History
A Time of Agitation and Activation
Asian American Studies (AAS) was one of the Ethnic Studies fields born in 1968 from the Civil Rights Movement, Third World Liberation Front, the anti-War movement, and in solidarity with multiple oppressed communities. At San Jose State, AAS was founded on the heels of these cross-racial movements through faculty, staff, student, and community agitation and mobilization.
The Early Years
Barracks 9 near Tower Hall: Home of Asian American Studies at San Jose State College (SJS)
The Progressive Asian American Coalition (PAAC), members of Associated Students, and key faculty and staff at SJS wrote and submitted the proposal for the BA in Asian American Studies in early 1970. When it was rejected soon after, they restrategized to submit a minor proposal for Asian American Studies. This was approved in Spring 1970. The Asian American Studies Program officially launched in Fall 1970 at SJS.
This was a student mobilized effort. PAAC, under the leadership of Dan Kubo, strategized with elected members of Associated Students (Roy Hirabayashi, Steve Takakuwa, James Lee, Matsuo Furuyama, Steve Wong, and Hisashi Takeuchi) and other Asian American organizations on campus. While PAAC served to build student interest by "making noise" and drumming up "good trouble", the members of Associated Students worked with SJS administrators to help institutionalize AAS. To read more about early AAS student activism, click here.
Founding faculty, Dr. Kichung Kim, from the Department of English served an instrumental role in coordinating, developing, and teaching Asian American Studies from 1970-1972. Student coordinators like Roy Hirabayashi (personnel and key administrator), George Custodia (marketing and outreach), and Cheryl Fong (curriculum) worked closely with Dr. Kichung Kim to administer the Asian American Studies program and found the Asian American Studies Reading Room in Barrack 9.
Subsequent faculty like Stephen “Steve” Ngin, George Woo, and Charles Ogawa were at the helm of institutionalizing a community-based Asian American Studies curriculum.
The first Asian American Studies course was developed in collaboration with students Tom Tan, Victor Jang, and Dan Kubo and taught by Steven Ngin: Sociology 196 (Asian American Experience). Students Victor Jang and Cheryl Fong even taught courses in Asian American Studies before the program was fully institutionalized.
Later, instructors including Tsukasa Matsueda, Mike Morizono, Mike Honda, William Sato, Jiro Saito, Sachiko Nakamura, Dr. Hong, Donna Fung, Robert Fung, Manny Naku, Isami Waugh, Jere Takahashi, and Emory Lee, and Victoria Taketa were hired to teach courses in Asian American Studies.
Dr. Kichung Kim was steadfast in his support of the anti-war movement as well as the need to diversify faculty and curriculum (e.g., proposing a Black literature course in his department).
Mike Honda
Ombudsperson
Key administrator and staff agitators like Dr. Paul Sakamoto and Mike Honda secured resources and services for San Jose State Asian American students through programs like Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). In 1971, Roy Hirabayashi, under the support of Dr. Paul Sakamoto, expanded financial aid opportunities through EOP for Asian American students and acquired one full-time tutorial coordinator and one full-time EOP counselor.
Dr. Gregory Mark (c/o Steve Doi)
From 1973 to 1974, Jiro Saito served as Acting Program Coordinator— just shortly before the first tenure-track hire for the Asian American Studies Program was secured in Fall 1974. That fall, Assistant Professor Dr. Gregory Mark centered a “Serve the People” ethos as core curriculum in Asian American Studies—planning and coordinating experiential learning opportunities at significant Asian American historic sites such as Angel Island and Oakland Chinatown.
Dr. Mark also led student sit-ins at President John Harvey Bunzel to ensure funding for the Asian American Studies Program. See images below (c/o Steve Doi).
Dr. Mark and Jiro Saito shepherded the curricular approval of Asian American Studies to fulfill the state requirement for American history and institutions—we still teach these classes today: AAS 33A and AAS 33B! Thereafter, Acting Program Coordinator PJ Hirabayashi not only taught Asian American Communities (175A and B) and Individual Studies (180) but also fostered and activated program ties with the local Asian American communities from 1977-1979.
Overall, the Asian American Studies Program at San Jose State was created to address the longstanding inequities in education, research, and most importantly, community service. While the AAS Program at San Jose State became more institutionalized after 1980, albeit without department status or a major, it continued to call attention to the histories and contributions of Asian Americans and the important heterogeneity within these communities.
Now, the Asian American Studies Program at San Jose State currently 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, locally and nationally. The next generation of Asian American Studies students will apply interdisciplinary theories into action, cultivate critical thought, and serve Asian American and other marginalized communities.
In Fall 2022, the San Jose State University administration expressed support in developing and funding an Asian American Studies bachelor's degree program. In Fall 2022, AAS faculty submitted paperwork to the CSU Board of Trustees to begin the proposal for a BA program in AAS at SJSU. In Spring 2023, the faculty submitted the full proposal for consideration. If approved, the BA will become available to receive its first class in Fall 2024.