About Us

Our Vision and Mission

Asian American Studies at San Jose State University envisions an activist-driven Asian American community in South Bay and beyond. 

Our mission is to empower students to create a more socially-just and equitable society by applying interdisciplinary theories into action, cultivating critical thought, and serving Asian American communities. Specifically, AAS brings together perspectives from different fields in the creative arts, humanities and social sciences while at the same time seeking to maintain a commitment to activism and to the needs of our communities.

About Us

The Asian American Studies (AAS) program offers a Bachelor of Arts major and a minor in Asian American Studies. 

Both are designed to develop student skills in critical analysis, writing, communication and reasoning, while retrieving, documenting and analyzing the diverse artistic, economic, social, political and historical experiences of Asian Americans in the United States. In addition to foundational courses on history, theory, and methods, the degree encompasses three different areas of emphasis: Social Sciences, Humanities & Arts, and other critical interdisciplinary studies in Ethnic Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Asian American Studies at SJSU was borne out of student activist, faculty, and community-led struggle from 1968 onward as part of the Third World Liberation Front strikes. These struggles connected local material conditions to global structures of war, imperialism, colonialism, and exploitation. Asian American Studies at SJSU began to offer courses in the 70s. After 50+ years of ongoing advocacy, the major was finally approved and offered in Fall 2024. 

Today, we continue this legacy of student activism. We are growing to become an intellectual center that produces critical Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander leadership in San Jose and the greater South Bay.