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Like everyone else, I really enjoyed the snacks that were brought to the discussion. I would have loved to learn more about other Asian cultures/histories though. I feel like we focused on a select few (chosen by a majority of the class), but I think it would have help provide a well-rounded view of how different Asian cultures have been treated and their different history(ies).

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I plan on taking some history courses (HILD) to learn more about Asian American studies or jus Asian Studies in general.

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I found it amazing that we were able to make our own syllabus and that we were able to choose what we wanted to learn about.

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Coming into the class, I had previously grown up in a predominantly white area. I never really was exposed to my culture or just AAPI history at all. The course material assigned during the class and the facilitated discussions helped to develop my understanding.

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i'm eager to continue learning about AAPI especially early Asian American history. To do this, i'll finish watching the remaining episodes of the 'breaking ground' series. I'm also eager to try out kingfisher and maybe animae next quarter.

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Somethings I still hope to continue exploring in more depth in the future are the hidden figures in history — especially U.S. History — who have made significant impacts on the course of history and our world, yet were not known or recognized simply because of their ethnicity, gender, or other demographic. I hope to understand more about the impact our original AAPI roots and how each instance of oppression, each moment of activism, each second of living has led us to where we are now. Hopefully, we can take the past, learn from it, and apply take aways in our present to reach an even brighter future!

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I'm proud of you for taking this seminar! Although the Asian community is quite large here at UCSD, there aren't many spaces where we can talk in-depth about our history and personal identities. I've enjoyed hearing all of y'alls experiences and wisdom, please continue to find and populate these spaces! Y'all are so great <3 - Aya

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Good luck for finals

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Best of luck these last few weeks with finals and homework! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

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I feel like growing up I’ve been very Americanize and haven’t really been in touch with my Asian side as much as I wish I were. So while I grew up learning Asian history and that there is racial hate, this class expanded on these topics. In high school I of course learned about the containment camps and the racial discrepancies against Asian but I learned these things from teachers who were white. While in this class we learned from those who share our Asian heritage. That’s why I feel like I gain a greater understanding of what racial hate looks like towards the Asian community.

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Over the past 9 weeks, I've learnt about early Asian American History, the origins of the AAPI term and Asian adoption in America. This course has helped me deepen my understanding of my own background. Overall, I'm glad I took this course.

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It was great that we got to contribute to what topics to focus on. It made the class far more interesting and engaging to learn about themes that we already had a vested interest in.

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I loved bringing in guest speakers, both from our UCSD community and the San Diego community! It is always a great experience to be able to talk to individuals who have "made it" through their lives navigating Asian-ness in America and have wisdom to share. I would have hoped to have seen more, but our time is so short lol. I also really loved the snacks hehe. - Aya

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I think something that I really enjoyed were the open environment we had to discuss, the snacks (thank you!!), and the guest speakers! Something that perhaps can be done more next time is having more guest speakers or interactive experiences with real world figures to get a more vivid firsthand account of different lives and experiences as part of the AAPI community

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I appreciate how much say we have in the structure of the class! It really took away the pressure and stress of assignments/exams which made it feel like we could focus more on our discussions and just following where our conversations would go.

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During this seminar I started reading stories about queer Asian American characters/people and I've been really enjoying this niche of fiction/non-fiction. Hopefully I will have time in the future to continue reading within this sub-genre as well as general queer identity within asian culture and communities.

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Snacks were amazing lol. Also, I liked how the class was less lecturing and more discussing

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I would like to learn more about the current pop culture in Asia and the differences between their social media trends and ours! In deciding our presentation, we had originally thought of viewing social media trends in how they are in our home countries; this reminded me that Asian and Asian American cultures are vastly different, and yet I only know one side of things. Perhaps making a conscious effort to try to find pop culture of my home country and comparing it to American media could help widen my cosmopolitan view. It would also help to study this media in an open perspective. However, it is also important to remember that our cultures may be nuanced in terms of references and social cues, and we must make a conscious effort to try to understand and acknowledge it rather than to be discouraged due to our distance. - Aya

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I always enjoy discussing portrayals of Asian Americans in media and where they come from. I feel like now is a really interesting time for Asian American representation in media, and it’s changing quickly and constantly. I’m curious to see how stereotypes and perspectives change in the coming years.

