UIC Global Asian Studies Program

GLAS new faculty!! ‼️ 🔔
We welcome the newest member of our faculty!
Prof. Michelle Lee who will be joining us as our newest tenure-track faculty in Global Asian Studies this fall! Read about her below and swipe left to check out the two courses she is teaching this fall!
Prof. Michelle Lee is an Assistant Professor in Global Asian Studies and member of the Racialized Body Cluster at UIC. She specializes in Women of Color Feminisms, Asian American Studies, and Visual Culture Studies. Her research focuses on how Asian diasporic cultural producers take up aesthetic strategies that embrace the inhuman, monstrous, and abject. In particular, she explores how these strategies can challenge neoliberal calls for recognition and visibility, imagine posthuman relational networks, and nuance the ways we tell stories of intimate, everyday violences.
Her current book project, Unnatural Figura: Asiatic Femininity, Aesthetics, and Disfiguration, illuminates the ways Asian women are shaped by the discourse of disfigurement in U.S. cultural production
Before joining UIC, Michelle was a Humanities in Learning and Leadership Series Postdoctoral Fellow at Case Western Reserve University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in American Studies. She has also worked at the National Public Housing Museum and Asheville Art Museum. Her work has appeared in Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures in the Americas, ArtAsiaPacific, and Women & Performance Journal. Michelle’s work has been supported by the Social Science Research Council, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Congratulations to Viraj Patel and the AASAP team. We look forward to continuing to work with all our of you!

Viraj Patel, MEd, director of the UIC Asian American Student Academic Program (AASAP), was interviewed as part of Inside Higher Ed’s “New on the Job” series, which profiles staff in inaugural roles focused on student success. In the interview, Patel talked about the history of community demands for AASAP, the work the team is already doing and short term and long term goals for the unit to continue serving UIC’s Asian American student community.

Learn more: https://diversity.uic.edu/news-stories/asian-american-student-academic-program-director-highlights-strategies-for-student-success/

Do you want to learn more about issues faced by Q***r Asian Americans, the history of the “Bachelor Society,” or the emergence of Hollywood stereotypes like the “Asian Himbo?” If so, do not miss out on this course!
GLAS/GWS 263: Asian American Gender and Sexual Diversity
Instructor: Themal Ellawala, PhD Candidate in Anthropology and Co-chair of the Q***r and Trans Working Group, UIC Institute for the Humanities
TR 3:30pm – 4:45pm |BSB 281
GLAS CRN: 48378
GWS CRN: 48379
Learn about diverse perspectives and experiences of gender and sexuality in Asian American and global Asian contexts and communities, including Chicago, and consider how gender and sexuality intersect with race, ethnicity, culture, and other categories of analysis. Also, students will engage with a range of theoretical frameworks, scholarly readings, community publications, as well as representations in pop culture, narratives, visual art, and have a unique opportunity to work with the oral histories of the Q***r Asian American Archive housed in the Daley Library.
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
UIC Asian American Resource and Cultural Center - AARCC
Institute for the Humanities, UIC
UIC Honors College
Arab American Cultural Center at UIC

Do you want to know the racialized histories behind cyborgs and AI? If so, take this GLAS course- GLAS 215: Techno-Orientalism. Swipe left to learn more!
Course is cross listed with History!
Instructor: Prof. Clare Kim
MW 9:30am – 10:45am | Taft Hall 208
GLAS CRN 49095
HIST CRN 49096

From aliens, coolies, and yellow peril to model minority, techies, and sub-human quants, representations of Asians and Asian Americans have become tethered to the scientific and technological. This course examines the entanglements of race, politics, science, and technology in the Pacific world from the late nineteenth century to the present. Through the lens of techno-Orientalism—an expansion and inversion of Edward Said’s formulation—we consider the historical conditions that have recast the
East, from an imagined Orient suspended in an eternal state of stagnation, to a technoscientific Orient fetishized as the exotic future. Topics covered include colonialism and imperialism; cyborgs and computing;
digital labor and embodiment; biosecurity and intellectual property; migration and the information economy.
Arab American Cultural Center at UIC
UIC Department of History
UIC Philosophy
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC Asian American Resource and Cultural Center - AARCC
Uic-Honors College
Institute for the Humanities, UIC

