It is about giving our communities a voice, raising our visibility, fighting for resources that should also be shared with us, making room for our history and contributions to this country, and accepting us as Americans as well. It’s striking to me given the demographic significance of Asian Americans in the U.S. We need Asian American studies really now more than ever.

Read More
A Classic Reframed: A Diverse Cast Infuses 'The Three Musketeers' With Profound Humor

Actors of color are often offered roles that, despite their depth and complexity, ask the actors to depict some sort of trauma or oppression in order to shift the audience’s perspective or spark conversation. By putting humorous and silly stories on stage, we continue to remove the boxes put around people of color and broaden the contexts in which we see them represented on stage.

Read More