2/6 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: Youth & Social Documentation

Sponsored by the Pitzer Campus Life Committee

February 6, 2012
12:00-1:00 p.m.
Grove House back room, Pitzer College

Click to view event details.

2/8 ~ Ronak Kapadia Research Talk: How to Shoot an Iraqi: US Drone Strikes and Wafaa Bilal's Queer Calculus of Pain

February 8, 2012
4:15 p.m.
Lincoln 1135, Pomona College

Click to view event details.

Ronak Kapadia is a Chau Postdoctoral Fellowship candidate. Professor Kapadia is an advanced PhD candidate in American Studies at NYU and the Riley Scholar-in-Residence in Race and Ethnic Studies at Colorado College. He plans to finish his dissertation by June 2012. His research fields include Postcolonial Studies; Queer and Feminist Criticism; Critical Security Studies; and Globalization and American Empire. Ronak's dissertation project is called "Queer Calculus: War, Security, and the Senses in South Asian and Arab American Culture and Performance."

As part of its "Global War on Terror," the US military has expanded the use of missile-armed unmanned aerial vehicles, or "drones," in targeted assassinations across Iraq and the Afghanistan-Pakistan borderlands. While these technological advances in aerial weaponry have been celebrated as cost-effective alternatives to traditional forms of military combat, little attention has been paid to the impact of drone strikes in the lives of Afghan, Iraqi and Pakistani civilians who comprise the "collateral damage" of US counterinsurgency operations across the region.

By examining the critical and social potential of the performance projects of Iraqi American artist Wafaa Bilal, this talk illuminates alternatives to the abstractions and rationalities of US imperial violence and the statistical modes through which the collateral damage of war is calculated. It argues that South Asian, Muslim and Arab diasporic expressive cultures challenge the explanatory power of conventional "expert" approaches to terrorism, militarism and war. In the process, these diasporic cultural forms expose another calculus—a queer calculus of bodies in pain and of bodies that imagine alternatives to that pain. By employing the critical tools of Asian American studies, queer studies and visual studies this talk gestures at alternative ways of understanding drone weaponry and the effects of this violent practice on the gendered, racialized and sexualized bodies who are its targets. In so doing, it generates an alternative map for analyzing U.S intervention in the Middle East and South Asia and imagining its futures.

2/9 ~ Ronak Kapadia Teaching Talk: Worlds at War: Global Pop Music, Asian American Performance and the Critical Sounds of M.I.A

February 9, 2012
9:35-10:50 a.m.
Seaver Theatre Room 100, Pomona College

Click to view event details.

Our worlds are at war. Rampant militarism, growing economic inequity and prolonged ecological and security crises define the contemporary present. How might a transnational queer and feminist analysis of global pop music allow us to grapple with the many violences of the here and now? In this class, we will tune our ears to the sounds of British Sri Lankan musician, producer, and designer Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam (a.k.a. M.I.A). With her eclectic visual style and synthesis of hip hop, electronica, dance, and global pop music, M.I.A has been a trailblazer in music, fashion and political culture for nearly a decade. Recently named one of Time Magazine's 75 "Most influential People" of the 21st century, M.I.A is the first artist of Asian descent to be nominated for an Academy and Grammy Award in the same year. We will examine how critically listening to M.I.A.'s beats allows us to grasp not only the nexus of race, gender and globalization in popular culture, but also the unlikely intimacies between political violence and the political agendas of contemporary social movements and uprisings across the globe. Together, we will consider the boundaries of "Asian America" and what constitutes "drama" and "performance."

2/13 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: Native American Pipeline, Media Arts & Social Justice

Sponsored by the Pitzer Campus Life Committee

February 13, 2012
12:00-1:00 p.m.
Grove House back room, Pitzer College

Click to view event details.

2/15 ~ Kayono: Shôjo Girls Comics in Action

February 15, 2012
4:15-6:00 p.m.
Hahn 101, Pomona College

Click to view event details.

2/20 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: City of Pomona: The State of the Community

Sponsored by the Pitzer Campus Life Committee

February 20, 2012
12:00-1:00 p.m.
Grove House back room, Pitzer College

Click to view event details.

2/27 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: Foundations, Assessments, & Starting Youth Programs

Sponsored by the Pitzer Campus Life Committee

February 27, 2012
12:00-1:00 p.m.
Grove House back room, Pitzer College

Part IV of the IDAAS Speaker Series: Voices from the Community on Youth Empowerment & digital fluency, featuring Dr. Gregory Yee Mark, Professor of Asian American Studies at Sacramento State University. Check out the flyer for the entire speaker series here.

