Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month: In Our Own Image(s)

At the Capitol Hill Library, we wondered how to create an Asian & Pacific Islander (API) Heritage Month display that recognizes the many peoples who are categorized as “Asian” and “Pacific Islander” — each unique and with their own histories, languages, religions, cultural values, and experiences.  Is it possible to represent such broad and diverse communities without using stereotypical imagery (especially those which focus exclusively on East Asia)?

An answer dawned on us: since API people are already representing themselves, through their art and creative practice… why reach for the clipart of cherry blossoms and dragons, when we could highlight the imagery of API artists?

We reached out to a number of local artists with API heritage, and have featured some samples of their work – swing by the Capitol Hill library, and check out library items that are produced by API writers, illustrators, filmmakers, and musicians.  Our display offers a selection of poetry, picture books, nonfiction, DVDs, comics, and other media from our collection.  For those who can’t make it to our neck of the city, here are a few titles to place on hold:

Works by Pacific Islanders

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• • They Who Do Not Grieve by Sia Figiel (Samoan)
  • From a Native Daughter by Haunani-Kay Trask (Native Hawai’ian)
  • Potiki by Patricia Grace (Ngati Toa/Ngati Raukawa/Te Ati Awa — Maori)
  • America is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan (Filipinx)
  • From Unincorporated  Territory [guma’] by Craig Santos Perez (Chamoru)
  • Resistant Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the United States by Satoko Oka Norimatsu (Uchinanchu / Okinawan)

Works by Southeast Asians

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• • Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong (Viet)
  • Afterland: Poems by Mai Der Vang (Hmong)
  • Liquid City Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 (comic collections by SE Asian artists)
  • Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock & Roll music CD
  • A Different Pond by Bao Phi (Viet)
  • The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Viet)
  • First They Killed my Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung (Khmer)

Works by South Asians

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• • Rani Patel in Full Effect by Sonia Patel (Indian)
  • Moving Truth(s): Queer and Transgender Desi Writings on Family
  • Sita’s Ramayana by Samhita Arni (Indian)
  • Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets: A Muslim Book of Shapes by Hena Khan (Pakistani)
  • I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (Pakistani)

 

Works by Southwest + West Asians — sometimes known as the Middle East

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• • A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night feature film (Iranian)
  • The Blue Between Sky and Water by Susan Abulhawa (Palestinian)
  • Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmad Sadawi (Iraqi)
  • The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi (Afghan)
  • Journal of an Ordinary Grief by Mahmoud Darwish (Palestinian)
  • Diaries of an Unfinished Revolution: Voices from Tunis to Damascus
  • This Is Not a Border: Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature

Works about local API heritage

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• • Han in the Upper Left: A Brief History of Koreans in the Pacific Northwest
  • International Examiner, Journal of the Northwest Asian American Communities
  • Seattle’s International District: The Making of a Pan-Asian American Community by Doug Chin
  • Filipinos in Puget Sound by Dorothy Cordova

~posted by Bean Y. & Kyle K.