The Relevance of History to Ethnic Studies and the Challenge of Ethnic Studies to History

Karen Leong will draw upon her experience in interdisciplinary fields to speak to the ongoing relevance of historical methods and scholarship to the field of ethnic studies. She also will discuss how ethnic studies as a field challenges history as a discipline. As an historian who is deeply involved in ethnic studies, Leong explores the overlapping and mutually reinforcing discourses of gender, race, class, and nation, and how these discourses have advantaged some and disadvantaged others in United States society. Her historical work thus speaks to ethnic studies, but also is enriched by learning from it.