abstract: With the push towards interdisciplinary approaches, there has been tremendous growth of scholarship in the comparative ethnic studies field. From studies on multiracial people, to residential segregation, to the study of multiracial spaces, there is a lot to say about cross-cultural experiences. “Te de Boba” explores the relationship between identity, race, and ethnicity of millennials through a food studies lens. In particular, I analyze the role of food spaces and food pathways in developing identity and conceptions of race and ethnicity. My research site consists of a small business, a boba tea shop in Baldwin Park, California: What happens when a boba shop opens up in downtown Baldwin Park, a predominantly Latinx community? How do interethnic relationships shape the structure and city landscape of Baldwin Park, and how do these experiences in turn shape self-identity among millennials? I draw from qualitative interviews, cognitive mapping, and surveys conducted within the boba shop to understand millennial identity formation in Baldwin Park. Millennials growing up in Baldwin Park experience unique relationships between cultures, foods, and lifestyles that cross ethnic and racial barriers, creating new forms of community, which I call hub cities. I develop “hub cities” as new terminology for discussing suburban spaces that foster a sense of community within suburban areas that challenges and break down popular discourse of race and ethnicity, giving way for youth creation of alternative discourses on race and ethnicity, consequently shaping the way they form self-identity. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Justice Studies 2016

abstract: Believe It! is an animated interactive computer program that delivers cognitive restructuring to adolescent females' irrational career beliefs. It challenges the irrational belief and offers more reasonable alternatives. The current study investigated the potentially differential effects of Asian versus Caucasian animated agents in delivering the treatment to young Chinese American women. The results suggested that the Asian animated agent was not significantly superior to the Caucasian animated agent. Nor was there a significant interaction between level of acculturation and the effects of the animated agents. Ways to modify the Believe It! program for Chinese American users were recommended. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.C. Counseling 2013

<p> This research explores Hmong parents&rsquo; choices and experiences in choosing district provided educational programs that provide instruction in Hmong language for their children. The study involved interviews with district employees who have created, implemented and/or teach in district provided Hmong language programs. These interviews were followed by focus group interviews with Hmong parents about the choices and experiences of district provided Hmong language programs. Findings were that administrators were deeply committed to providing Hmong language programs to serve students identity and to provide an additive model of bilingualism that promotes the students English language learning as well as mother tongue learning; Hmong parents are very worried about potential language loss of their children&rsquo;s Hmong language and they are actively looking for more Hmong language opportunities for their children; parents are very happy with Hmong language programs provided by district and want to see those programs expanded.</p><p>

In Creating the Language of Peace: Peace, War, and Art in the Works of Maxine Hong Kingston, I explore how this Chinese American writer pursues the creation of peace in her writings and life. These chapters explore Kingston's discussion of war and her determination to create a language of peace through creative non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. Her works draw our attention to the ubiquity of war in our lives and furthers her endeavor to highlight this as well as her struggle for peace against the backdrop of an American pro-war political landscape. Creating the Language of Peace will be the first book length treatment of these topics across Kingston's career. It also considers Kingston's oft-expressed intention to create peace through artistic means, in her case, through writing. This dissertation will fill the gap in research and analysis, refocusing the discussion on the themes and issues Kingston has repeatedly indicated are vital to understanding her work: peace, war, art, and the creation of a language of peace. Throughout, I consider Kingston's development of a language of peace, her explorations of war and its consequences, the influence of her Buddhist philosophies, the close compatibility of her works with contemporary peace theory, and the possibility for peace poetics within her poetry. The Woman Warrior (1976) and China Men (1980) are the focus of chapter one, an investigation into Kingston's first analyses of war and its consequences for all who are touched by its violence. Chapter two takes the novel Tripmaster Monkey (1989) and compares Kingston's pacifist choices with Johan Galtung's peace theory. Thich Nhat Hanh's version of engaged Buddhism and its influence on both Kingston's The Fifth Book of Peace (2003) and her peace activism is explored in chapter three. The final chapter turns to her two books of poetry, To Be the Poet (2002) and I Love a Broad Margin to My Life (2011), exploring how the role of the American poet as a political voice develops in her poetry.

By analyzing two radical history walking tours in Seattle, WA, and Berkeley, CA, this thesis aims to examine how Asian American communities can find their places in the U.S. environmental movement. I argue that these walking tours provide generative pedagogical tools to engage the general public to unpack the complex Asian American history embedded within urban spaces. I also articulate how these walking tours have the capacity to situate environmental struggles and activism within urban spaces, illustrating that various Asian American social and political activism has always been addressing environmental concerns. Furthermore, I argue that these walking tours of Asian American cultural landscapes enable us to recognize the long history of cross-ethnic organizing in Asian American activist movements. Lastly, I advocate for an Asian American environmental movement that incorporates a decolonial/indigenous framework, which could allow all marginalized communities to envision more just practices of spatial organizing and land use in the future.

