Opinion: NYU Should Drop Its Facade Of Pacific Island Inclusion
Despite housing the Asian/Pacific/American Institute and an associated major, NYU is failing to provide enough courses on Pacific Island Studies.
(NYU Asian/Pacific/American Institute via Washington Square News)
by Derek Kamakanaaloha Soong
This story was originally published on New York University’s Washington Square News.
I realized my previous major, performance studies, at the Tisch School of the Arts was far too white for me, so this semester, I sought out an internal transfer into a major with a little more culture — one that wasn’t so Eurocentric.
I soon realized, as I tried to find more representation on campus, that not even a major change could resolve this issue.
As a Native Hawaiian attending NYU, I never anticipated nor felt entitled to having Polynesian history at the forefront of this American university’s education curriculum. However, when I saw a major within the department of Social and Cultural Analysis titled Asian/Pacific/American Studies, I expected at least one course to specifically cover Polynesian history. I was wrong.
The Social and Cultural Analysis department offers concentrations for several different majors, including APA Studies. The NYU APA website describes the major as exploring “the histories, experiences and cultural production of peoples of Asian or Pacific origins living in and moving through the Americas.”
Read the rest of the story at Washington Square News.