In March 2021, the murder of eight people, including six Asian women, in Atlanta-area spas escalated alarm over anti-Asian hate incidents. In response, authorities reported the shooter was “not racially motivated” but was instead troubled by a “sex addiction.” This form of gaslighting demonstrated the need for greater awareness of how violence against Asian women is shaped by the interconnection of gender, sexuality, race, class, religion, and nationalism.

In the new book American Peril, author Scott Kurashige situates the Atlanta shootings within a 175-year pattern of white supremacist, misogynist, and colonial violence. He traces the dehumanization of Asian women as sexualized labor, whose value lies only in its service to American men, though decades of militarism and labor exploitation. He links the murder of Vincent Chin to reactionary notions of race and masculinity at the core of the right-wing MAGA counterrevolution.

Transcending victimhood, Kurashige demonstrates why an intersectional analysis of anti-Asian violence is crucial to developing effective organizing strategies driven by grassroots activism and multiracial solidarity.

Scott Kurashige will be in conversation with David Palumbo-Liu (Comparative Literature) and Thaomi Michelle Dinh (Asian American Studies).

Lunch will be provided with RSVP.

Co-sponsored by Asian American Studies, the Asian American Activities Center, Stanford Asian American Action Committee, Asian American Research Center at Stanford, and the Asian American Art Initiative.