About
Foundations and Futures
Who We Are
Foundations and Futures: Asian American and Pacific Islander Multimedia Textbook celebrates the hidden histories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to provide a fuller understanding of the American experience and the contemporary world. The scapegoating of Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic was a reminder that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders remain little understood despite centuries of history as part of the United States and touched by its reaches across the Pacific.
This textbook democratizes over fifty years of scholarship that flourished since the emergence of Ethnic Studies in the 1960s. Together with over 200 of the nation’s top scholars, subject experts, and curriculum developers, the textbook features dozens of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities across the United States, its territories, and the Pacific. It contains hundreds of images, videos, poems, archival documents, and interviews, with ready-to-use lesson plans for high school and college students and the general public.
Build a foundational understanding about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, including their histories, perspectives, and contemporary experiences.
Develop literacy and the skills to communicate, understand, engage, and articulate different perspectives through understanding multiple ways of knowing.
Nurture critical thinking and inquiry on fundamental assumptions related to structures of power and inequality and how they shape society and the environment.
Cultivate holistic well-being amongst all and connections across difference by strengthening historical empathy, self-worth and mutual respect, cultural expression, and cross-cultural understanding.
Grow wisdom to imagine and create new possibilities and avenues for a more just, equitable, democratic, non-racist, compassionate, and sustainable society and world.
Digital Platform
Foundations and Futures utilizes open access technology to create a multisensory learning experience. The textbook features a variety of tools to create an engaging reader experience, enhance student comprehension, and develop digital literacy skills. It is available on any device connected to the internet (computers, tablets, phones). Digital learning tools include an embedded glossary, hyperlinked sections that enable easy navigation, information pop ups, and a large collection of interactive audio and video media elements.
Foundations and Futures website also hosts a collection of accessibility features including reading rulers, color filters, reading masks, customizable text size, spacing, and font options. The website experience was built to be accessible through keyboard navigation, compatible with screen reader technologies, and features alt-text for every multimedia asset. Google Translate is embedded for instant translation. All written content is downloadable and WCAG (Website Content Accessibility Guide) compliant.
Live Translations
Supporting more than 20 languages at launch
Reading Tools
Personalized reading experiences
Chapter Structure
Modules built to be taught in one class period
Our Team
Directors
Karen Umemoto
Co-Editor and Co-Director
Kelly Fong
Co-Editor and Co-Director
Administration
Rebecca Apostol
Managing Director
Christine Wang
Project Administrator
Editorial
Robert Ku
Managing Editor
T.K. Lê
Senior Editor
Misha Choudhry
Content Editor
Isabel Ngo
Associate Editor
Victor Xie
Editorial Assistant
Content
Christine Lee
Senior Content Manager
Natalya Hill
Content Coordinator and Editorial Assistant
Multimedia
Jeff Tang
Senior Producer and Strategic Advisor
Emory Johnson
Producer, Multimedia
Mena Dolinh
Associate Producer, Multimedia
Hena Ashraf
Consulting Producer
Danielle Nalangan
Consulting Producer
Katie Quan
Consulting Producer
Tech & Design
Tam Nguyen
Information Technology Manager
Daniel Kim
Lead Software Engineer
Vanessa Lin
Front-End Software Developer
William Cheng
Front-End Software Engineer
Alberto Lucas
Back-End Software Engineer
Andrae Chin
Web Designer & Developer
Prach Praserwit
Data Collections Management Specialist
Joshua Yoo
Information Systems & CX Researcher
Wei Yin
Graphic Designer
Outreach and Teacher Training
Arlene Inouye
Outreach Co-Coordinator
Christian-Joseph Macahlig
Outreach Co-Coordinator
Eunice Ho
Teacher Training Coordinator
Development
Abigail Chun
Communications and Development Coordinator
Gisele Fong
Development and Advancement Advisor
AASC Staff
Melany De La Cruz-Viesca
Deputy Director
Jamie Chan
Senior Management Services Officer
Roland Fang
Office Manager
Marjorie Lee
Librarian, Information Specialist, and Archivist
Meg Thornton
Student and Community Engagement Coordinator
Phil Timoteo
Pacific Islander Studies Project Coordinator
Arnold Pan
AASC Press Editor
Cindy Quach
Publications and Communications Coordinator
Consultants and advisors
Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales
Director of Curriculum Design
Renee Tajima-Peña
Executive Producer of Moving Images
Keith Camacho
Special Advisor on Pacific Islander Studies
Russell Leong
Editorial and Creative Consultant
Daniel M. Mayeda
Esq-Legal Advisor
Darlene Lee
Teacher Training and Curriculum Advisor
Linn Lee
Special Advisor on K-12 Ethnic Studies
Lauren Daus
Community Responsive Education Curriculum Coordinator
Cheralen Valdez
Community Responsive Education Curriculum Coordinator
Jordan Beltran Gonzales
Copyeditor
Christine Valles
Copyeditor
Antony Wong
Copyeditor
Estella Owoimaha-Church
Teacher Consultant
Theresa Jaranilla
Teacher Consultant
Billy Hawkins
Artist
Gage Nguyen
Graphic Designer
Tshering Yudon
UX Designer
Community Responsive Education
FlashCuts
Jaszi Butler, PLCC
Son Education
Visual Communications
Graduate Students
Quyen Ballagh, David Choi, Jaime Ding, Alyssa Hemler, Othelia Jumapao, Kai Nham, Jennifer Noji, Janine Sun Rogers, Maya Sinha, Priscilla Soun, Steven Tran, Jasmine Till, Wyatt Wu, Anne Yoon
Undergraduate Students
Samantha C., Aparna H., Fanny H., Rishab K., Alexa L., Linh L., Christina L., Jennica L., Samantha L., Coleman L., Alan N., Kimberly N., Serena O., Tiffany P., Nancy T., Jojo W., Linh V., Samuel Y.
Thank you to many others who contributed to the textbook:
Janet Chen (Ma) (Senior Multimedia Producer), Lauren Higa (Senior Content Manager), Faithy Leong (Lead User Experience Designer), Amanda Luansing (Copyeditor), Vi Truong (Program Assistant)
Diana Lee, Betty Leung, KaiShan Li, Maya Lu, Kevin Ouyang, Barbra Ramos, Irene Soriano Saxon
Scholarly Advisory Council
Karin Aguilar-San Juan, Macalester College
Holly Barker, Burke Museum, University of Washington
Rick Bonus, University of Washington
Tracy Lachica Buenavista, California State University at Northridge
Keith Camacho, University of California at Los Angeles
Gordon Chang, Stanford University
Edith Chen, California State University at Northridge
Cindy I-Fen Cheng, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Wendy Cheng, University of Southern California
Catherine Ceniza Choy, University of California at Berkeley
Monisha Das Gupta, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Kevin Escudero, Brown University
Yen Le Espiritu, University of California at San Diego
Diane Fujino, University of California at Santa Barbara
Janine Fujioka, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Dorothy Fujita-Rony, University of California at Irvine
Theodore S. Gonzalves, Smithsonian
Jennifer Ho, University of Colorado, Boulder
Tamara Ho, University of California at Riverside
Daniel HoSang, Yale University
Madeline Hsu, University of Maryland
Tarry Hum, City University of New York
Russell Jeung, San Francisco State University
Khyati Joshi, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Erika Lee, Harvard University
Shelley Lee, Brown University
Karen Leong, University of New Mexico
Beth Lew-Williams, Princeton University
Lisa Lowe, Yale University
Fran Lujan, Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum
Valerie Matsumoto, University of California at Los Angeles
Mae Ngai, Columbia University
Brian Niiya, Densho
Michael Omi, University of California at Berkeley
Mark Padoongpatt, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Susie Pak, St. John’s University
Loubna Qutami, University of California at Los Angeles
Robyn Rodriguez, University of California at Davis
Dean Saranillio, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Nayan Shah, University of Southern California
Nitasha Sharma, Northwestern University
Renee Tajima-Peña, University of California at Los Angeles
Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, San Francisco State University
Lisa Uperesa, University of California at Los Angeles
Ma Vang, University of California at Merced
Thuy Vo Dang, University of California at Los Angeles
Linda Trinh Vo, University of California at Irvine
Paul Watanabe, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Kent Wong, University of California at Los Angeles (in memory)
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, University of California at Irvine
David Yoo, University of California at Los Angeles
Ji-Yeon Yuh, Northwestern University
Omar Zahzah, San Francisco State University
Min Zhou, University of California at Los Angeles
Helen Zia, activist, author, and former journalist
Partners & Supporters
About the Center
This collaborative project is led by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. UCLA is home to the largest hub of Asian American Studies teaching, research, and civic engagement in the nation. The UCLA Asian American Studies Center, founded in 1969, bridges the university with local and national community-driven efforts to address issues concerning AAPI populations. We hope Foundations and Futures nurtures historical empathy and holistic well-being towards a more just, democratic, and inclusive society.
