ABSTRACT
When I (Liu) taught Asian-American studies, most students taking the course were first-generation Asian-American college students from various ethnic groups. Korean, Chinese, Asian Indian, Cambodian, Thai, and Vietnamese students came together to discuss common histories as well as significant contemporary issues. We discussed topics that ranged from interracial dating to hate crimes to racial identity and acculturation. Racialization, the process by which individuals are ascribed racial and ethnic identities that may not reflect their actual ethnic heritage but rather dominant sociopolitical pressures, was often a fertile issue. Often, when we discuss how Asian Americans are racialized in the United States, the students would start to discuss their personal experiences of traveling abroad.
