By Radwan Farraj
The History department announced an opening for a full-time, entry-level Asian Peoples in Diaspora assistant professor, leading to a new position within the department for fall 2023 and a tenure-track hire.
“At the present time, we only have three individuals in a department of 15 faculty members whose work either specializes in or touches on the study of Asia. We need better representation,” said Philip Napoli, the department’s chairperson, in an email to the Vanguard. “As an intellectual matter, hiring someone with a speciality connected to Asian Peoples in Diaspora will allow us to broaden our curriculum significantly.”
Every year, each department at Brooklyn College is asked to submit a proposal or request to the administration for new hires. After collecting the requests, the college administration went through a ranking process that generated a ranked list that was sent to the university. This year, the History department requested three lines, and was only approved for one. Applicants with a background in Islamic history and Asian studies are encouraged to apply for December, when applications will be reviewed.
For professors advocating for more Asian and Asian American studies across CUNY, the opening can allow students and their experiences to be better represented in the college’s curricula.
“I am excited that there’s a dedicated line that’s looking at Asian America broadly conceived in a diasporic way because we have to think about our students at Brooklyn College and who is represented within that Asian diaspora,” said Professor Yung-Yi Diana Pan, director of the American Studies program and professor of sociology, in an interview with the Vanguard.
Pan, as a member of the Asian American Faculty Working Group and board member of the Asian and Asian American Research Institute (AAARI), has pushed for better developed Asian and Asian American studies at CUNY.
“We have a [Asian American studies] program and a minor at Hunter and that’s kind of it,” said Pan. “If we compare and look at the ethnic studies programs right across CSU [California State University system], we are way behind.”
Efforts to develop more comprehensive Asian and Asian American studies are not recent developments, with CUNY initiatives like Hunter College’s Asian American Studies program finding its start thirty years ago.
“That campaign on Asian American studies actually goes back a very long way, back at least into the nineties, when there has been interest on the part of the students and faculty over the years instituting a program in Asian American studies at the college,” said English Professor Joseph Entin.
Entin was a coauthor of a letter signed by over 120 professors in April 2022 to BC administration to demand that PRLS be allowed to hire two tenure track professors and senior hire. Currently, he is working with Professor Pan to advocate for the development of an indigenous studies program at CUNY and credits academic activism for successes like the hiring of a new tenure track hire for PRLS.
“I feel like the coming together of faculty with staff and with students has really produced a powerful sense of momentum,” said Entin, expressing excitement at the possibility that this Asian Peoples Diaspora hire would later lead to more hires in other departments.
Reflecting on the diversification of the curriculum, Pan emphasized the importance of creating a student-centric education. “It’s about the curriculum and giving students a full curriculum. I think that’s what’s important,” said Pan. “Because college is an intellectual exercise.”