A recent Daily article (Student group questions diversity of Tufts professors, curriculum, 1/30) and editorial (2/5) have raised important concerns over the under-representation of Asian American studies courses. The anthropology program wishes to reiterate its commitment to the Asian American curriculum at Tufts. Last year, following the departure of our colleague Professor Heh-Rahn Park, we asked the administration for a tenure-track position in Asia/Asian Diaspora (which includes Asian American studies), but did not get it. This May, we will again seek to replace her by asking the administration for a tenure-track position, with a more specific focus on both Asian American and Asian anthropology. We would, as always, vigorously pursue affirmative action guidelines in this hire.
Anthropology has a track record of contributions to the curriculum in Asian Diaspora for the past nine years. Both professor Nancy Chen, who was hired in 1993, and professor Heh-Rahn Park, who was hired to replace her in 1995, taught both Asian and Asian Diaspora topics in their courses. Currently, professor Hillary Crane is in a temporary one-year position in the department, and taught "Asian Societies and Diasporas" in fall 2001. We look forward to being permitted a more permanent replacement for professor Park, and thereby to be able to offer both Asian American and Asian anthropology courses.
Stephen Bailey
David Guss
Deborah Pacini Hernandez
Rosalind Shaw
The writers are members of the department of anthropology.
