On Thursday I attended a lecture at CGU by James Lee, who is an English/Asian American Studies Professor at UCSB. The title of the lecture was, "Revealing the Sacred in Asian American Studies." Lee began the talk by saying that after the events at Virginia Tech, he felt that he couldn't give the lecture he was planning on. He was going to discuss such questions as, why are scholars in Asian American studies so reluctant to talk about religion? In what ways does Asian American studies allow students and teachers to find the sacred? He mentions a metaphor he is the middle of perfecting equating Asian American studies to a kind of relgious-like conversion that takes place in the classroom with literature as transformations, and the class itself as a kind of ritual experience. I thought that was a really interesting idea that can be applied to a lot of classes. But Lee said that this was the point that the lecture had to take a detour.

He shifted conversation to his initial thoughts after learning that Cho was the shooter. Lee said that he obsessively searched for details about Cho, because like Cho, Lee is of Korean descent and felt a shared identity, which he said he couldn't understand. He elaborated that perhaps his attachment to the shooter had to do with the Asian American "model minority" thesis, and Cho's complete refusal to be part of it. This thesis, Lee said, is the imperative to be good at something, to excel. Which is weaved into narratives of Asian American redemption and second generation glory. Lee gave lots of examples of his students who ended up as Biology majors, or pre-med, who eventually changed over to Asian American studies. Lee argued that Asian American studies was created to find an alternative to the model minority. Lee said that Asian American studies offers some of his students a place to find identity or be good at something for the first time. It teaches a way for Asian American students to live into their "otherness". It is a type of community formation that gives its students a language and context to express themselves.
At the end of the talk, Lee tied his religion thesis back in, saying that after taking an Asian American studies class, students act as evangelicals and go around telling everyone to talk that class.

I really enjoyed Lee's talk, because it not only gave new insight into Asian American studies, but it also gave me a lot to think about because I found I could apply a lot of his ideas to other things as well.
--RACHEL BERMAN