Author Abigail Savitch-Lew will discuss her debut novel Livonia Chow Mein a gripping, four-generation saga set in Brownsville, Brooklyn, centered on a Chinese family-owned restaurant and its deep roots in a neighborhood shaped by waves of immigrant and working-class communities. When two tenements on Livonia Avenue burn to the ground in 1978, killing one resident and displacing dozens of others, the novels central mystery ignites pulling readers across a century of history to uncover what really happened and who was responsible. Savitch-Lew traces the intertwined lives of Chinese, Jewish, and Black families whose fates are bound together by a single block, a single restaurant, and the slow erasure of the communities they built. The novel contemplates themes of Black-Asian solidarity, displacement, and what it means to truly belong to a place.
19 Oct 2026
Transpacific Chinatowns in Rural Wyoming: The Archaeology of Chinese Labor, Racial Violence, and Community
The Evanston and Rock Springs Chinatowns were constructed by the Union Pacific Railroad Company after 1869 as they needed labor for the railroad and coal mines. At the same time, Chinese laborers were scapegoated for white unemployment, which culminated in the passage of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Newspapers emphasized that Chinese laborers, mostly men, were heathens who sent remittances to family in China. Within this context of anti-Chinese sentiment, a fight broke out between white and Chinese coal miners on September 2, 1885 and white miners led a mob that burned the Rock Springs Chinatown and murdered at least 28 Chinese residents. The Almy community of Chinese coal miners were robbed and driven out with the massacre survivors to the Evanston Chinatown. This talk discusses preliminary results from archaeological collaboration with Dr. Dudley Gardner and Chinese American descendants on the Wyoming Chinatowns, which provide tangible insight into silenced histories of Chinese immigrant labor, transpacific migration, and racial exclusion.
7 Oct 2026
Koreatown, NYC: The Consumption of a Transnational Brand
In the past decade, Korean entertainment has gained global recognition, with Korean movies and TV shows winning Oscars and Emmys, and K-Pop groups becoming wildly popular. In Manhattan, Koreatown has become a popular destination for both locals and tourists, drawing them in with its bars, restaurants, and day spas. Jinwon Kim argues that Manhattans Koreatown has become a new type of ethnic enclave, what she dubs a transclave. This commercialized ethnic space exists solely for consumption, leisure, and entertainment, and has been shaped by South Koreas nation-branding strategy, new economic and cultural strategies, patterns in Korean migration, and shifts in tourism and urban policies in New York City.
Who has been a guest on Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI) - The City University of New York (CUNY)
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Leekyung Kang
Daniel C Tsang
Vivek Kumar
Josh Chuck
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YouTube views
906,512
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 49 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
29
Social presence
0
YouTube
86
Engagement
85
Contact Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI) - The City University of New York (CUNY)
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