Hello everyone,
My name is Alice Zhang, and I am a Teaching Professor in the Department of History at the University of St. Thomas. I am organizing a panel for the 2027 Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference focused on transpacific migration, displacement, identity, and belonging in Asian American history.
My research traces a history of Chinese adoptee diasporas from 1953 to 2015. For this panel, I plan to present work on postwar Hong Kong migration and adoption, with particular attention to how Cold War contingencies shaped public rhetoric surrounding Asian adoption and the lived experiences of Hong Kong adoptees as adopted Asians in the United States.
We currently have another potential panelist who is considering one of two related projects. The first examines the experiences of different generations of Cambodian Americans who migrated to Cambodia, both voluntarily and involuntarily, from the 1990s through the 2020s. The second potential paper examines the lived experiences of Cambodian genocide survivors in refugee camps in Thailand. It emphasizes the agency of Cambodian refugees and the ways they navigated, resisted, and responded to the constraints and precarity of camp life.
We are seeking additional panelists whose work engages Asian American history, migration, diaspora, displacement, refugee experiences, transpacific mobility, humanitarianism, identity, or related themes. We are also looking for a discussant and a chair.
Scholars at all career stages, including graduate students and early-career researchers, are warmly encouraged to reach out.
Please contact me at zhan7269@stthomas.edu if you are interested or would like additional information. I look forward to connecting with potential collaborators.
Alice Zhang
Teaching Professor, Department of History
University of St. Thomas
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Yang Zhang
University of St. Thomas
zhan7269@stthomas.edu------------------------------