Asian Studies

Segregation can breed empowerment, by creating self-defined and self-sustaining communities. Asian communities, for example, have been able to maintain identities that are separate from the white hegemony. Terms like Asian-American music, Asian-American literature, and Asian-American humor both promote and challenge social segregation in American society.

Hawaiian band Sudden Rush uses the vehicle of music to convey a unique cultural identity, and to resist the appropriation of Hawaiian culture. For example, Sudden Rush's "EA" is a hip hop song about independence and liberation. The song draws attention to Hawaiian history, and points out the hypocrisy and greed inherent in the American takeover of the archipelago.

The art of Kango Takemura is singularly Japanese. Photographs like "His Bride" and "Setsu" offer a careful juxtaposition of classical Japanese imagery with modern Japanese women. Because of Takemura's background as a prisoner in an internment camp, the artwork takes on a whole new...
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