Happy #AAPIHeritageMonth! Throughout this month I’m going to highlight AAPI women leaders, teachers, creatives, writers, scholars—those who’ve impacted and inspired me, and those I’m recently discovering.
The first book I read by an Asian American woman was The Woman Warrior (Maxine Hong Kingston)—it tells the stories of five women, including herself.

I was a 1st year in seminary when a Korean American sister gave it to me. This was in 2001. #AAPIHeritageMonth
When I first read Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology by @KwokPuiLan I felt like my world had turned upside down. It gave me a way to see and speak that I didn't know was available to me! I continue to be deeply informed by her and her work.

#AAPIHeritageMonth
During seminary, I finished reading Helen Zia's Asian American Dreams in a Panera or Subway while waiting for my clothes to finish drying at a local laundromat. I cried. I didn't know that there was a whole community of people who would understand my struggle, my life. #AAPIHM
I recently finished reading lê thi diem thúy's _The Gangster We Are All Looking For_ for comps reading—a story told by the perspective of an 6 year old Vietnamese immigrant girl until she's 26. Fragmented, haunting, impressionistic, it's utterly beautiful. #AAPIHM
lê thi diem thúy's book was suggested by my one of my exam readers Cynthia Wu, Professor of Gender Studies, Asian American Studies, and Director of Race, Migration, and Indigeneity, one of the kindest, most encouraging and present teachers I know. https://gender.indiana.edu/about/faculty/wu-cynthia.html #AAPIHM
Feel really fortunate that there are stellar AAPI humanities faculty at @IUBloomington: @ellendwu, @CaraCaddoo, @CountessCanuck, Jennifer Lee, Karen Inouye, Ranu Samantrai Dina Okamoto, Hyeyoung Kwon, Sonia Song-Ha Lee, Stephanie Li, Purnima Bose. #aapihm
The first time I had heard about activist #YuriKochiyama was also in seminary. It was another AAPI sister who introduced me to her work while I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X for a class, and then found her in Dragon Ladies: Asian American Feminists Breathe Fire. #AAPIHM
Reading bits of this again. Kandice Chuh’s Imagine Otherwise quoting @driftinghouse and Rey Chow. 3 scholars I’ve only recently discovered during my PhD program who are changing my work’s trajectory around bodies, politics, and religion. #AAPIHM
A couple of semesters ago Michael Ing @IU_RelStud invited Marie Alohalani Brown, @mariealohalanib. She gave a COMPELLING talk on “Ethnocentricity and Religious Bias—The Politics and Poetics of Märchen in Hawaiian Newspapers.” http://www.hawaii.edu/religion/faculty/brown/ #aaPIheritagemonth
@NatashaSaelua gave an incredible talk on schools in the Pacific and what it says about military and imperial projects in February for the @IUBAsianAm symposium. These are such important voices -- do you have more Pacific Islander women recs? @jonmabuni

@aaPIheritagemonth
I'm re-reading Gayatri Gopinath's _Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures_

A queer of color critique that brilliantly addresses both male nationalist and heteronormative feminist discourses.

This is why I celebrate #aapi women.
I've followed @DisVisibility for a bit now for her compassion and sharp commentary on disability rights. She is founder and Project Coordinator of the Disability Visibility Project, a project collecting oral histories of people with disabilities in the United States. #AAPIHM
2 AAPI church ladies I love so much, and who inspire me 24/7. @tvrasche, an @ELCA pastor and @wsvarghese, an @iamepiscopalian priest—both are incredibly sharp, hilarious, and the kindest human beings. Also, obviously drop-dead gorgeous. #AAPIHeritageMonth #AsianHeritageMonth #ff
Grace Lee Boggs—scholar, writer, and activist—did so much in her lifetime, and continues to be an inspiration for the fight against white supremacy. #asiansforblacklives #yellowperilsupportsblackpower #AAPIHM #AsianHeritageMonth

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/06/27/417175523/grace-lee-boggs-activist-and-american-revolutionary-turns-100 @katchow
Today I’m thankful for my sis, Rev. Dr. Christine Hong, Assistant Professor of Christian Ministry at @CTSeminary, a @Presbyterian minister, mother, advocate, and someone who always knows where to go to eat good. https://www.ctsnet.edu/faculty/hong-christine-j/ #AAPIHM #AsianHeritageMonth #conferencewife
We were babies in 2008. @ciaochiyo 💕
Watching @PBS Asian Americans and thrilled to see @prof_erikalee and eventually @ellendwu (who I will never stop talking about)! #aapihm #AsianHeritageMonth
And more: @mskathykhang @hapamama @JennyYangWR @teenbug @aquietstrength @judydominick @AliaJoyH @MeiLingAu @sabbychan #aapihm #asianheritagemonth

These women are doing amazing and creative work in the world. My daily muses!
Met NYT best-selling author @Jennyhan in 2008 at a small girls hangout—I remember being floored that here was a KA woman writing fun YA fiction. I've gobbled up all her books. She is beautiful, kind, and hilarious. @toalltheboys for our AAPI girls! #aapihm #asianheritagemonth
More church ladies that are near and dear to my heart, who I love and admire so much. They are BADASSES: @GailSongBantum, lead pastor at Quest Church (Seattle) and @lmcheifetz, Assistant Dean of Admission at @vudivinity. #AAPIHM #AsianHeritageMonth

Oh, also, they're hot. 🔥
Today's AAPI woman is provocative artist and writer, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. I have a feeling her work will figure prominently in my dissertation because of what she does with language, identity, and women's stories. https://update.lib.berkeley.edu/2018/02/04/theresa-hak-kyung-cha-at-berkeley/ #aapihm #asianheritagemonth
It's been life-giving to surround myself with AAPI women this month—their faces, their stories, their struggles, their joys. Watching the #AsianAmPBS series reminded me of the first AAPI actress, Anna May Wong.

https://oprahmag.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a32345890/anna-may-wong-facts-real-story/ #aapihm #asianheritagemonth
This weekend I'm re-reading Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake for quals. I've read all her books since I first encountered her when I was in seminary starting with Interpreter of Maladies because her writing is just so exquisite—mournful and haunting. #aapihm #AsianHeritageMonth
Good morning! Today's AAPI woman: comedian, advocate, designer and artist, and author, @margaretcho.

I first watched her on All-American Girl in 10th grade. So grateful for her incredible evolution.🏳️‍🌈

An amazing human being. https://margaretcho.com/  #aapihm #asianheritagemonth
Speaking of AAPI women—this is going to be such a treat! A conversation with the director of the #AsianAmPBS series and three stellar scholars of religion. #AAPIHM #AsianHeritageMonth @pbs

Register here: https://voa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XuCED9t6SDqIpRYqegTLVQ
I almost didn't have time to post today's AAPI woman: Karen Tei Yamashita, professor of literature at University of California, Santa Cruz, and writer.

I read _I Hotel_ last fall, and I need to go back to it ASAP. #aapihm #asianheritagemonth
Today's AAPI woman: @helenjinkim, Assistant Professor of American Religious History at Candler. Met her in 2018 at
@AARWeb. I've learned so much from her already, and know her work will figure huge in mine.

https://candler.emory.edu/faculty/profiles/kim-helen.html #AAPIHM #AsianHeritageMonth #amrel #ff
Patsy Mink was the first WOC elected to Congress. Among her many accomplishments and legacies, she coauthored the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act. To learn more: https://history.house.gov/People/detail/18329 or check out the #AsianAmerPBS @PBS series. 🔥💕 #AAPIHM
You can follow @miheekimkort.
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