Family Dinner examines the social construction of the Asian American family in the most hyper dysfunctional way. The characters in the play do not necessarily have to be played by an Asian American but the family holds Asian American values and ideals. Therefore, through a different cultural lens, the hope is to effectively blend the cultural values that are physically and culturally familiar no matter what the race of a family it may be. This creates a point of entry for audience members of difference cultural and social background to simultaneously view the play with a familiar point of view. The objective is then to critique the absurdity in the social cultural values and to redefine the meaning of the All-American family. Lastly, what needs to be acknowledged is that the play, in its current draft and form, is a play that is still in process. The process of rewriting is significant to the writer because it is in this act of rewriting where the writer learns to hone his or her own technique in the art of playwriting.

The narratives of Asian American female sex workers are stories that demonstrate pain, pleasure, and power. These depictions often portray a woman as desirable (submissive and obedient because she was “saved” by a White man) or undesirable (war prostitute disrupting the purity of America). This is due to the failed efforts from policymakers and English educators to look beyond simple Black versus White racial relationships and beyond the needs of White feminists. When this occurs, the Asian American female student finds herself invisible. The purpose of this study was to look specifically through the niche demographic of Asian American female sex workers. This study was not meant to exclude other women, men, and humans of Asian descent, or sex workers of other races, but these are the first individuals I had the privilege of accessing as I am only beginning my sex work scholar journey. These particular women are of Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese descent, and this specified the research of my literature review. Because they also all identify as cisgender, gender dynamics were explored in this context. The participants were sampled to explore the historical and current conditions of Asian American females, the curriculum they received (or did not receive) in their high school English classes regarding Asian American female protagonists or storytelling of the body, and how these factors affected their sex work experiences. This research also moved to deepen the definition of sex work. As sex work is traditionally a consensual sexual service or erotic performance in exchange for money or goods, many women provide their services without consent or without money—and sometimes without both. The sex work, or sexual abuse, is then more of an unwanted labor they are forced to carry with them painfully. This research was not out to prove sex work is wrong or right; rather, it talked across the pain, pleasure, profit, problems, and power of these experiences. It also presents a more modernized take on sexual ways of being. I reached an authentic understanding of how these women’s bodies were navigated in the classroom, the bedroom, and beyond. With their stories, new policies and pedagogies are proposed to better serve forgotten female students in the English classroom by using the body as an entry point for unique storytelling.

This project examines the connection between the representations of Chinese American women and the Orientalist discourse, as depicted in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. Using a deconstructive and intersectional approach, the project focuses on four interconnected constituents that regulate the novel’s main structural and thematic elements: Narrative Structure; Mother-Daughter Relationships; Language, Writing and Identity; and Feminist Affirmations. The project’s aim is to understand the logic of the novel’s representation by juxtaposing and analyzing the contrasting arguments within each of the sections. Though somewhat inconclusive, this project addresses the ambiguity of Tan’s work in hopes of expanding the critical understanding of the novel.

To date, there has not been research that disaggregates the experiences of Asian American and international Asian college students seeking psychotherapy in college campus settings. We examined archival data collected over the course of a 17-year period that focused on experiences of Asian American, international Asian, and European American students at a large university in the intermountain west, US. More specifically, we used archival data to identify differences between the aforementioned groups of students in regard to psychotherapy utilization, presenting concerns, distress levels endorsed at intake, and distress levels endorsed at termination. Results were calculated based on findings from the Family Concerns Survey (FCS), Presenting Problem Checklist (PPC), and Outcome Questionnaire 45 (OQ-45). Results indicate no significant differences between these three groups in terms of the maximum number of psychotherapy sessions attended. Cox Regression analyses showed no significant differences between these groups of students in regard to their likelihood for treatment discontinuance. Odds Ratio analyses yielded little statistical difference between groups in terms of likelihood of attending therapy. We found significant differences between these groups of students on a number of items related to their presenting concerns. Additionally, we found a significant difference between students in these three groups in regard to the severity of their presenting distress (as measured by the Outcome Questionaire-45), with international Asian students presenting with the most distress followed by Asian American students and finally European American students. We also found a significant difference between these groups of students in treatment improvement as measured by change scores on the Outcome Questionaire-45 with European American students experiencing the greatest change, followed by Asian American students, followed by international Asian students. Given the nature of these results, practitioners are admonished to attend to initial distress levels upon intake as well as Asian American and international Asian students' experience of racism and discrimination. Practitioners are also encouraged to align treatment recommendations with the specific world view of the client they are meeting with.

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