Asian American Studies is an academic field that covers the
histories, cultural productions, and activism of people of Asian
descent in North America. Working closely with African American
Studies and Latina/o Studies, we examine race as a central
organizing principle that continues to shape American society. 
The Asian American Studies classroom presents a wide range of
topics—from the labor rebellions of Asian migrants in the 1800s
to the World War II internment of people of Japanese descent to
the increasingly transnational Asian diaspora in the U.S. and
Canada in the present day. At both the undergraduate and graduate
levels, course offerings in Asian American Studies foreground the
study of race as a civil rights and social justice issue that is also
informed by class, gender, sexuality, and colonial subject status.