Do you want to know what this 1968 student strike was about? If so, take the Afro Asian Solidarities course that GLAS is offering this fall! Swipe left to learn more.
Course is cross listed with GWS and Anthropology and meets the US Society and World Cultures GenEd requirements!
The various artwork that are on the flyer are covers of zines that students made from this class!
Instructor: Prof. Gayatri Reddy
MW 4:30pm – 5:45pm | LH 107
GLAS CRN 46497
GWS CRN 46498
ANTH CRN 46499
Description:
Tracing the history of the “darker nations” through a feminist lens as a decolonial political, and utopian project this course explores the radical possibilities of transnational alliances and the long history of cross-racial solidarities between Asia and Africa.
For more info about the course, contact Prof. Reddy at [email protected]
Scan the QR code to view other GLAS classes
UIC Global Asian Studies Program

Arab American Cultural Center at UIC
The UIC Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy
UIC Asian American Resource and Cultural Center - AARCC
Institute for the Humanities, UIC
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago
UIC AANAPISI Initiative

📣 Announcement! Honorary degrees in GLAS recipients and the Asian American Movement Archiving project - Part 1 of 2
In Spring 2024, GLAS celebrated alums who received the inaugural honorary B.A. degrees in GLAS. These six alumni were part of the student-led movement that paved the way for GLAS. And all of them graduated long before GLAS was established. We are greatly indebted to them! Meet the first three alums: Brandon Mita, John Park, and Bettina Johnson. (And check out the GLAS crane pins they are wearing 🤗).
We also launched the beginning of the Asian American Movement Archiving work to document the history of the 31-year student-led movement (1991-2022) for Asian American Studies that paved the way for building Global Asian Studies (GLAS) and the Major at the University of Illinois Chicago
How can you support? If you were involved in this movement as a student, faculty, or staff, and have material (photos, letters, petitions, event flyers, etc) to contribute, or are willing to be interviewed, please contact the project leader and GLAS Founding Director, Dr. Anna Guevarra ([email protected]). And UIC alums- please pass this on to your networks! Thank you!
Photo creddits: Brandon Mita, Bettina Johnson, John Park, and Studio Soo.

UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC Asian American Resource and Cultural Center - AARCC

Check out this upcoming event!

Join IRRPP and co-sponsors Black Studies, Sociology, and Global Asian Studies for an online conversation with UC Irvine Professor Claire Jean Kim about her third book, Asian Americans in an Anti-Black World, which provides a theoretically provocative analysis of how we must consider both anti-Blackness and white supremacy — and the articulation of the two forces — in order to understand U.S. racial dynamics and where Asian Americans fit into the racial order. Register here: https://irrpp.uic.edu/events/claire-jean-kim/
UIC Global Asian Studies Program
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago

373 lives lost (and still counting), dozens of villages washed away, thousands of livelihoods destroyed by the devastating landslides in Wayanad, Kerala, India this past week, an area that the Revolutionary Seeds Team was fortunate to have visited this summer as part of our research trip to India. Could the death toll from these devastating landslides in Wayanad have been lower? Based on the important work of the Hume Center for Ecology and Wildlife Biology that we engaged with, the answer is YES! That was one of the important lessons we learned through the crucial work of this organization in gathering and disseminating local rainfall measurements - as one way to predict landslides. Today, the beautiful landscape and the lives and livelihoods of countless people we engaged with just two months ago in Wayanad have likely been negatively impacted, if not destroyed . As the director of the Hume Center stated, what we need is not just disaster relief but disaster mitigation - that is entirely doable through low-tech, cost-effective measures.
To learn more:
-Read the three recent blog posts written by Amira, Liana, and Nia on the rain gauge technology that Hume helped develop to predict rainfall and monitor soil erosion, the indigenous communities like the Kurichiya who taught us about their connection to the land, and an organic rice farming collective who is bringing back traditional rice varieties. https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com or scan QR code.
Read report the Hume Center published in 2019 that could have helped mitigate this disaster. Go to https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336737447_A_REPORT_ON_THE_STUDY_OF_NATURAL_DISASTERS_OF_2018_Resilient_Wayanad or scan the QR code for the report
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

