APA Scholars Share West Coast Ideas With OC Faculty by MacKenzie Moore On the weekend of Oct. 12-14 the East of California Conference, an annual meeting of Asian American Studies scholars seeking to promote and institutionalize Asian American Studies in colleges and universities “east of California,” was held at Oberlin. The conference opened on an emotional note as Yen Le Espiritu, scholar of Asian American and Ethnic Studies at the University of California at San Diego, began her talk with a tear-filled statement of thanks to Oberlin professor of sociology Antoinette Charfaurous McDaniel for her leading role in bringing the conference to Oberlin. Emotions seemed appropriate in this setting. “Ethnic studies is a project that engages the intersection between the personal, intellectual, political and institutional,” Charfaurous McDaniel said in response to the conference’s potential impact on Oberlin scholarship. Along with Espiritu, the other speakers included Gary Okihiro, professor of Asian American Studies and affiliated member of the American Studies faculty at Columbia University and George Sánchez of the American and Ethnic Studies program at the University of Southern California. The three panelists at the conference are widely considered the best-of-the-best when it comes to ethnic and American studies. They are each heads of some of the most dynamic academic departments in the nation that approach the topics of race and ethnicity. “These scholars are cutting edge, not only in ethnic studies, but in all of the social sciences,” Charfaurous McDaniel said. The visiting scholars came to the Midwest to discuss the subject of “Relocating California,” which was the theme for this year’s conference. It was chosen in an effort to increase the critical study of race and ethnicity in colleges and universities throughout America’s heartland. Senior Liane Lau played a central role in organizing the conference and insuring Oberlin as its venue. “The conference in particular did not help start the task of relocating Asian American studies in the Midwest. Instead, EoC continued to highlight the need for expanding the diaspora. EoC and the field of Asian American studies is constantly moving towards reexamining its position,” Lau said. This is a project that has already been undertaken by the many students and faculty involved in the ongoing project of bringing Comparative American studies to Oberlin. “Sensuous Knowledge,” the talk delivered by Espiritu, sought to reflect the collective discussion developed over the course of the conference. It focused on what has made the ethnic studies department at UCSD so successful. She urged Oberlin students and faculty to diligently defend their ideals and to build their academic pursuits around a symbiotic notion of knowledge and action “that involves not only knowing, but also doing.” Her emotional opening emphasized that the community of ethnic studies and American studies scholars that came together at this conference is passionate about keeping those ideals alive. Espiritu wanted to instill in the audience a sense of urgency to produce “…the kind of knowledge that initiates, that tells something important, that leads us somewhere, or elsewhere.” For those working on the creation of CAS, that journey is about to begin. Charfaurous McDaniel, who has been a leader in the struggle for CAS at Oberlin, seemed to agree with Espiritu’s remarks. She reiterated that the goal of those taking part in the movement for ethnic studies and critical American studies across the nation are actively trying to change the academy itself, not just to add the scholarship of people of color into the present discipline-dominated structures of academia. “What we are talking about is American and ethnic studies with critical and, in fact, oppositional objectives; the critiques of racism, colonization and classism, which informed and continue to inform ethnic studies and new discussions of a critical or comparative American studies,” she said. This new discussion, of which Oberlin’s developing CAS program is a part, is aimed not only at changing the academy and its objectives, but also at enacting changes in the world outside Oberlin. “The university need[s] to be an important part of political and social and civic life in American society,” Charfaurous McDaniel said. Gary Okihiro added to this idea, saying that the power of ethnic studies is to “allow a rethinking of America, a point that…has won over the field of American studies.” The changes proposed by ethnic Studies scholars at Oberlin and elsewhere don’t have to be articulated in such vague terms, however. Many foresee direct benefits from such a program. Lau notes that implementing a similar program (such as CAS) could lead to greater diversity within institutions of higher learning. “CAS would be a great program for continuing to draw underrepresented student groups to this campus,” she said. Additionally, she echoed Espiritu’s sentiment that action was necessary to make CAS a strong program. Students and faculty concerns need to remain at the forefront, and therefore further student activism may be necessary for the organizers of the conference, and of CAS, to meet their goals, “CAS needs to be developed by students. The curriculum needs to reflect our needs and desires, not just the ones of administrators and the College,” Lau said. She added that Oberlin’s progressive reputation is also something that needs constant attention in order to be retained. The possibility of Oberlin “becoming the first college not in California with such a department would be a great indicator of this commitment [to progressivism],” she said. “The program needs to be implemented for Oberlin to live up to its students.”

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