Daryl J. Maeda

Assistant Professor
M.A., San Francisco State University – Ethnic Studies
M.A., University of Michigan – American Culture
Ph.D., University of Michigan – American Culture

Past and Current Research/Creative Work/Scholarly Interests
I am conducting research and revising my book, Asian American Cultural Formation, which examines Asian American identities and cultural productions from the 1930s to the 1970s. In particular, it explores how Asian Americans have negotiated racial identities in relation to blackness and whiteness. My article, "Black Panthers, Red Guards, and Chinamen: Constructing Asian American Identity through Performing Blackness, 1969-1972" was just published in American Quarterly, the leading journal of American Studies. I am also writing an introduction to the Asian American movement for a documentary collection on the 1960s to be published by Prentice Hall.

My current scholarly interests include comparative ethnic studies, Asian American studies (particularly Asian American history), American radicalism, history of the 1960s, and social movements. In addition, I have conducted research on Japanese American incarceration during World War II.

Major Contributions
My work makes major contributions to three scholarly fields. First, it addresses a serious dearth of attention to the Asian American movement of the 1960s and 70s in the field of Asian American history, as my book will be only the second monograph to be published on the subject. It argues, in contrast to existing accounts, for the importance of the left in Asian American history. Second, my work advances the field of 1960s history. This field not only ignores Asian Americans, but also is dominated by a narrative that celebrates civil rights while excoriating opportunities for non-white people to establish alliances. Third, my work contributes to comparative ethnic studies by emphasizing how people of color have recognized similarities in their experiences, built interracial solidarity, and employed parallel strategies for justice.

Future Directions
My next book, United by Race: Third World Liberation in America, will be an integrated and comparative examination of social movements for racial justice by African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. It will continue my program of research by showing how various groups constructed alliances and sympathies, as well examining how they diverged. Furthermore, it will explore how these movements drew upon transnational influences in constructing people of color in the US as part of the "Third World".

I am also planning to research and write a book examining how the incarceration and resettlement of Japanese Americans during World War II were conceptualized and enacted in terms of coercive assimilation. This will build on my interest in race and assimilation in American politics and society.