Having grown up in the Bay Area, I have always been part of a community that’s largely Asian Americans. In my hometown, a large portion of residents identify as Asian American, specifically Asian immigrants or Asian American first-generation children of immigrants. Coming to Amherst, I wasn’t sure whether I would experience the same sense of community among Asian Americans at Amherst. However, even after just one semester at Amherst, I feel extremely supported by the Asian American community at Amherst College and I feel comfortable exploring my identity as an Asian American at this school.
At Amherst, there are tons of affinity groups for Asian Americans to be involved in. The largest, most general one is the ASA, the Asian Students Association, and they tend to host the most large-scale events. There are more specific affinity groups for individual Asian ethnicities and groups, such as the Chinese Students Association, the Korean Students Association, the South Asian Students Association, and the Southeast Students Association. Each of these associations hosts events, often on holidays that they celebrate. For example, the Korean Students Association hosted a potluck for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
In addition to these affinity groups, there are other groups that explore Asian American identity in other ways, such as the Asian American Writers’ Group, which is a group that meets weekly to discuss works by Asian American writers. There is also the Asian and Pacific American Action Committee, which is a student group that is working with faculty to establish Asian American Studies as a major at Amherst College. I’ve been involved with both groups, and most recently, as part of APAAC, I’m attending job talks by prospective Asian American psychology professors.
On the topic of establishing Asian American Studies at Amherst, there are a bunch of Asian American courses. In fact, my first-year seminar was called Reading Asian Americans, taught by Professor Hayashi. We read the works of Asian American authors, analyzed the text, and discussed with the class, which was mostly composed of Asian Americans. For our final project, we got to choose a topic to research, so I researched the history of Asian Americans in sitcoms. My classmates chose topics ranging from investigating the history of Japanese Americans at Amherst College and the difference between the culture and lifestyle of Koreans and Korean Americans.
This year, there were many Asian American courses offered at Amherst. In the fall semester, the course offered was Asian American History taught by Professor Peralta. Additionally, Fiction Writing I and Non-Fiction I were taught by Professor Min Jin Lee, author of the iconic novel Pachinko. In the spring semester, the courses offered are Asian American Drama taught by Professor Choudhury, Asian American Writing taught by Professor Myint, History of Asian American Women taught by Professor Peralta, and Chino: Asian Americans taught by Bolton. I’m grateful that there are countless unique ways that Asian Americans at Amherst can connect with the Asian American community, and I can’t wait to continue exploring my Asian American identity at this school.