In the month of May we take time to reflect and celebrate the important role that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) have played in our shared history. Today, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing racial group in the United States. Between the years 2000 and 2019, the Asian population in the United States grew 81 percent. The AAPI umbrella term includes cultures from the entire Asian continent—including East, Southeast and South Asia—and the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, there were about 20.6 million people of Asian or Pacific Islander descent in the United States. According to the Pew Research Center, AAPI people make up about 7 percent of the total U.S. population.
May is Asian / Pacific American Heritage Month
The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America's history and are instrumental in its future success.
This LibGuide was created by Ashley Granger for ISLT9489: Cultural Heritage with Dr. Jason Alston.
Undercover Asian
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Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture
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Panthers, Hulks and Ironhearts: Marvel, Diversity and the 21st Century Superhero
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The Rise of K-Dramas
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Asian America
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A Distant Center
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Creating "We Know the Way" from Moana
"We Know the Way" from the Moana soundtrack was composed and sung by Opetaia Foa'i, a Polynesian composer, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was very excited when he was told his voice would be included in the song! The song is sung in Samoan and Tokelauan, with a choir from Fiji, Pasifika Voices, as accompaniment.
Full song: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa'i - We Know The Way (From "Moana")
Lawmakers use haka to protest in New Zealand's parliament
A vote in New Zealand’s parliament was suspended and two lawmakers ejected on Thursday when dramatic political theatre erupted over a controversial proposed law redefining the country’s founding agreement between Indigenous Māori and the British Crown.
Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month by Visiting These Art Museums
Visiting museums is undoubtedly a great way to seek visual respite—or a dose of fascinating history. With May being Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, it’s the perfect time to visit sites that honor the creations of members of the AAPI community. Below, take a look at our list of museums to visit during AAPI Heritage Month and beyond, which includes sites like the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Japanese American National Museum, and more.
From Canton Restaurant to Panda Express
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Kimchi, Kimchi Every Day
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Chinese Folktales: The Dragon Slayer and Other Timeless Tales
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Drawing New Color Lines
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Unfollowing You
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The East/West Quartet
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Chinglish
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Nature, Culture, and History
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The Routledge Companion to Asian American and Pacific Islander Literature
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The Joy Luck Club
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The Cambridge Companion to Asian American Literature
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The Melanesian World
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Circle
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Taiko Drumming in Asian American Los Angeles
Ethnomusicologist Deborah Wong offers a vivid introduction to the Japanese American and Asian American taiko scene in the greater Los Angeles area. Taiko is a contemporary form of ensemble drumming that is built on the foundation of traditional Japanese festival music. This new tradition is called kumi-daiko, or "group taiko," because taiko ensembles usually feature numerous drums of at least three different sizes played in a fast, loud, virtuosic, athletic style. Taiko is very old, but in most of the ways that matter, it is a modern, transnational, globalized, dynamic heritage tradition that changes by the day. Photo from https://makototaiko.org/
Japanese internment camps: an interview with Dr. Michael Hosokawa
Dr. Michael Hosokawa talks about his childhood years in a US Japanese internment camp. Hosokawa was one of the 120,000 people forcibly placed into a Japanese internment camp during WWII. He recounts his childhood years spent in the camp, as well as the aftermath.
Asian Pacific Americans: Going for Broke
Asian Pacific Americans have made lasting contributions to America’s wartime efforts. These eight stories are from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq, with special emphasis on the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the “Go for Broke” outfit of Japanese Americans who fought valiantly in Europe during World War II. Many of these men put their lives on the line for their country while their families were confined to internment camps back in the States.
National Park Service: We Are AANHPI
Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders have a rich heritage thousands of years old and have both shaped the history of the United States and had their lives dramatically influenced by moments in its history. Every May during Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and throughout the year, the National Park Service and our partners share those histories and the continuing culture thriving in parks and communities today.
Recovering the National Memory: The Quest for a Pre-Colonial Filipino Past
Virgilio S. Almario discussed what Filipino culture means and what Philippine society values, cherishes and protects. He explored the evolution of the Filipino culture and society, which are influenced and shaped by myths, legends and folktales, especially in pre-colonial times. Drawing on symbols and artifacts in Filipino historical and literary texts, Almario discussed the importance for the Filipinos to reimagine and rediscover themselves and their heritage for a strong cultural identity. He will conclude with an analysis of the future of the Filipino culture and literature with a thought-provoking question: Are folk narratives vestiges of an irrelevant past, or wisdom for surviving the modern world?
