Asian American and Pacific Islander (APIDA) Heritage Month is recognized nationally in May, but UW–Madison celebrates it in April to include the campus community in the many rich experiences, perspectives and celebrations.
To honor the various cultures and voices, we asked some of our APIDA faculty and staff for their thoughts and reflections on what APIDA Heritage Month means to them.
Note: These responses have been edited for clarity.
Kong Pha, PhD
APIDA Heritage Month, to me, is an opportunity to reflect on the rich cultures, identities, histories, and contemporary experiences of people who have ties to or origins in the Asian continent and the Pacific Islands. The term “APIDA” encompasses many people with different histories of displacement, migration, and resettlement to the United States. We can celebrate all communities by recognizing our shared struggles for social justice while also celebrating our unique linguistic, artistic, and political differences. As a Hmong American scholar, I am passionate about highlighting the unique stories of Hmong people who came to the U.S. as refugees and have transformed the educational, agricultural, and economic landscapes of Wisconsin. Some of my greatest heroes are Hmong American women who are reshaping what it means to be APIDA today, like Olympic champion Suni Lee, singer Pagnia Xiong, and author Kao Kalia Yang.
Catherine Phan
There’s so much APIDA history to learn about, learn from, celebrate, honor, and remember! One of the joys of being an archivist is getting to help preserve these stories and to engage with others on what these histories mean for us today and into our future. I hope that our APIDA students, staff, faculty, and community engage with our past and also remember that we are, ourselves, historical subjects. What of our APIDA communities and lives do we want future generations to remember – the triumphs, the trauma, the mundane? Our experiences are important and worth documenting!
Anirban Baishya, PhD
As an international faculty member and someone who moved to the U.S. as a graduate student, I have always cherished the value of multicultural centers and how they can support students with resources to build stronger connections with the community. Personally, I feel that APIDA Heritage Month offers a space to explore the diverse experiences and foreground the importance of varied cultural, linguistic, and social-scapes that mark our experiences in the UW–Madison community. There is no doubt that our students want those engagements. Many times, I have felt students taking my globalization classes feel thrilled to share experiences and material from their home countries or from their particular cultural heritage, making use of class presentations and projects to showcase the broad spectrum of cultural diversity. That is key, I think, for the ways that we imagine identity and belonging. For example, even when it comes to the descriptor “Asian,” there is a plurality of experiences, but a lot of it is either elided in popular imagination due to histories of stereotyping, or because of the particular histories of the United States’ geopolitical entanglements in Asia. Something like APIDA Heritage Month offers a way of expanding and celebrating that plurality while concretizing a sense of belongingness and offering opportunities to strengthen the community through coalition building.
Catherine Chan, PhD
APIDA Heritage Month is a time for me to remember and reflect on the histories and cultures that shape who I am and many of the most important people around me. There is so much beauty, richness, and wisdom within the diverse identities and cultures in the APIDA community. This month is also a time to celebrate the numerous contributions and innovations the community has made in the arts, literature, sciences, entrepreneurship, and beyond. I am proud to be able to draw strength and grow from the legacies of the APIDA people in my personal, communal, and professional lives.