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Southeast Asian Coalition

Southeast Asian Coalition

“Together In Empowerment, we hope to tell a story of our struggles for a change in a better future.”

CAP Team Members: Richelle Caday, Taylor Moises, Tran Nguyen, Minah Yang, Serena Zhu

The members of this team focused their CAP to advocate for the unique needs of the Southeast Asian student population at USC. Together, they brought greater attention to more awareness and support for the SEA population by establishing the Southeast Asian Coalition or SEA Coalition. In Spring 2021, they garnered strong support from students, faculty, staff, and student organizations. Read on to learn more about their plan to bring Southeast Asian Studies to USC.

Southeast Asian Studies at USC

The Mission of the SEA Coalition is “[t]o build solidarity and focus on the collective organizing across Southeast Asian (SEA) students while advocating for equity and social justice education via relational ethnic studies. To demand for the decolonization and decapitalization of academia at USC through the creation of courses and programs that address and reflect the shared struggles of our underserved Southeast Asian diaspora communities.”

After surveying the USC student population, the group captured data on SEA sense of belonging at USC. Additionally, they analyzed their data to make the following recommendations:

  1. Ethnic Studies – Direct support for sets of courses for SEA ethnic studies including but not limited to Philipinx, Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese, Sinagaporean, Indonesian, Cambodian/Khmer, Malaysian, Brunien, Hmong, Laotion, lu Lien, etc.
  2. Curriculum Reflection Shared Struggles of SEA Communities – Emphasis on SEA relational studies on topics such as reconciling diaspora identity, far right support within the SEA community, disproportionate effects of COVID-19, colonization and imperialism.
  3. Immersive SEA Language Courses – Offer SEA language courses and the option of placement exams in such languages for language requirement.
  4. SEA Programming and Resources – Expand curriculum to include possible exchange programs, service learning opportunities, institutional home, scholarships, spaces to discuss social justice specific issues, and initiative for retention.

To view the SEA Coalition CAP presentation, click the download button below. 

 

Image and data from SEA Coalition CAP and Presentation 1200×400