Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
San Antonio College will celebrate Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in April and May. This year’s theme is "Resilience Through Communities."
Although AANHPI Heritage Month is in May, SAC chooses to celebrate it beginning in mid-April so students can participate during the school year.
Here is the schedule of events for the celebration:
One Book, Many Communities: Mosab Abu Toha’s Palestinian Poetry
Date: Tuesday, April 16
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Location: NAHC 218
Description: Join the Students for Justice club, SAC Library, and the Asian American Pacific Islander Month committee for an event centering around Mosab Abu Toha’s poetry collection, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza. The event will begin with a live stream of Librarians and Archivists for Palestine’s moderated conversation with Mosab Abu Toha on Zoom. We will then move into a poetry reading and small group discussions of Abu Toha’s poems. Lunch from Pasha Mediterranean Grill will be served. A limited number of free copies of Abu Toha’s book will be available for participants who pre-register.
Heart-wrenching and tender, Abu Toha’s Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear paints a picture of life in Gaza from the perspective of a native Gazan, first as a child and later as a young father. The scenes of violence and destruction of living through four brutal military attacks are set against a landscape of humanity and joy as resistance of Palestine and its people. The reality of life in Gaza under siege emerges from the page like a flower blooming from rubble.
This event is part of the Librarians and Archivists with Palestine’s “One Book: Many Communities” 2024 international reading campaign. This campaign is designed to introduce readers to the richness of Palestinian literature, and create a broader awareness and understanding of Palestinian history and the struggle for self-determination.
Our PostColonial Asian Heritage: The Connections between Colonization and Anti-Asian Hate, Objectification and Internalized Racism
Date: Thursday, April 25
Time: 10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Location: MLC 4th floor, Library Performance Area
Description: Join a brief presentation followed by breakout sessions about the long-lasting impact of colonization on culture and mindsets, as reflected in historical incidents and common concepts about Asian identities. The presentation will feature a clip from PBS's short docu-film, “Where Did the “Asian Fetish” Come From?” and postcolonial literature from the Global South and Asian American writers as a framework for discussing racism, the exotification of Asian women, and internalized discrimination. Students will then reflect in small groups on the material presented. Presented by Myra Dumapias, MSW of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Justice.
Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March
Date: Tuesday, April 30
Time: 12:15 - 1:45 p.m.
Location: LSC Fiesta Room
Description: The documentary, Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March, explores the fight against Asian American hate following the March 2021 mass shootings at three spas in Atlanta. The film examines how this critical moment of racial reckoning sheds light on the struggles, triumphs and achievements of AAPI communities. The film is narrated by Sandra Oh with music by Jon Batiste and Cory Wong. A Q&A session featuring Nicolette Ardiente from the Asian Texans for Justice and Chef Mike Nguyen, owner of Noodle Time, who was the target of anti-Asian attacks in San Antonio in 2021 will follow the screening.
SAC Dance Performance Ensemble: Bollywood Dance
Date: Wednesday, May 1
Time: Noon
Location: SAC Mall
Description: Join us for the SAC Dance Performance ensemble's presentation of a Bollywood dance on the mall on Wednesday, May 1 at 12:00 pm. Bollywood choreography often incorporates Bhangra, a traditional Punjabi folk dance, and is performed in Bollywood cinemas. The Bollywood movie industry first began in Bombay, India in the 1930s and is now known as the largest film industry globally. SAC students in the Dance program study many different dance genres including ballet, modern, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, Afro-Brazilian, and Latin dance.