"The Best 'We' Could Do": Memory, Genocide, and the Ethics of Identity

This talk reflects on collective trauma, loss, memory, and life in the aftermath of genocide among Cambodian refugees in America. It is a story about finding oneself through historical awakening, memory work, and the connection between the living and the dead. It is a tale of resettlement and negotiating new identities.

Jonathan H. X. Lee, PhD, is professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. His family survived the Cambodian genocide and arrived to the United States in 1981 when he was 5 years old. He identifies as Chinese-Vietnamese-Cambodian American. He received his doctorate in religious studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2009. He has published 16 books, and numerous articles and essays on Asian American histories, folklore, cultures, and religions. Currently, he serves as editor-in-chief of Chinese America: History & Perspectives, a peer-review journal published by the Chinese Historical Society of America. He is dedicated to anti-racist pedagogy in education and has been invited by several Silicon Valley corporations and public institutions to speak on equity, inclusion, and diversity issues.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Multicultural and Gender Studies, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and College of Humanities and Fine Arts.