Lori Kido Lopez - Asian American Media Activism

CRITICAL CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

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Asian American Media Activism: Fighting for Cultural Citizenship

Lori Kido Lopez

Lori Kido Lopez

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York

www.nyupress.org

2016 by New York University

All rights reserved

References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

ISBN : 978-1-4798-7819-2 (hardback)

ISBN : 978-1-4798-6683-0 (paperback)

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My research on Asian American media activism began at the University of Southern California, where I was lucky to work with many world-class scholars. I must first thank my advisor Sarah Banet-Weiser for seeing this project through from start to finish. She has been a fierce and loyal advocate, and I am so happy that our friendship has grown over the years. This project has also benefitted greatly from the guidance of Henry Jenkins, whose scholarship provides the foundation for all my cultural studies thinking, and whose generosity toward his students is without comparison. I am particularly grateful to have gotten in on the ground floor of Henrys research group at Annenberg, Civic Paths. It was during our weekly meetings that many of my ideas about Racebending and fan-activism were developed and enriched, but also where I learned how rewarding it can be to do research as a team.

I have also received a tremendous amount of support at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have ended up with this dream job, a pleasure that mostly centers on having such wonderful colleaguesin particular, my Media and Cultural Studies colleagues Jonathan Gray, Jeremy Morris, Derek Johnson, Michele Hilmes, and Eric Hoyt. It is because of their smiling faces that I love coming in to Vilas Hall even in the dead of winter. I am very appreciative of their enthusiastic support for me and the work that I do, and I take great joy in getting to be an auntie to their adorable children.

There are many other members of my extended academic community who have helped me develop as a scholar. I am grateful to have been able to partner with and wrestle over ideas with Konrad Ng, who buoys my spirit with his endless positivity. Vincent Pham has also been a supporter of this project since the very beginningI am very glad that when we discovered our work was on the same topic, we decided to become allies instead of arch nemeses. There are many other folks from Asian American studies who have given me a home outside my disciplinary home and strengthened my commitments to the larger political cause of ethnic studies. In particular, I am grateful for the mentorship and friendship of my colleague Timothy Yu, and for the Asian Americanist perspective that Viet Nguyen and Jane Iwamura provided on this project in its early days.

Life on the academic path would not be possible without the camaraderie of those who toil alongside you, so I want to express my love for Evan Brody, Allison Noyes Soeller, Beth Boser, Garrett Broad, and all the other members of our Annenberg fantasy football league who made it very difficult for me to leave Los Angeles. I also would be remiss if I did not acknowledge those who have guided me from the very beginningMing-Yuen Ma, who supervised my scholarship as an undergraduate and first taught me about Asian American media, and Radhika Parameswaran, who probably did not realize that when she took me on as a masters student that she was really signing up for a lifelong commitment. Warmest thanks to Alicia Nadkarni and Eric Zinner at NYU Press for helping this project become a book, to my anonymous reviewers for their many helpful suggestions, and to series editors Jonathan Gray, Aswin Punathambekar, and Nina Huntemann for strengthening my analysis.

Of course the true credit must be given to all the activists whose heroic work inspired this investigation, and who allowed me to share some of their stories: Alex Nogales, Alice Lee, Amy Uyematsu, Anderson Le, Anna Xie, Bill Imada, Buck Wong, Eddie Wong, Eric Kitayama, Evelyn Yoshimura, Dariane Nabor, Frank Kwan, Guy Aoki, Jeffrey Mio, Jon Yokogawa, Karen Narasaki, Kevin Vu, Lorraine Sammy, Marilyn Tokuda, Marissa Lee, Michael Le, Navin Narayanan, Nita Song, Phil Lee, Phil Yu, Sumi Haru, Sylvia Pham, and Telly Wong. I wish that I was not merely writing academic prose about their activism, but was able to continue in the trenches alongside them; I hope that they can take this book as a sign that I will always support the work from afar.

Finally, I would like to thank my family. My parents Sharlene and Doug DesRochers have always been my proudest fans since I was a little girl, and I am very appreciative of how seriously they continue to treat all my ridiculous aspirations. My moms inquisitive mind and boundless generosity and my dads unwavering strength and problem-solving resolve provide the backbone for my life. As a youngest child, I also owe so much to my siblings Keith DesRochers and Kelli Ledeen, who are two of the smartest, funniest people I know. Thanks to my wonderful in-laws Donna and Anthony Lopez, and my lifelong friends Caleb Oken-Berg and Katherine Adams. Above all, this book is dedicated to Jason Kido Lopez. Every aspect of my life has been shaped by Jasons wise counsel and philosophical probing, his humility and kindness, and his playful quirkiness. I cannot imagine a happier life than the one we share together.