UCLA's Amerasia Journal Publishes "Pacific Canada: Beyond the 49th Parallel"

For Immediate Release
September 13, 2007

Press Information: Review Copies:
Russell Leong, Editor Ying Ming Tu, Distribution
Amerasia Journal AASC Center Press
(310) 206-2892; rleong@ucla.edu (310) 825-2968; ytu@aasc.ucla.edu

UCLA Amerasia Journal Publishes "Pacific Canada: Beyond the 49th Parallel"

Los Angeles-UCLA Asian American Studies Center announces the publication of "Pacific Canada: Beyond the 49th Parallel" a special commemorative issue of Amerasia Journal. The issue gathers twenty Canadian scholars, writers, and artists in a 175-page illustrated issue to commemorate the 1907 Pacific coast race riots against Asians in San Francisco, Bellingham, WA, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Prof. Henry Yu, of UCLA and the University of British Columbia, the co-editor of the volume together with Prof. Guy Beauregard of National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, states that this issue examines "how the 49th parallel, marking the political border that separates Canada and the United States, has made a difference in how Asian migrants acted and were treated" from their entry and settlement to the present.

Yu, in his introduction to the issue, talks about the Chinese from Guangdong province who came to British Columbia to mine gold and build transcontinental railroads in the 1850s and 1880s; later on, Japanese migrants went to Canada to work in fishing, farming, and agriculture, followed by Punjabi Sikhs in the 1970s. Yet, as Yu points out, Canada as part of the global British Empire differed from the U.S. in both its racial and immigrant policies, and its past and present responses to race relations. According to Prof. Erika Lee, "Racism towards Asians-especially the belief that "Asiatic invasions" threatened the racial, social, and economic well-being of the U.S. and Canada-was also transnational in scope."

In addition, the history of Asians in Canada must also be studied in relation to issues of First Nation peoples of Canada. Rita Wong, professor and cultural activist, reminds us to actively" support aboriginal self-determination, " otherwise Asian Canadians will inadvertently become part of the dominant colonizing history of Canada."

The focus of the special volume is on both historical and contemporary issues. Historical issues include an examination of the 1907 Pacific Coast Race Riots (Erika Lee) mentioned above; a study of Japanese American cultural activism before and after World War II (Masumi Izumi); and revisiting the house of Canadian author Joy Kogawa (Glenn Deer).

Other writers examine the scholarship on Asian Canadians in comparison to scholarship on Asian Americans: this includes essays by Iyko Day and Christopher Lee, whose article, "The Lateness of Asian Canadian Studies" talks about the relatively recent attention given to Asian Canadians by scholars on either side of the 49th parallel.

According to Lee, "what seems to be lacking are academic institutions- scholarly associations, journals, annual conferences, and undergraduate and graduate programs-dedicated to mobilizing research and teaching on Asians in Canada." This volume of Amerasia seeks to partially redress this absence.

Art historians and artists, and writers themselves present their work and point of view: including Alice Ming Wai Jim, Barbara Bickel, Valerie Triggs, Stephanie Springgay, Rita Irwin, Kit Grauer, Gu Xiong, Ruth Beer, Pauline Sameshima, Ashok Mathur, Rita Wong, and Hiromi Goto.

This limited edition volume, with artwork by Canadian artists, can be ordered directly through the website of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center: (http://www.aasc.ucla.edu). The cost is $15.00 plus $5.00 for shipping and handling and 8.25% sales tax for California residents. Make checks payable to "Regents of U.C." Visa, Mastercard, and Discover are also accepted; include expiration date and phone number on correspondence. The mailing address is: UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press, 3230 Campbell Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1546. Phone: (310) 825-2968. Email: aascpress@aasc.ucla.edu

Annual subscriptions for Amerasia Journal are $35.00 for individuals, and $295.00 for libraries and other institutions. Amerasia Journal is published three times a year: Winter, Spring, and Fall. A free subscription to the Center's Crosscurrents Newsmagazine is included in a subscription to Amerasia Journal.