(Late post from the Revolutionary Seeds team): Part 3 with the Timbaktu Collective. We learned about the various cooperatives that sustain various communities - the Dharani Co-op producing various food items from grains and vegetables produced by farming collectives (learned how peanut oil was processed from fresh ground peanuts! And the plate of food featured here come from their collective!), the Bhavani weaving center that makes beautiful hand loom textiles, and the women-led Mahasakhthi Co-op Federation that leads sustainable economic alternatives that create community-based savings for rural women.
Photos by Prof. Anna Guevarra, Prof. Gayatri Reddy, and Mainisha Kairaly.
Blogs about this experience forthcoming at: https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago
And the team’s friendly note: take a GLAS class this fall or considering majoring or minoring in GLAS! These are some of the transformative opportunities you can take part in. https://glas.uic.edu/academics/courses/fall2024/

Summer telegram #3 from GLAS! (Part 3 of 3)
Hope everyone’s enjoying their summer! Please take a look at these GLAS courses and consider taking them this Fall! Not only will they enhance your academic experience but you will also support our academic unit!
On this post:
-GLAS/GWS 463: Politics of Gender and Sexuality in Asian America
-GLAS/BLST 252: US Racism and Imperialisms
-GLAS/GWS 458: Asian America and Transnational Feminisms
-GLAS 300: Global Asia in Chicago
For a full listing of GLAS courses, scan the last QR code or go to bit.ly/GLAS_FALL2024_Courses

Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC Asian American Resource and Cultural Center - AARCC
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Summer telegram #2 from GLAS! (Part 2 of 3)
Hope everyone’s enjoying their summer! Please take a look at these GLAS courses and consider taking them this Fall! Not only will they enhance your academic experience but you will also support our academic unit!
On this post:
-GLAS/GWS 263: Asian American Gender and Sexual Diversity
-GLAS/GWS/ANTH 248: Afro-Asian Solidarities: A Radical Feminist History
-GLAS290/GWS294/COMM294: Introduction to Asian American Visual Cultures
-GLAS/HIST 215: Techno-Orientalism
For a full listing of GLAS courses, scan the last QR code or go to bit.ly/GLAS_FALL2024_Courses

Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
UIC Asian American Resource and Cultural Center - AARCC
UIC Department of History

Summer telegram #1 from GLAS! (Part 1 of 3)
Hope everyone’s enjoying their summer! Please take a look at these GLAS courses and consider taking them this Fall! Not only will they enhance your academic experience but you will also support our academic unit!
On this post:
-GLAS 105: Asian American and Pacific Islander Adulting
-GLAS 105: Asian American Studies Seminar - an integral component of the Asian American Mentor Program
-GLAS/ENGL 123: Introduction to Asian American Literature
-GLAS/ANTH 242: Introduction to Arab American Studies
For a full listing of GLAS courses, scan the last QR code or go to bit.ly/GLAS_FALL2024_Courses

Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC Asian American Resource and Cultural Center - AARCC
Arab American Cultural Center at UIC
UIC Department of English
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Another new blog (and late post) from the Revolutionary Seeds research team: (delayed due to the monsoon, lack of WiFi and all sorts of unexpected issues along the way).
“…women are the backbone of GBS, they quite literally run the sanctuary. Their involvement in GBS extends beyond mere participation; they carry with them the deep-rooted history of the rainforest. GBS owes its continued existence to these women who invest their lives in ensuring the rainforest continues. Their contributions, however, extend far beyond what is typically recognized, showcasing the disparities in how labor is valued and acknowledged especially when practiced by women from the local villages and towns.”

