Category: Diversity / Social & Cultural Competence, Cross Cultural, Immigrants / Immigration ... (show more) Category: Diversity / Social & Cultural Competence, Cross Cultural, Immigrants / Immigration, Macro Social Work Practice, Social Justice (show less)

This presentation will give conference attendees an overview of Asian Pacific Islander America or APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi America.)Doing so is urgent in our time because Asian Americans across the nation face direct physical violence or the threat of it.  Unfairly blamed for the COVID pandemic, Asian Americans have borne the brunt of fear, insecurity, and hatred.  This presentation will examine the shape of these recent events and locate them within the context of Asian American history.  Dr. Victor Jew, himself a historian who researches and writes about Asian American history, will show how the ignorance of Asian America’s long history in the United States leads to patterns of recurrent non-belonging and the current crisis of belonging denial.  This presentation will also explore Midwestern Asian American history, a topic neglected in all US history textbooks and even in Asian American history textbooks. Contrary to popular misconceptions, Asian American history in the Midwest has long roots (it is at least 150 years old going back to 1870.)Moreover, Dr. Jew will present work on Wisconsin’s surprisingly long Asian American past, something that should interest attendees at this webinar.

WEBINAR PARTICIPANTS  will 

1. Learn WHAT IS Asian Am/ Asian Pacific Islander America and Asian America Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA.) Learn how these terms can designate a fast growing and diversifying  “community of many communities.”
2. Learn that Asian America/APIDA has a LONG HISTORY and long historical presence in the United States.
3. Learn that  APIDA and Asian America has a long history in the Midwest and Wisconsin. 
4. Learn that there is a wide divergence in socio economic status between different Asian derived communities in the United States.  Know that the “Model Minority” is not a compliment. It is a damaging over-generalization that harms a number of APIDA persons and communities who face numerous challenges left obscured by the over generalization that all Asians are successful “Model Minorities.”