Episode 6. Southeast Asia in Sociological Books

Episode 14. Lean Semesters: How Higher Education Reproduces Inequality

Dr. Beverly Yuen Thompson overviews the book entitled, “Lean Semesters: How Higher Education Reproduces Inequality,” by Sekile M. Nzinga. This book centers the experience of Black women who are graduate students, MA graduates, or PhD graduates, who are teaching as part time adjunct teachers in higher education. Yet even with, or indeed, because of, their graduate degrees, they are more indebted than ever because of their student loan burden. This ethnographic study presents the voices of women laboring in higher education and contrasts the demographic ideals of higher education with the reality of student loan burdens on the American public. Timeline: 0:00-1:54 Introduction to video 1:55- 8:10 Book Introduction 8:11-18:03 Chapter One: Mortgaging Our Brains 18:04-25:56 Chapter Two: Ain’t I Precarious? 25:57-31:53 Chapter Three: Families Devalued 31:54-38:39 Chapter Four: Jumping Mountains 38:40-43:32 Conclusion: Statement of Solidarity 43:33 Video Conclusion Video Link [https://youtu.be/I-atkCMkPTA] Get full access to Dr. Beverly Yuen Thompson at snakegrrlsociology.substack.com/subscribe [https://snakegrrlsociology.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 13. Centering Multiplicity and Intersectionality of Asian American Identities

This talk is called, “Centering Multiplicity and Intersectionality of Asian American Identities,” and it was presented to the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Center at San Diego State University, on April 17, 2024. I am an alum of SDSU, where I earned my MA in women’s studies. This talk reviewed my MA thesis topic that I researched during my time at SDSU, thus, it was an honor to speak to this group, as such a organization did not exist during my tenure at SDSU in 1997-1999. This talk positions the identity of the mixed race and bisexual woman at the center of an identity model to explore concepts of identity formation, community, and solidarity. I then apply this theory to my current research topic of the tattoo community and talk about how Asian American women engage with their tattoo collection, especially when revealing it to their parents. Timecode: 0:00-4:13 introduction 4:14-5:18 talk starts5:19-7:48 Revisiting the thesis 7:49-10:39 Sociological autobiography 10:40-17:18 My family background 17:19-22:21 Thesis: Identities 22:22-27:07 Thesis: Communities 27:08-30:45 Tattoo community, women, and Asian American women 30:46-32:04 Conclusion: Solidarity 32:050-33:11 End: Networking Video Link [https://youtu.be/uU9o9FMWH2Y] Get full access to Dr. Beverly Yuen Thompson at snakegrrlsociology.substack.com/subscribe [https://snakegrrlsociology.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 12. Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement

Sociology professor Beverly Yuen Thompson overviews the book, “Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement,” written by Ashley Shew (2023). In this short book of essays, Dr. Shew brings together her experiences as an academic researcher in the areas of technology, ethics, and embodiment to apply to the topic of disability from a critical perspective. As a disabled person herself, she reflects upon her own experiences, as well as the voices of disabled scholars and activists to discuss such topics as how disability can contribute to critical understandings of our materials and social worlds, media representations, the materiality of costs associated with disability technologies, neurodivergence, and perspectives on the future of our social context for all bodies. This book provides an insightful perspective for sociologists, medical workers, and those becoming educated on embodiment in social institutions. Video link [https://youtu.be/DlfGOMcoXsk] Get full access to Dr. Beverly Yuen Thompson at snakegrrlsociology.substack.com/subscribe [https://snakegrrlsociology.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 11. Stuck: Why Asian Americans Don’t Reach the Top of the Corporate Ladder

I overview Margaret Chin’s book Stuck: Why Asian Americans Don’t Reach the Top of the Corporate Ladder, published by NYU Press in 2020. This book applies the concept of the bamboo ceiling to an ethnographic study of elite educated Asian Americans and their experiences climbing the corporate ladder and the various levels at which they find difficulty in being promoted to the next stage. Incorporating concepts such as the model minority myth, perpetual foreigner, racial stereotype, stereotype threat, we see that this group of elite workers find these images imposed on them to have real world consequences for their career trajectory. Video link [https://youtu.be/tkByCUZLv4g] Get full access to Dr. Beverly Yuen Thompson at snakegrrlsociology.substack.com/subscribe [https://snakegrrlsociology.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 10. The Meaning of Multiraciality

Dr. Beverly Yuen Thompson provides an overview of the book entitled, “The Meaning of Multiraciality: A Racially Queer Exploration of Multiracial College Students’ Identity Production,” written by Aurora Chang (2022). This book is a qualitative and ethnographic exploration of college students who identify as biracial or multiracial and how they conceive of their identity and the social context in which it is produced. It is based on twenty-five in-depth interviews and three focus groups at one particular college. Aurora Chang explores her own identity in one chapter, and those of her participants in several content chapters before concluding with her theory of “racial queerness.” Dr. Thompson is a professor of sociology who teaches a course on the sociology of Race & Ethnicity and has published academic writing on similar themes. Video link [https://youtu.be/1EnfXbYPEHw] Get full access to Dr. Beverly Yuen Thompson at snakegrrlsociology.substack.com/subscribe [https://snakegrrlsociology.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]