2/28 ~ Film: The Curse of Quon Gwon followed by a presentation by Prof. Gregory Yee Mark

Co-sponsored with the Pomona College English Department

February 28, 2012
4:15 p.m.
Crookshank 108, Pomona College

Discovered in a basement in 1968 and restored in 2006 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Curse of Quon Gwon (1916) is now regarded to be the oldest Asian American feature film, and was recently honored by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry. There are few existing copies, so don't miss this rare opportunity to see the surviving 35 minutes. Following the screening, Professor Mark, grandson of the film's star Violet Wong, will discuss the pioneering film.

2/29 & 3/1 ~ Margo Okazawa Rey Summer Fellowship Reportback Event

February 29 & March 1, 2012
Time and location: TBA

3/5 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: Youth in Pomona

Sponsored by the Pitzer Campus Life Committee

March 5, 2012
12:00-1:00 p.m.
Grove House back room, Pitzer College

Part V of the IDAAS Speaker Series: Voices from the Community on Youth Empowerment & digital fluency, featuring Maria Tucker from The Draper Center, Pomona College. Check out the flyer for the entire speaker series here.

3/19 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: AAPIs in the Inland Empire

Sponsored by the Pitzer Campus Life Committee

March 19, 2012
12:00-1:00 p.m.
Grove House back room, Pitzer College

Part VI of the IDAAS Speaker Series: Voices from the Community on Youth Empowerment & digital fluency. Check out the flyer for the entire speaker series here.

3/22-3/25 ~ Catherine Ceniza Choy, keynote speaker at the Mapping Adoptions Conference

Hosted by the Intercollegiate Women's Studies of the Claremont Colleges
Co-sponsored by IDAAS et. al.

March 22-25, 2012
The Claremont Colleges

For more information on the conference, click here.

3/28 ~ Faculty Brown Bag Lunch with Prof. Todd Honma

March 28, 2012
12:15 - 1:30 p.m.
IDAAS Seminar Room, Lincoln 1121, Pomona College

Going Green the Wong Way

April 2012
Time and location: TBA

Going Green the Wong Way recounts the adventures of Wong's life-long attempt at sustainable living and the challenges and triumphs of being eco-friendly.

4/10 ~ Fall 2012 Course Info Session

April 10, 2012
4:15-5:30 p.m.
IDAAS Seminar Room, Lincoln 1121, Pomona College

Learn about the IDAAS courses to be offered in fall 2012. Meet and greet with faculty, staff, and students.

5/2 ~ Senior Thesis Presentations

In coordination with the Asian American Resource Center (AARC) at Pomona

May 2, 2012
4:15-6:00 p.m.
Aviation Room, Hoch-Shanahan Dining Hall, Harvey Mudd

Asian American Studies

IDAAS Events

FALL 2011 EVENTS

9/29 ~ Allos: The Story of Carlos Bulosan

10/4 ~ Among B-Boys

10/5 ~ Emotional Capital and Economic Sufferings Across the Vietnamese Diaspora

10/6 ~ Disability Justice: Beyond Rights and Access

10/25 ~ Joint Open House

10/26 ~ "Precious Knowledge" The Fight for Ethnic Studies

11/9 ~ Labor Market Discrimination: Vietnamese and East European Immigrants

11/9 ~ Spring 2012 IDAAS Course Info Session

11/18 ~ Kip Fulbeck: 100% Hapa

SPRING 2012 EVENTS

2/6 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: Youth & Social Documentation

2/8 ~ Ronak Kapadia Research Talk: How to Shoot an Iraqi: US Drone Strikes and Wafaa Bilal's Queer Calculus of Pain

2/9 ~ Ronak Kapadia Teaching Talk: Worlds at War: Global Pop Music, Asian American Performance and the Critical Sounds of M.I.A

2/13 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: Native American Pipeline, Media Arts & Social Justice

2/15 ~ Kayono: Shôjo Girls Comics in Action

2/20 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: City of Pomona: The State of the Community

2/27 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: Foundations, Assessments, & Starting Youth Programs

2/28 ~ Film: The Curse of Quon Gwon followed by a presentation by Prof. Gregory Yee Mark

2/29 & 3/1 ~ Margo Okazawa Rey Summer Fellowship Reportback Event

3/5 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: Youth in Pomona

3/19 ~ IDAAS Speaker Series: AAPIs in the Inland Empire

3/22-3/25 ~ Catherine Ceniza Choy, keynote speaker at the Mapping Adoptions Conference

3/28 ~ Faculty Brown Bag Lunch with Prof. Todd Honma

Going Green the Wong Way

4/10 ~ Fall 2012 Course Info Session

5/2 ~ Senior Thesis Presentations

Quick Links