This study examines the intensification of violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in the post-COVID-19 era through a historically grounded and theoretically integrative approach. Utilizing historical analysis, it investigates major legal statutes, court cases, and documents from key social movements that have shaped AAPI positionality in the U.S. The study engages three intersecting theoretical frameworks—AsianCrit and racial capitalism, zero-sum ideology, and group position theory—to analyze how systemic inequalities, racial antagonisms, and shifting group hierarchies contribute to AAPI vulnerability and resistance. By exploring four pivotal periods in AAPI history—the Formative Years, the Exclusion Years, the Crisis Years, and the Transformative Years—this research highlights the paradox of AAPI positionality as simultaneously exceptional, non-normative, and dependent. This duality underscores both the community’s susceptibility to racialized violence and its potential for coalition-based activism. The findings contribute to scholarship on race and power by demonstrating the limitations of single-framework approaches and advocating for a multidimensional analysis of AAPI experiences within racialized violence.

Authors:
Joon K. Kim, Seoul National University, South Korea

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Joon K. Kim is professor of Social Studies Education at Seoul National University, Republic of Korea. His current project examines the evolving changes in Korea's immigration, social integration, and multicultural education.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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