Abigail Lee

My research project addresses relationships between Asian Americanness and Blackness though film and television. Through readings of popular screen media, I argue that anti-Black structures are and have been essential to how Asian Americanness has been constructed as a racial category, from the “coolie” laborer, to the model minority myth, to the idea of “yellow peril.” The project analyzes the popular narratives that circulate in media about what Asian Americanness is and how it relates to Blackness and anti-Blackness through the lens of three everyday urban spaces: the Asian-owned convenience store, the college campus, and the freeway. This summer I am working on my chapter on the relationships of Asianness and Blackness on the college campus, analyzing depictions of student protest movements in the TV shows Grown-ish and Dear White People.