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SAMEAPI Awareness Now! Events SAMEAPI Awareness Now! Time Line SAMEAPI Awareness Now! Kick Off Keynote Speaker Mayor Jean Quan Mayor Quan is the first Asian American woman Mayor of a major U.S. city (Oakland is the nation’s 41st largest city). She was also the first Asian American woman elected to Oakland’s City Council eight years ago. Mayor Quan is currently board chair of the Chabot Space & Science Center and serves on the Board of the California League of Cities. Mayor Quan was on the Oakland School Board for 12 years, starting in 1990 after organizing a citywide parent organization, Save Our Schools. Quan led campaigns to raise school bonds to modernize and seismically retrofit buildings totaling $700 million, as well as campaigns to raise funds for class size reduction, music/arts and library programs, and improved technology in the schools. Guest Speaker Huma Dar Abstract: In the context of the current multiple arenas of war and occupation in Muslim-majority regions, the issues of gender and sexuality are vitally linked to the casus belli, both within and without academia. Such linkages, with a long and complicated genealogy thoroughly imbricated in the politics of colonization, decolonization, neo-colonization, and most importantly in the politics of the Nation, also indicate an obsessive desire to re-enact the “rescue narrative” or the “discovery narrative.” The feminist, race-sensitive analysis I present is meant to provoke discussions around questions including but not limited to: how is Islamophobia crucially intertwined with questions of gender and sexuality? How might we decolonize the academy and popular media by insisting on crucial critical thinking skills and cultivating sensitivity to historical and political contexts? How and when are Muslims invisibilized and in what particulars contexts? How is the trope of the “Muslim women” deployed or hidden especially vis-à-vis the so-called war on terror? How are issues of race, class and geography silenced in the creation of the monolith: the Muslim woman? What might such silencing accomplish, especially for the consolidation of the Nation? A Kashmiri Muslim woman born in Pakistan, Huma Dar's first college years were in Beijing, China. From Beijing to Berkeley, with fieldwork and research in India and France, and a postdoc in Vancouver BC, Dar locates the center of her work in intellectual and political activism for social justice. Huma Dar’s Ph.D. dissertation is titled: Projecting Desires, Screening Muslims: The Racialized Politics and Poetics of Indian Cinematic Discourses, in the Department of South & South East Asian Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, with Designated Emphases in Women, Gender & Sexuality, and in Film Studies. Dar’s work is focused on the intersections and co-formations of race, religion, class, caste, gender, sexuality, and national politics of South Asia. Dar has also taught and written about South Asian literature and cinema; critical theories of race, gender and sexuality; post-colonialism and visuality; transnational feminisms; cultural studies; critical theory; Muslim femininities and masculinities; Islamophobia, racialization and war. Dar is a feature writer at PulseMedia.org, a collaborative political, activist, and academic weblog. She is a founding member and main organizer of the Townsend Center working group on “Muslim Identities & Cultures," 2002-2010, and organized the feminist conference, Boundaries in Question on the theme of Women and War, both at UC Berkeley. Dar, a single-mother of two, has been active in the anti-Domestic Violence movement and in student parents' rights, and was a member of the Executive Board of Directors of Narika, 2001-2006. Dar’s publications include “Cinematic Strategies for a Porno-tropic Kashmir and Some Counter-Archives” in the Journal of Contemporary Theory (Winter 2007) and book chapters titled “Can a Muslim be an Indian and not a Traitor or a Terrorist?” in Pemberton & Nijhawan (eds.), Shared Idioms, Sacred Symbols: Process, Power, and the Articulation of Identities in South Asia (2008), and “Islamizing the Courtesan or Prostituting the Muslims: The Lucknow Tawa’if Partitioned,” in Jasmin Zine & Lisa Taylor (eds.), Contested Imaginaries: Reading Muslim Women and Muslim Women Reading Back: Transnational Feminist Reading Practices, Pedagogy and Ethical Concerns (forthcoming 2012). Huma Dar will be teaching two courses at University of California, Berkeley in Summer 2011: “Asian Popular Culture: The Bollywood Whore & Terrorist” in the Asian American Studies Department, and “Women in the Muslim and Arab Worlds: Islam, Gender & Sexuality” in Gender & Women’s Studies Department. In Fall 2011 Dar looks forward to teaching "Feminist Literature of South Asian” – a split-level class for graduate and undergraduate students, in the English Department, as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Mills College. Dinner Honoring SAMEAPI Awareness Now! Month Menu
