South Seas Cinema films like Bird of Paradise (1932) laid the basis for the fetishization of Asian American and Pacific Islander women. Mexican actress Dolores del Río played the female lead, Luana—a sexualized Pacific Islander.
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The Asian American Studies Center acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (Los Angeles basin, So. Channel Islands) and pay our respects to the honuukvetam (ancestors), ‘ahiihirom (elders), and ‘eyoohiinkem (relatives/relations) past, present, and emerging.
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