Asian/Pacific Islander American Women

A groundbreaking anthology devoted to Asian / Pacific Islander American women and their experiences

Asian/Pacific Islander American Women is the first collection devoted to the historical study of A/PI women's diverse experiences in America. Covering a broad terrain from pre-large scale Asian emigration and Hawaii in its pre-Western contact period to the continental United States, the Philippines, and Guam at the end of the twentieth century, the text views women as historical subjects actively negotiating complex hierarchies of power.
The volume presents new findings about a range of groups, including recent immigrants to the U.S. and understudied communities. Comprised of original new work, it includes chapters on women who are Cambodian, Chamorro, Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Native Hawaiian, South Asian, and Vietnamese Americans. It addresses a wide range of women's experiences-as immigrants, military brides, refugees, American born, lesbians, workers, mothers, beauty contestants, and community activists. There are also pieces on historiography and methodology, and bibliographic and video documentary resources.
This groundbreaking anthology is an important addition to the scholarship in Asian/Pacific American studies, ethnic studies, American studies, women's studies, and U.S. history, and is a valuable resource for scholars and students.
Contributors include: Xiaolan Bao, Sucheng Chan, Catherine Ceniza Choy, Vivian Loyola Dames, Jennifer Gee, Madhulika S. Khandelwal, Lili M. Kim, Nancy In Kyung Kim, Erika Lee, Shirley Jennifer Lim, Valerie Matsumoto, Sucheta Mazumdar, Davianna Pomaika'i McGregor, Trinity A. Ordona, Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, Amy Ku'uleialoha Stillman, Charlene Tung, Kathleen Uno, Linda Trinh Võ, Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, Ji-Yeon Yuh, and Judy Yung.

Shirley Hune is Professor Emerita of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Washington and Professor Emerita of Urban Planning at the University of California, Los Angeles.Nomura Gail M. :

Gail M. Nomura is Associate Professor Emerita of American Ethnic Studies, University of Washington. Her publications include co-editor of Asian/ Pacific Islander American Women: A Historical Anthology (NYU Press, 2003) and Nikkei in the Pacific Northwest: Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians in the Twentieth Century (University of Washington Press, 2005). She is a founding member and past president of the Association for Asian American Studies.

This rich collection heralds the growing significance of Asian/Pacific Islander American women in American history and women's history. The essays cover an impressive breadth of historical periods, specific groups of women, and topics. The volume showcases the diverse research of emerging scholars. These diverse subjects call forth new and creative approaches in research and writing, and this collection both demonstrates and promises exciting advances in the content and methods of historical studies.

Hune and Nomura have produced a much-needed anthology that will contribute in a substantial way to introductory courses in their field. The book also does much to elevate Asian-American women beyond the secondary roles to which they too often have been relegated in male-dominated texts. For this service alone, all of us who teach and seek to understand further the Asian-American experience owe them our gratitude.