Envisioning Religion, Race, and Asian Americans

In Envisioning Religion, Race, and Asian Americans, David K. Yoo and Khyati Y. Joshi assemble a wide-ranging and important collection of essays documenting the intersections of race and religion and Asian American communities—a combination so often missing both in the scholarly literature and in public discourse. Issues of religion and race/ethnicity undergird current national debates around immigration, racial profiling, and democratic freedoms, but these issues, as the contributors document, are longstanding ones in the United States.

The essays feature dimensions of traditions such as Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism, as well as how religion engages with topics that include religious affiliation (or lack thereof), the legacy of the Vietnam War, and popular culture. The contributors also address the role of survey data, pedagogy, methodology, and literature that is richly complementary and necessary for understanding the scope and range of the subject of Asian American religions. These essays attest to the vibrancy and diversity of Asian American religions, while at the same time situating these conversations in a scholarly lineage and discourse.

This collection will certainly serve as an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and general readers with interests in Asian American religions, ethnic and Asian American studies, religious studies, American studies, and related fields that focus on immigration and race.

• David K. Yoo, Editor

  David K. Yoo is vice provost, Institute of American Cultures, and professor of Asian American studies and history at the University of California, Los Angeles.

• Khyati Y. Joshi, Editor

  Khyati Y. Joshi is professor of education at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

• Russell Leong, Series Editor

• David K. Yoo, Series Editor

  David K. Yoo is vice provost, Institute of American Cultures, and professor of Asian American studies and history at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Contributors

• Arshad Imtiaz Ali
• Rudy Busto
• Joseph Cheah
• Patrick S. Cheng
• Seanan Fong
• Russell Jeung
• Khyati Y. Joshi
• Mimi Khúc
• Helen Jin Kim
• Sailaja Krishnamurti
• Tat-siong Benny Liew
• Anjana Narayan
• Jerry Z. Park
• Bandana Purkayastha
• Jaideep Singh
• David K. Yoo

• Envisioning Religion, Race, and Asian Americans brings to the forefront the intersections of race, gender, religion, citizenship, surveillance, transnational connections, and continuing constructions of identity among Asian Americans, and theorizes along those lines. It is a remarkable volume that should be required reading in part or in full for courses on Asian Americans, across the various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.
  —Zayn Kassam, John Knox McLean Professor of Religious Studies, Pomona College
• This volume brings much-needed attention to the religious lives of a racial/ethnic demographic—Asian Americans—that is so often ignored. The essays together establish the depth and breadth of the scholarship on Asian American religions, providing a rich snapshot of the wide range of Asian American religious life and the scholarly methods and approaches being used to study it. The editors have assembled a collection that will certainly serve as an invaluable resource for scholars working on Asian American religions.
  —Sylvia Chan-Malik, associate professor, Department of American Studies, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey