A General Overview of “Asian” & “Asian-American” History at Amherst College

Joseph Hardy Neesima, Class of 1870
Joseph Hardy Neesima, Class of 1870

Writing the racial history of a historically white college has a certain irony, especially as an Asian-American queer woman of color. On top of that, I am a transfer student, so when I first arrived at Amherst, fresh-faced, the learning curve was steep. This blog post serves not as a historical survey, but just a “tip of the iceberg” type of post, aimed at uncovering more about the Asian Languages and Civilizations department, as well as the state of Asian-American studies at Amherst College.

Transferring from UC Berkeley, I was surprised when I arrived at Amherst College and there was no “ethnic studies” department, which is abundant in the UC system. Due to my interest in Japanese language, I ended up becoming part of the Asian Languages and Civilizations department, but I had not realized that Asian-American studies were in an entirely different department — or rather, nonexistent. Instead, it was tucked away in the American Studies department, which I had never actually heard of before.

It took me a bit to understand both departments, and in turn, how they related to Asian (international) and Asian-American representation and history. Despite Amherst’s long history of interacting with Asian countries (Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan, especially), an “Asian studies” department was not established until 1976. Similar to the way that the Asian-American studies is currently being advocated for, the ASLC was born out of strong student and faculty advocacy, and originally only included courses on East and South Asian content courses, ranging from literature, philosophy, and history. Language classes, a foundation of the ASLC department now, were not introduced until later on in 1977 (Japanese language), 1983 (Chinese language), and 1985 (Arabic language). It was through the efforts of students and faculty combined, through The Student articles and long letters and petitions, that “Asian studies” was a subject deemed as “worthy” of becoming an actual major at Amherst College.

Ho Ting Liang, Class of 1883
Ho Ting Liang, Class of 1883. Non-graduate.

I had always understood the importance of ethnic studies departments, but it was through learning the history of creation of the Asian Languages and Civilizations department that I was able to understand the true amount of institutional and structural change that has to occur for departments like this to come to life. The fight for ASLC that happened decades ago is now happening again, except in the field of Asian-American studies. As the population of Asian-American students grows increasingly larger, this field of studies is more important than ever. With Amherst professors like Robert Hayashi, Pavan Dinghra, and Franklin Odo, one of the founding fathers of Asian-American studies, as the John J. McCloy ’16 Professor of American Institutions and International Diplomacy, and so many other bright-faced Asian-American studies professors, the Asian-American studies department at Amherst is not yet officially recognized, but just beginning.

When I first arrived at Amherst, I admit that I was nervous at attending an elite, historically white institution, and was incredibly surprised by the amount of actual diversity that existed. I was especially interested in and impressed by the involvement of Asian-American students within ASA. Even more than this, I was impressed by the devotion Asian-American students had to creating an Asian-American Studies department. Ranging from petitioning, tabling, and piloting social media efforts, many Asian-American students took on leadership roles as they tried to advocate for a separate, independent department for Asian-American studies. Their efforts can be tracked on their instagram or facebook pages, which can be found at @amherstaaswg and @amherstasa.

Flyer for Five Colleges Asian American Month
Five College Asian American Month, April 1976

The Asian Languages and Civilizations department is a cornerstone of Amherst College, and only was established due to the students and professors who championed it back in the 1970s. Hopefully, not too long from now, the same narrative will be able to be told for a new Asian-American studies department at Amherst College, a path forged by the advocacy of students and faculty, hand-in-hand.