Asian American Policy Review

The Asian American Policy Review Journal was the first nonpartisan, academic journal in the country dedicated to analyzing public policy issues facing the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Founded in 1989, the journal provided a forum for scholarship and publication on issues related to the Asian American community’s political, social, and economic development.

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Model Minority Mutiny: Whiteness is a Plague

10.11.18

This piece was published in the 28th print volume of the Asian American Policy Review. Asian American identity has historically been one of resistance, subversion, and protest. In both courts and communities, Asian Americans have fought for the right to citizenship[1], educational access[2], fair treatment[3], and working conditions[4] since the late 1800s. On U.S. plantations, […]

Sustainable Communities for Whom: Cultural Tactics in the Pursuit of Ecological Sustainability

10.3.18

This piece was published in the 28th print volume of the Asian American Policy Review. “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”– Brundtland Report (1987), United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development “Social sustainability concerns how individuals, communities […]

Crazy Rich Asians: Why Diversity Really Matters

09.4.18

Crazy Rich Asians has shattered recent box office records. The film grossed an estimated $117 million in its first three weeks and features an all Asian cast — something that hasn’t happened since The Joy Luck Club debuted in 1993. It has also ignited a firestorm of Asian American pride and public discourse. The story […]

Gender, Race and Identity

Asian Americans Should Support Affirmative Action

07.19.18

As Asian American students at Harvard, we do not support the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) lawsuit. We also condemn the recent decision by the Department of Education and the Department of Justice to rescind federal policy guidelines on affirmative action. Our racial identity and experiences are being used to dismantle civil rights protections, but […]

Fairness and Justice
Black Panther Chadwick Bosman

Where is our “Black Panther”?: Asian-Americans Need More Than Representation, We Need Our Own Stories of Empowerment

04.23.18

As I sat in the sold-out theater waiting to see Black Panther, Black families filled the room with a tingling excitement that didn’t abate until the closing credits. The boy sitting beside me squirmed in his seat, knocking popcorn into my lap with each wiggle. I couldn’t blame him one bit. Black pride in Black […]

No Place Like Home: Racial Capitalism, Gentrification, and the Identity of Chinatown

06.29.17

This piece was published in the 27th print volume of the Asian American Policy Review. The forces of gentrification have reached the gates of Chinatowns. Across America, upscale property developments threaten to encroach on venerable ethnic enclaves that happen to sit on very valuable real estate. While Chinatown gentrification in some ways repeats a pattern played […]

Gender, Race and Identity

Wealth Heterogeneity Among Asian American Elderly

06.26.17

This piece was published in the 27th print volume of the Asian American Policy Review. Abstract This paper examines wealth distribution and ethnically structured inequality among Asian American elderly. This paper uses three different datasets—the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), Health and Retirement Study (HRS), and micro-level data from the American Community Survey (ACS)—to […]

Poverty, Inequality and Opportunity

At the Crossroads of Change: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Undocumented Korean Americans’ Political Participation, and Upcoming Challenges

06.22.17

This piece was published in the 27th print volume of the Asian American Policy Review. On January 14, 2017, a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration day, Junsoo Lee, a nineteen-year-old undocumented Korean American from Virginia, gave a speech at the “Here To Stay” rally in Washington, DC. He said, “Because of the ignorance and hatred […]

Asian American Lobbying: Past, Present, and Future

06.19.17

This piece was published in the 27th print volume of the Asian American Policy Review. Despite its dubious reputation, lobbying has evolved into a platform for minority interest groups to voice their concerns. By leveraging this “fourth branch of government,” racially affiliated minority interest groups directly appeal and advocate to members of Congress. Organizations like the […]

An Interview with Dr. Elisa Choi

04.28.17

An Interview with Dr. Elisa Choi Commissioner, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Asian American Commission Dr. Elisa Choi is the Chairperson of the Asian American Commission of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the chair of its Health and Human Services Committee. She is also the Governor-elect of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American College of Physicians, where […]

Gender, Race and Identity

Three Things Asian Americans Don’t Want to Talk About: Confronting Two Truths and a Lie

04.19.17

This piece was published in the 27th print volume of the Asian American Policy Review. I still recall my father’s expression of disappointment when he learned I planned to marry Tina, a multiracial, Catholic Dominican American. He never said it explicitly, but I knew he thought I was making a big mistake by marrying someone of […]

Becoming Authentically Asian American

04.17.17

Foreword to the 27th Volume The Roots of Asian America “There was a time when the term ‘Asian American’ was not merely a demographic category, but a fight you were picking with the world.”[1] We live in turbulent political times, and whether we are looking for it or not, a fight seems to be brewing. […]

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