Excerpt from the “Revolutionary Seeds” Blog - “Women of GBS” by Amira Altamimi
Read here: https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com/ or scan the QR code.
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Arab American Cultural Center at UIC

Another new blog (and late post) from the Revolutionary Seeds research team: (delayed due to the monsoon, lack of WiFi and all sorts of unexpected issues along the way).
“…women are the backbone of GBS, they quite literally run the sanctuary. Their involvement in GBS extends beyond mere participation; they carry with them the deep-rooted history of the rainforest. GBS owes its continued existence to these women who invest their lives in ensuring the rainforest continues. Their contributions, however, extend far beyond what is typically recognized, showcasing the disparities in how labor is valued and acknowledged especially when practiced by women from the local villages and towns.”

Excerpt from the “Revolutionary Seeds” Blog - “Women of GBS” by Amira Altamimi
Read here: https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com/ or scan the QR code.



great

We are back! New blog (and late post) from the Revolutionary Seeds research team: (delayed due to the monsoon, lack of WiFi and all sorts of unexpected issues along the way).
“Being immersed into nature allows me to be reminded of all the abundance in the present moment that always exists despite other things going on. It allows me to dream outside of capitalistic boundaries that perpetuate ideas that make it seem like abundance is to be bought, stolen or controlled. It allows for the present moment to be remembered, connected to, and for nature to be at the center of that.”

Excerpt from the “Revolutionary Seeds” Blog - “Short Stay in the Rainforest” by Nia Kennedi Cunningham
Read here: https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com/ or scan the QR code.
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Part 2 with the Timbaktu Collective. We learned from the fabulous workers of the soap making production center of Milita Jeevanopadula Sangham. This center works with people with disabilities and together they have set up a beautiful system that produce these amazing soaps with so much care and pride using local ingredients like soapnut and natural ingredients like unbleached beeswax. We learned to delicately extract aloe, mix the essential oils and solution to the right consistency, shave soaps to their proper shape and weight, cut the soaps, and package them.
Photos by Prof. Anna Guevarra and Amira Altamimi
Blogs about this experience forthcoming at: https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago

Part 1: Revolutionary Seeds learned about the bounty of the Timbaktu Collective in the Ananthapuramu district of Andhra Pradesh.
Follow our blog to read our reflections of this magical community. Timbaktu blogs forthcoming! https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com
Photos curated by Prof. Anna Guevarra and Amira Altamimi
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago

Next stop: Revolutionary seeds learned about the urban waste management work of Hasiru dala in Bangalore. This work involves supporting facilities that turn dry and wet waste into bio gas, groups like the “women of wisdom” who created lane composting on their street, and a woman who valiantly established a waste management center.
Photos and video by Prof. Anna Guevarra
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago

Revolutionary Seeds left Wayanad and took a little break in Mysore to see the palace, rest in a beautiful ancestral home, work, eat yummy Coorg food, do laundry, and explore some crafts shopping.
Photos by Prof Anna Guevarra
Check out our blog here: https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com

New blog from the Revolutionary Seeds research team: (delayed due to the monsoon, lack of WiFi, and/or all sorts of unexpected issues along the way).
“The sounds of the forest were magical. I could hear the frogs croak and ribbit, the wind howling past my ears, the tree branches as they shook and danced for whenever a monkey or squirrel climbed it, the birds and crickets chirping alike but still so different. I was able to hear all of this and know that I am now a part of this work of art.”
Excerpt from the “Revolutionary Seeds” Blog - “It’s Okay to be Uncomfortable” by Liana Jeffries
Read here: https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com/ or scan the QR code.
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago

The Revolutionary Seeds made their way to Wayanad at the Hume Ecology Center- learning about the rain gauge that helps predict rainfall in collaboration with farmers, the kurichiya community and the wonderfully creative children, the summer camp kids art program, and the rice farming collective that is preserving traditional varieties of rice in Wayanad.

Photos curated by Amira Altamimi and Prof. Anna Guevarra
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC

“The center was formed after about 30 years of student advocacy. So it didn’t come out of nowhere. There was a real sincere fight for this unit, by faculty, staff and alumni, for decades. And so, while really overdue, to be honest, to develop this unit, I’m really ecstatic to step into this legacy of advocacy, and I feel the care of so many people around when we do the work every day.The Asian American Student Academic Program provides culturally relevant academic support initiatives, such as academic advising, retention coordination. We do some recruitment initiatives as well as partnering with schools strategically, and we collaborate with other units across campus.

