We are so excited to welcome OiYan Poon to celebrate the release of ASIAN AMERICAN IS NOT A COLOR! For this event, OiYan will be joined in conversation by Lisa Kurian Philip. 

Please note: This event is free to attend, but registration is required. By registering for this event, you agree to follow W&CF Covid-19 policies and wear a mask for the duration of the event. 

REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT HERE! 

A mother and race scholar seeks to answer her daughter’s many questions about race and racism with an earnest exploration into race relations and affirmative action from the perspectives of Asian Americans

Before being struck down by the US Supreme Court in June 2023, affirmative action remained one of the few remaining policy tools to address racial inequalities, revealing the peculiar contours of racism and anti-racist strategies in America. Through personal reflective essays for and about her daughter, OiYan Poon looks at how the debate over affirmative action reveals the divergent ways Asian Americans conceive of their identity. With moving sincerity and insightful study, Poon combines extensive research with personal narratives from both herself and a diverse swath of individuals across the Asian American community to reflect on and respond to her daughter’s central question: What does it mean to be Asian American?

Poon conducts interviews with Asian Americans throughout the US who have been actively engaged in policy debates over race-conscious admissions or affirmative action. Through these exchanges, she finds that Asian American identity remains deeply unsettled in a contest between those invested in reaching the top of the racial hierarchy alongside whiteness and those working toward a vision of justice and humanity co-constructed through cross-racial solidarity.

Poon uses these contrasting viewpoints to guide her conversations with her daughter, providing a heartfelt and optimistic look at how understanding the diversity and nuances of the Asian American experience can help us envision a more equitable future.

Dr. OiYan Poon is a Co-Director of the College Admissions Futures Co-Laborative (cafcolab.org). Her research agenda brings together organizational theories and race and ethnic studies to study rejective admission and selection processes, the racial politics of Asian Americans and education, and affirmative action policies. She has received grants from the Gates Foundation, Joyce Foundation, and Spencer Foundation to support her research and her work has appeared widely in national media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The New Yorker.

After a rewarding and sometimes strange career in classical music and music education, Lisa Kurian Philip pivoted to journalism in the hopes of combining her love of music and writing to become an arts reporter. She got sidetracked and began covering schools, and quickly realized that once the education beat sinks its claws into you, it doesn’t let go. For her favorite project, she worked with an all-female team to tell the story of a mother in Raleigh who couldn’t afford summer activities for her two young daughters. The audio documentary, called The Cost of Summer, won Best in Radio from the Society of Professional Journalists’ Green Eyeshade Awards.  After many years in Baltimore then Durham, North Carolina, Lisa wanted to return home to the Chicago area, where she has multitudes of aunties and uncles and cousins to ask her nosy questions and cook for her. Her husband and two sons had no choice but to follow and fortunately they love it here as much as she does. She feels copious amounts of gratitude to be able to cover higher education at WBEZ. It’s the job she didn’t know to dream about when she was a kid.

Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are required. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com by no later than 14 days before the event. For other questions or access needs, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com.

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Tags: Asian American Is Not a Color: Conversations on Race Affirmative Action and Family, Chicago, Edgewater, Lisa Kurian Philip, OiYan Poon, Women & Children First Bookstore