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Please join co-authors David L. Eng and Shinhee Han for the launch of Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation: On the Social and Psychic Lives of Asian Americans (Duke University Press, 2019).

Moderators: Olivia Hu and Min Derry.

In Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation critic David L. Eng and psychotherapist Shinhee Han draw on case histories from the mid-1990s to the present to explore the social and psychic predicaments of Asian American young adults from Generation X to Generation Y. Combining critical race theory with several strands of psychoanalytic thought, they develop the concepts of racial melancholia and racial dissociation to investigate changing processes of loss associated with immigration, displacement, diaspora, and assimilation. These case studies of first- and second-generation Asian Americans deal with a range of difficulties, from depression, suicide, and the politics of coming out to broader issues of the model minority stereotype, transnational adoption, parachute children, colorblind discourses in the United States, and the rise of Asia under globalization. Throughout, Eng and Han link psychoanalysis to larger structural and historical phenomena, illuminating how the study of psychic processes of individuals can inform investigations of race, sexuality, and immigration while creating a more sustained conversation about the social lives of Asian Americans and Asians in the diaspora.

David L. Eng is Richard L. Fisher Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Feeling of Kinship: Queer Liberalism and the Racialization of Intimacy and Racial Castration: Managing Masculinity in Asian America as well as co-editor of Loss: The Politics of Mourning and Q & A: Queer in Asian America. Eng is an honorary member of the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR) in New York City.

Shinhee Han, PhD, is a psychotherapist at the New School as well as in private practice in New York City. In addition, she is an adjunct professor in the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University, where she teaches courses on Asian Americans, race, and psychoanalysis. Dr. Han is a founding member of the Asian Women Giving Circle, a philanthropic organization in New York City that funds Asian of women artists creating social activism and change. Previously, she worked in counseling and psychological services at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Barnard College, and Columbia University. 

Olivia Hu is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is primarily interested in studying race, gender, and power in the context of assortative mating and interracial/interethnic relations more broadly. Olivia's current work examines how early life experiences shape Asian Americans' mating decisions, as well as how cross-boundary relationships influence individuals' conceptions of racial difference. Prior to beginning her graduate studies, Olivia executed B2B marketing campaigns at UBS and consulted on new CPG product launches at Nielsen. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Sociology from New York University.

Min Derry is a Graduate Board Member of Penn’s Pan-Asian American Culture House (PAACH).  Min serves as Director of Outreach and Research Associate with the School Participatory Action Research Collaborative (SPARC), in association with Penn’s Graduate School of Education. She is a higher education professional with experience in K-12 and post-secondary teaching, curriculum, program design, and professional development. In the private sector, Min previously served as Director of Consulting Services providing strategic planning and policy development, organizational process reviews. Min is completing a Doctor of Education with the Reading, Writing and Literacy program, in the Literacy, Culture and International Education Division at Penn-GSE. Her research focuses on critical literacy, inclusive of intersectional issues of diversity, access, and equity, in multicultural education; assessment of language and learning differences; practitioner inquiry, and youth participatory action research.

Co-sponsors: Asian American Studies Program (ASAM), The Pan-Asian American Community House (PAACH), and the Greenfield Intercultural Center (GIC.)