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South Asian Am Studies and Hmong Studies move forward

Two Asian American subgroups sometimes overlooked in Asian American Studies programs are gaining some recognition.

The Asian American Studies Department at the Claremont Colleges in California has hired a South Asian American and Muslim specialist while the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh is moving closer to establishing a Hmong American Studies program.

“Our Asian American studies department oftentimes centers East Asian folks, leaving South Asians, Pacific Islanders and, specifically, South Asian religious and cultural minorities to the wayside,” Sahana Mehta , a past head mentor of the South Asian Mentoring Program and Asian American Resource Center intern at Claremont, said to The Student Life.

The hiring of M. Bilal Nasir makes him the only South Asian professor currently in the department at Claremont.

“We’ll be looking at Muslims; we’ll be looking at solidarity with those who are not upper caste; we’ll be looking at queer politics, feminist politics, anti-imperial politics,” Nasir said. “For most South Asians in the Claremont Colleges or the United States more generally, this is not the history that they grew up with.” 

At the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, new Hmong studies director  Mai See Thao says she hopes to get approval for a Hmong Studies certificate program within a year or two.

The university hired Thao for her position just this fall. If she is successful, UW Oshkosh would be the fourth UW campus with a Hmong Studies program in place. The others are in Madison, Milwaukee and Eu Claire, according to UW Oshkosh Today.

Hmong Americans are the largest Asian American subgroup in Wisconsin which has a population of 5.85 million people. 2.76% of Wisconsin’s population is Asian American.


“To accomplish the growth of Hmong studies, I plan to teach others about its value,” said Thao to UW Oshkosh Today. “It is not just a particular study on a particular ethnic group. Hmong Studies provides a lens into challenging our larger, taken-for-granted understandings of the world.

“Hmong studies allows us to understand the impact of larger forces like imperialism, colonialism and displacement by way of how these forces have shaped Hmong in the diaspora. Hmong studies also allows us to examine the intersectionality of race, gender and power and how they come together to shape different experiences and outcomes.”

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