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Only a couple more weeks until the quarter is over!!!!! Hang in there, finish strong :)

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thanks for making 10am on a tuesday such a fun and engaging space! really made it worth not sleeping in to go to class. very enjoyable. good luck on finals yall finish strong

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Hope everyone eats some yummy food:)

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I really liked how collaborative this class was (how we were able to choose the topics we discussed, how we were able to determine our final project, etc.) — it made everything less stressful while still allowing for really great discussions.

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I loved the snacks! And I loved that we were able to go in depth and learn what we found interesting to us. I also liked the guest speakers as well!

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I would like to learn more about Pacific Islanders and their journey.

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I had learned about some Asian American history prior to this AAPI course so I was particularly drawn to the weeks where we talked about identity, the pros and cons of having the umbrella of AAPI and how the community has changed throughout generations. The label of AAPI is crazy complex and throughout this course has made me realize there will always be more to discuss and break down past the limits of this seminar.

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Good luck with finals everyone! And please give yourself grace in these upcoming weeks; it's gonna go by super fast

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I really enjoyed learning about the history of the AAPI Studies program at UCSD. I didn’t really know anything about it, and I feel like it it’s important to learn about the people who came before us and essentially gave us the opportunity to have these classes and discussions

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I'd love to learn more about mental health in Asian American households. From the experience of mine and many others, in certain cultures, mental health isn't brought up by many parents due to the differences in how we were raised as it they believe it shows signs of weakness or is just taboo. I'd love to learn about how these came to be and what we can do to help our youth feel open about sharing their needs for their well-being.

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yesss keep snacks !! I also like how we get to build the syllabus and focus on topics that we want to learn about. I wish it was longer than 50mins though since we sometimes run out of time on very interesting topics :( - kowie

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The way this class was formatted was very interactive, in the sense that the students had the opportunity to learn more about what they were interested in. The guest speakers were also very informative, and it would be great if there could be more next time.

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Having guest speakers was very inspiring for me because I was able to see how diverse the Asian American community is and how dedicated many people to strengthening Asian American bonds.

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I would like to delve deeper into Asian-American stereotypes (such as the model minority and yellow peril myth) and how they historically formed. I think it’s important to understand how Asian people have been historically racialized in America to understand how Asian-Americans today navigate through life in the United States. I definitely want to take more courses related to Asian American Studies during my time at UCSD :)

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Almost winter break 😍

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I loved the discussion times as well as the little presentation groups. It was really helpful to be able to see things from different perspectives. The snacks didn't hurt either! One issue was that the class felt majorly focus on East Asian culture, but I think that was more of a group setting thing and not a fault of the course syllabus.

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I was not very familiar with the struggles of Asian American/Pacific Islanders, so I found this class to be very helpful in broadening my perspective.

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Snacks are always good!! They were my motivation to wake up!

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I would like to learn more about the Chinese American experience, specifically what difficulties they faced when immigrating and settling down here. I would also like to just observe the Asian American identity and how it impacts the way we're perceived.

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It was really nice to talk with people who shared their thoughts and experiences on the topics because it is not common to discuss so much about Asian American cultures and I learned a lot more from them.

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Be thankful this thanksgiving

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Over the course of these past few weeks, my understanding of the complexities of the very term “Asian American Pacific Islander”, along with the different portrayals and perspectives regarding the identity behind that category have deepened very much. Through our focused discussions and presentations led by fellow students highlighting topics of mutual interest, I was really able to hear voices of people similar and different. I learned it’s okay to question the status quo, rather than just accept as I was taught to in the past. I was taught to look closer at my own history and culture and think more about the whys and hows than just the issues themselves. Finally, I was able to unlock parts of my own identity as an Asian American in this century. If it wasn’t for the safe space we had and the in-depth sessions every week, I don’t know if I would have gotten so much growth from simply a handful of weeks!

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Good luck on finals!!! Ya’ll got this!

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I'm interested in learning more about the model minority myth, both how it's impacted Asian Americans and how it's been weaponized against other racial minorities. I'm curious as to how proximity to whiteness plays a role in these dynamics as well as how the model minority myth has been used to justify the fetishization of Asian women in the eyes of white society.

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I'm interested in learning more about my own family's Asian American history. I plan on talking to my family about their experiences and what they know about Asian American Studies.

