This lecture uses the recent lawsuit filed by Asian American plaintiffs against Harvard University to explore the ways that Asian Americans have been figured (and have figured themselves) in U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence on race-conscious admissions in higher education. Kim argues that Asian Americans have long played a critical role in the legal-ideological project of undermining the specific claims of anti-Black subordination, and demonstrates that new frameworks of racial positionality are necessary to help us understand and challenge persistent structures of racial power.
Event Description
Professor Kim’s lecture will shed light on the pending affirmative action lawsuit filed by Asian American plaintiffs against Harvard University by providing a brief history of how Asian Americans have been figured (and have figured themselves) in U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence on race-conscious admissions in higher education. It shows that the figuration of Asian Americans has played a critical role in the legal-ideological project of despecifying black subjection and disavowing racial positionality in the U.S. social order, from Bakke to the present, and argues that a new ‘sociometry’ of race is necessary to help us understand and challenge persistent structures of racial power.
This event is part of the RITM Asian American Studies Speaker Series.