 Appetizers Lumpia, Potato Samosas [Served with Mango Chutney] Salads Cucumber, Tomatoes, Red Onions and Feta with Lime Vinaigrette Tabouli Entrees Made-to-Order Noodle Bar Noodles: Egg and Glass Vegetables: Bok Choy, Broccoli, Cilantro, Green and Red Cabbage, Edamame, Mushrooms, Onions, Snow Peas Sauces: Black Bean, Garlic, Sweet Chili Proteins: Thai-Style Chicken, Vietnamese Shredded Pork, Shrimp, Skirt Steak, Tofu Falafels [Served with Pickled Vegetables and Tahini Sauce] Desserts Green Tea Ice Cream Rice Pudding Baklava Drinks Mango Lassi and Mint Tea Cost for diners without a meal plan is $10.50. Dinner brought to you by Bon Appetit. Film Screening of "Vincent Who?" with Producer/Co-Director Curtis Chin
Producer and co-director Curtis Chin (featured in the documentary) is an award-winning writer and producer who has worked for ABC, NBC, Disney Channel, and more. As a community activist, he co-founded the Asian American Writers Workshop and Asian Pacific Americans for Progress. In 2008, he served on Barack Obama's Asian American Leadership Council where he participated in helping the campaign reach out to the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Curtis has also been active in LGBT rights, serving as the chair of the Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York and as a member of API Equality in Los Angeles. He and his partner are one of the 18,000 couples officially married in California before Prop 8. He has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, in Newsweek, and other leading media. Film Screening: "Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority" with Professor Margo Okazawa-Rey
In 1965, Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first woman of color in the U.S. Congress. Seven years later, she ran for the U.S. presidency and co-authored Title IX, the landmark legislation that opened up higher education and athletics to America's women. Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority is the story of this dynamic trailblazer who, battling racism and sexism, redefined American politics. “A compelling portrait of an iconoclastic figure that remains seldom spotlighted in history books, this film illuminates how Mink’s daring to remain “ahead of the majority” in her beliefs enabled groundbreaking changes for the rights of the disenfranchised. A woman of the people as well as a pioneer, a patriot and an outcast, Patsy Mink’s intriguing story embodies the history, ideals and spirit of America.” News release from Women Make Movies.
For three years, Dr. Margo Okazawa-Rey was the Feminist Research Consultant at the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling, with offices in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, where she is assisting in establishing a community-based feminist research unit, teaching feminist research methods to Centre staff and local women, and supervising research projects. Dr. Okazawa-Rey's work in Palestine is an extension of her longstanding commitment to anti-militarist activism and to activist scholarship. She is the Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair and Professor at Mills College in the Ethnic Studies Department and Professor Emerita at San Francisco State University. Film Screening: East Bay Premier, "Living Along the Fenceline" with Professor Margo Okazawa-Rey Living Along the Fenceline tells the stories of 7 remarkable women who live alongside U.S. military bases. They are teachers, organizers, & healers, moved by love and respect for the land, and hope for the next generation. From San Antonio (Texas) to Vieques (Puerto Rico), Hawai’i, Guam, Okinawa, South Korea, and the Philippines, this film inspires hope and action. Sponsors for SAMEAPI events: Mills College Heritage Months are supported in part by the Ethnic Studies Fund. To learn about and donate to the Fund, please click here: Ethnic Studies Fund. Many thanks for your generosity in support of Ethnic Studies and students of color at Mills. |
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Program Information
Overview Faculty and Staff » Requirements Courses Full Course List Ethnic Studies Course List Schedule of Courses for the Current Semester
P: 510.430.2080 F: 510.430.2067 E: ethnic_study@mills.edu |
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Please join us in welcoming the Mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan, to Mills College once again
as the keynote speaker of the South Asian Middle Eastern Asian Pacific Islander (SAMEAPI) Awareness Now! month.
A reception will be held from first starting at 6:30 pm with Mayor Quan’s talk immediately following.
Mayor Quan will talk about her personal experience as an Asian American woman in relation to her struggles
and accomplishments in her career and the field of politics. She will also describe her role in creating
the Ethnic Studies department at UC Berkeley.
Producer and co-director Curtis Chin screens his movie “Vincent Who? The murder and the movement
that forged Asian America.” In 1982, Vincent Chin was murdered in Detroit by two white autoworkers,
and Asian Americans around the country galvanized to form a movement to demand civil rights.
“Vincent Who?” asks how far Asian Americans have come since then and how far we have yet to go.
The film is about 40 minutes long. Discussions will follow after its screening.
Come join us as we honor the late Patsy Takemoto Mink with a film screening
of “Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority.” There will be a discussion of the film lead by Dr. Margo Okazawa-Rey
and refreshments and snacks will be provided.