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Keep having snacks and bringing guest speakers! Especially speakers from our background (like UCSD alums)

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Coming into a class that was so different from what I was used to and being surrounded by people who looked like me and shared the same experiences allowed me to feel more comfortable with my identity and these seminars have allowed to learn more about our history and all the "why's" helped me discover a deeper understanding of my background as well.

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Keep snacks :)! Thank you for facilitating our conversation's! I think it was a good idea to have the students chose the topics they wanted to research or do presentations on.

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i want to learn more about the untold histories of Asian Americans as well as explore more of the current history in the making, surrounding representation in media and global acknowledgement - kowie

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Learning about Asian Americans in politics would be really interesting. I feel like we’re underrepresented.

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I'd love to learn more about South/West Asian culture, as well as more about Pacific Islander culture, as it's something that can be generally overshadowed when talking about "AAPI".

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I think it is really nice how we have time to discuss with our peers during class and how there is food. It makes it easier to connect and share with one another.

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Being able to explore different factors of the Asian-American/Pacific Islander identity has allowed me to have a deeper understanding of societal imbalances and social hierarchies in the community. Our discussions and personal input from other members of the class were super helpful when it came to learning more about how AAPI youth are affected by these things as they grow up.

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I learned that AAPI Studies is multifaceted! I've been used to talking about the academic side of AAPI studies - Chinese Exclusion, WWII in the Pacific, etc. - and have derived an understanding from our shared global history. However, being able to talk about the other parts of AAPI studies that affect us more personally and directly through our presentations, both in social media and family topics, has shown that AAPI studies are the study of us: past, present, and future. - Aya lol

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I’d like to look at more historical topics; more stories of immigration and other barriers that our communities had to fight for. I feel that this is important because understanding today’s spaces with Asian communities holds so much untold history.

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This course helped me understand how broad the field of Asian American studies and why it is so important that we study this field. While I feel like we were able to have very productive discussions this quarter and each week had an interesting topic, I think there is still so much left to learn and discuss. Every discussion we had helped me realize some part of my history/identity as Asian-American and made me feel like I had a space on this campus. - Kristin

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I learnt a lot about the different facets of the Asian American identity, how it applies differently depending on the person, as well as how connected it can be. I was able to look into my identity from a more academic standpoint, which I wouldn't have the opportunity for if not for this class.

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Our seminars have reinforced the importance of representation in history. It was so encouraging to be able to talk to a group of people who shared similar experiences to me and to feel like I belonged in a class.

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Even though I am an AAPI minor, I had never learned about the history of Asian American activism at UCSD. Learning about the GROW Initiative and the many years of pushing administration to give Asian voices a platform was very eye-opening in a simultaneously disheartening and hopeful way. I think it's disappointing that students aren't taught about this history, even students involved in social justice courses and the humanities track, so I'm very thankful to this class for allowing me into this history and conversation.

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I learned a lot about Asian Americans and how they’ve historically interacted on campus. Learning about AAPI culture at UCSD was really fun.

Matthew Lin

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in the last few weeks, gained a much wider view on many of the "why's'" and "how's" of Asian American history and looked deeper into specific aspects of Asian American life that I have not previously focused on in past studies - kowie

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I want to learn more about different asian cultures of different countries. I feel like it would be very interesting to compare Asian American culture with Asian culture. It might also bring us closer to our Asian roots and discover new things we love.

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Every week in my AAPI class allowed me to define social and systemic factors that define who I am, such as the way the media portrays Asian Americans. I also appreciate the impact culture and identity has in my community, like Chef Tara Monsod who pioneered in becoming a head chef in a white-mail dominated field. -Eddie

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I’ve learned a lot more about the history of Asian Americans that I was never taught. Some aspects of being Asian American and Asian American culture that I had never really thought about or looked deeper into were brought to my attention which was very interesting.

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Feedback appreciated!

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Thank you so much all for your participation in this seminar. I really enjoyed and appreciated all of your comments and energy! I hope to see you all again!

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I want to read/research more about global Asian culture because of our convos about KPop and social media. I actually started watching the BlackPink documentary with my kiddo. LOL.

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Our conversations about identity and all of your personal experiences have really affirmed for me why offering classes like this continues to be really important. I've learned that questions of identity and culture still really matter to students even as social conditions around us change. It's encouraging to know that students are still interested in the same questions I was when I was in college. -ASA