http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/nyregion/at-nail-salons-in-nyc-manicurists-are-underpaid-and-unprotected.html

[http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/30/nyregion/10nailsweb1/10nailsweb1-facebookJumbo.jpg]<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/nyregion/at-nail-salons-in-nyc-manicurists-are-underpaid-and-unprotected.html>

The Price of Nice Nails - NYTimes.com
Manicurists are routinely underpaid and exploited, and endure ethnic bias and other abuse, The New York Times has found.
Read more...<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/nyregion/at-nail-salons-in-nyc-manicurists-are-underpaid-and-unprotected.html>



Let's talk about the complexity of being a part of the Asian diaspora.


What does it mean when we, as a pan-Asian community in the U.S., bring up the Japanese internment in the U.S., the Vietnam War, Islamophobia, and Hmong refugees as examples of ways in which Asian-Americans struggle?


Do we conveniently forget instances of ethnic conflict within our communities?

Of intra-Asian colonization/imperialism?

Of class disparities within the Asian diaspora?


On the other hand, does this history of ethnic conflict and socioeconomic disparity cause us to cling to our ethnic identity and forget how we are all racialized as "Asians" in the West,

and the varying ways in which the U.S. asserts an imperialist presence in all the different places we come from?


What does it mean when we talk about nail salons as an example of how Asian-Americans struggle? Do we forget the role of gender, class, the context of immigration, and national/ethnic identity?


Come and think about ways to build a pan-Asian solidarity while being conscious of the ways in which we are not uniform and homogenous.


Come by at 5.30 this Thursday (May 14)

Moulshri Mohan '15 is leading this week's discussion

Location: Lawn in front of Collis

Rain location: PAC room, Robo 104


This is the first in a series of weekly discussions Asian/American Students for Action is going to hold. Bring dinner and chat with us!