Announcement: Call For Registrants For NYC Asian American Student Conference

We got word from the folks at the New York City Asian American Student Conference encouraging people to apply for this year’s event, scheduled for Saturday, April 21, at the Kimmel Center for Student Life at New York University.

The deadline to apply online at the NYCAASC site is this Thursday at 5PM. Students from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

The event is presnted by NYU, Columbia University, Baruch College, Hunter College, and Fordham University. Among the featured participants are Phil Yu, aka Angry Asian Man; spoken-word artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai; state Sen. Kevin S. Parker; David Zhou from Microaggressions.

In a release, NYCAASC said the theme for this year’s gathering is INK: Imagine aNd RethinK:

In past conferences, we have examined notions of Asian American identity and how mainstream representations encroach on definitions of self. This year, we hope to highlight Asian Americans reclaiming authorship of their representations. The experiences of Asian Americans have often been essentialized–portrayed through dichotomies of model minority and yellow peril. Asian Americans have certainly begun to complicate and challenge these stereotypes with the rise of new media. Youtube, blogs and Twitter have become platforms for Asian Americans to respond to, deconstruct, redefine and to critique conventional stereotypes as well as a space to produce images that account for a diverse set of experiences.

To conceptualize the possibilities of this growing awareness of Asian Americans, we use the image of a comic book. What if Asian Americans could INK their own possibilities, challenge the boundaries and complicate the existing images? This year, we aim to highlight the agency that Asian Americans possess. Despite years of facing exclusion and race-based antagonism, Asian Americans have and continue to insist on a social and political presence in the landscape of America. We ask attendees to recognize themselves as vehicles of change–how can your INK create change for Asian American communities?

Again, the deadline to apply is Thursday at 5pm, and applications can be filed at NYCAASC’s website. Good luck to everyone!