About Us

The Program in Asian/Pacific/American Studies offers NYU undergrads a range of exciting courses exploring the histories, experiences and cultural production of Asian/Pacific Americans. A/P/A Studies classes cross boundaries between literature, history, film criticism, art history, urban studies, legal studies, and gender/sexuality studies and connect the lives and concerns of local communities to national and global dynamics.

By questioning established notions of "Asian," "Pacific," and "American," the A/P/A Studies Program seeks to facilitate greater understanding of the past and present as a means to better interpret the future. Most notably, A/P/A Studies is historically reframing Asian American history to include the first encounters of Asians and Americans, to the Manila-Acapulco trade in the mid-1600s.

In addition to courses, the A/P/A Studies Program hosts curriculum development sessions which are also meant to rethink Asian, American and Asian American Studies. The sessions have addressed such topics as migration and diaspora, popular culture, pedagogy, experiential learning, and documentation.

A/P/A Studies offers an Undergraduate Major and Minor and is part of the new, multi-disciplinary Department of Social & Cultural Analysis (SCA). Other SCA programs include Africana Studies, American Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Latino Studies, and Metropolitan Studies.