Browsing by Author "Kaunang, Erica"

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    All That We Are We Carry With Us: Stories and Possibilities of Southeast Asian Organizing
    (2022) Kaunang, Erica; Hong, Emily
    This project emerged from many questions and emotions I've grappled with through my lived experiences, but are particularly relevant today. As more anti-Asian violence has garnered the attention of people worldwide, it is important now more than ever to explore the complexities of the Asian communities in the U.S. and how we've endured multiple layers of violence. Current discourses surrounding Asian communities emphasize the importance of stopping hate– but what does hate mean? Some even touch upon the importance of stopping Asian violence, but the reality is that these interpersonal acts of violence are rooted in historical patterns of white supremacy, gender violence, and capitalism. And like much of Asian discourses in the US, the experiences and histories of Southeast Asians are homogenized, if not outright erased. In this zine, I collect stories and oral histories from various leaders, organizers, and storytellers from the Southeast Asian diaspora and diving into the local histories and contexts of Philadelphia and New York. While the term Southeast Asian encompasses many different countries and ethnic groups, the stories in this zine come from community members of Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Lao descent. As an Indonesian born and raised in Queens, of Batak and Manadonese descent, many of my reflections are rooted from this particular perspective. How can we trace our various Southeast Asian communities' histories to better understand our needs and potential for organizing? How can we look at Queens, NY and Philadelphia as sites of tensions and transformation for Southeast Asians? How do we process, heal, and organize around the different forms of violence Southeast Asians face in the age of Covid-19? We cannot work through these greater structures of violence without recognizing how these structures manifest in particular ways depending on our local contexts and spaces. We must start with our homes, the people around us, and the spaces we move through everyday in order to build a better future for ourselves.