Our institution has an explicit mission to serve the city of Chicago and so we’re really intentional about partnerships within the city. The core of our work, I’d say, is building one-on-one partnerships with students to serve their individual academic goals and tailor to their individual needs.”

Read the full piece by Inside Higher Ed on the Asian American Student Academic Program and the vision of its inaugural Director, Viraj Patel: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/college-experience/2024/05/30/qa-uic-director-asian-american-student-support

The Revolutionary Seeds made their way to Bengaluru and Lake Puttenahalli with Rohan D’ Souza- independent researcher and educator who has been studying the Lakes of Bangalore for years.
Photos curated by Amira Altamimi, Prof. Anna Guevarra, and Prof. Gayatri Reddy
Follow our blog at revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com

New blog from the Revolutionary Seeds research team:

My introduction to Bengalaru by Liana Jeffries:

“The lake is calm and still unlike the sounds around us. D’Souza speaks. The stillness is interrupted by harsh realities. He explains the conflict between the ornithologists, naturalists and the fishing community. One community instilling their vision over the others, it’s a competition instead of a coalition. The ornithologist’s priority of preserving and protecting the birds in the lake prevents the fishing community the opportunity to fish in the lake. Thus, a hierarchy of care is enforced.”

Excerpt from the blog:
https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com/2024/05/my-introduction-to-bengaluru-by-liana.html
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
Black Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago

The Revolutionary Seeds made their way to the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary, a conservation center in the Western Ghats of India. There, in the midst of the monsoon, they encounter many challenges, new plants, insects, and wildlife as they learn about the reforesting efforts of the sanctuary team…

Watch the video for the chase between a Malabar squirrel and a monkey.

Photos by research team members Amira Altamimi and Prof. Anna Guevarra
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

The Gulmohar Tree by Amira Altamimi

“A common theme we’ve run into in our nearly two week stay is the similarities between people and nature. What does it mean for a plant to be non-native when it’s been brought over to another country and established its roots here? It has learned to live with the already existing landscape, it provides its own benefits and it has become part of the larger landscape. Removing it now would arguably cause more harm than good, especially to the people who have learned to integrate it into their lives. On the other hand, non-native plants are not always an inherently productive addition to an ecosystem.”

Excerpt from the Revolutionary Seeds’ blog: The Gulmohar Tree by Amira Altamimi https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-gulmohar-tree-by-amira-altamimi.html?spref=tw

Summer hours for GLAS!
Chai Guevarra will be back this Fall!

“Man Made Lakes In India
An “urban dystopia”
Boundaries put on water bodies
Biodiversity could involve the inclusion of all living beings
not some
Conservation or Gatekeeping
Transformation of the commons
What bodies thrive here
What bodies are allowed
Man Made Lakes In India”
Excerpt from the blog entry of the Revolutionary Seeds research team written by Nia Cunningham: https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com/2024/05/man-made-lakes-in-bengaluru.html?spref=tw
Gender and Women's Studies at UIC
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
UIC AANAPISI Initiative

Revolutionary Seeds research team in community with the rainforest surrounded by Malabar squirrels and monkeys chasing one another through the beautiful canopy (pay close attention to the video on this post), majestic tropical plants, trees, and orchids, and land leeches that are in great abundance.
More to come in their blog: https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com
UIC AANAPISI Initiative
UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

“While walking around and winding our way under these canopies, Nia exclaimed with joy at the sight of such ancient trees, imperiled as some of them are by the expansion of the city’s infrastructure and climate change. On one of the streets, we marveled at seeing both a peepul tree and a banyan tree right next to one another, giant hibiscus flowers, walls covered by bougainvillea, as we paused to take photos and capture this riot of color.”
Excerpt from blog entry #1 of “Revolutionary Seeds” research team:
https://revolutionaryseeds.blogspot.com/2024/05/entering-garden-city.html?m=1