Asian American Literature Association (AALA)
Our Story
The Asian American Literature Association (AALA) was founded in the Fall of 2022 to create a dedicated space for centering and exploring AANHPI (Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander) narratives and culture. From the outset, AALA has been committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse community within the CU Boulder campus, where the richness of AANHPI experiences can be shared, celebrated, and critically examined.
As we have grown and evolved, AALA has deepened its understanding of how the themes we explore, while centered on AANHPI experiences, are deeply interconnected and relational with the broader narratives of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities. We recognize that the stories we tell and the conversations we spark are not isolated to AANHPI experiences alone but resonate with the lived realities of many marginalized groups.
Our work increasingly focuses on articulating how identities—such as race, disability, gender, and sexuality—intersect and shape the ways in which individuals and communities navigate and resist the political landscape. AALA has always been about dissecting our cultural landscape to gain a better understanding of how to navigate it, providing a space where we can explore and think critically about other ways to be. We believe that cultivating such care is essential to creating spaces where marginalized voices are not only heard but nurtured and empowered.
Through our programming, we seek to foster a community grounded in empathy, solidarity, and collective action, where the complexities of our identities can be explored, discussed, and acted upon. In doing so, AALA continues to play an integral role in the broader movement to challenge oppressive systems, amplify marginalized voices, and promote a deeper understanding of the diverse ways in which identities inform our interactions with the world around us.
Asian American Literature Association (AALA) at the University of Colorado-Boulder is a student-run organization aiming to foster and examine dialogues of Asian American and Native Hawaiin/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) narratives within and outside of CU. In doing so, we not only recognize the resilience of AANHPI authors and their diasporic experience(s), but also reflect on how the social and political paradigms of race, gender, sexuality, disability, and other positionalities inform and figure AANHPI and BIPOC experiences. As a community of students striving to learn more about Asia America, we educate on anti-Asian racism and embrace AANHPI culture through art, storytelling, and conversation.
Our Mission
Commitment To
Community
We nurture an independent and critical student body by embracing every voice within the complex issues of Asian American literature and culture.
Culture
We recognize everyone’s different background is a chance to learn more as artists, communicators, and storytellers.
Education
We navigate, confront, and challenge stereotypes that misconstrue the identities of AANHPI communities and other identities related to them by addressing historical and contemporary issue.
We Value
Community
Intersectional Experiences
Celebration
Space
Curiosity
Community Norms
1. Reciprocity through Communication
To ensure that our community is safe, ask about each other's positionality before assuming anything (e.g., mask reciprocity, pronouns, etc.).
2. Open Curiosity
Precisely because we want AALA to be a space to learn about AANHPI culture and experiences, it is a space to ask and challenge within reason. We acknowledge that AANHPI experiences/narratives are not a monolith and instead consist of different kinds of racialization and positionalities. We are here to foster collective understanding, vulnerability, and awareness of others' experiences.
3. Taking Accountability
When microaggressions occur within the space, this can easily make AALA an unsafe space by invalidating one's intersectional experiences. Recognizing when these occur and reflecting on why these events occur can help us better understand the social and political context of race, sex, and ableism that we were brought upon. Verbalizing these kinds of violence can bring us steps to keeping our community safe while promoting collective solidarity.
4. Respecting People's Preferences and Positionality
To ensure that everyone feels safe and heard, the norms above lay the groundwork for achieving this space. We emphasize again, that given everyone's intersectional experiences, we hold ourselves accountable to ensuring that everyone in the space feels comfortable to engage in the space in whatever capacity they want. We engage in an ethics that is sensitive to intersectionality (i.e., race, gender, sexuality, etc.) and do whatever is necessary to ensure everyone in the space is respected.