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APIDA Heritage Month 2024: To the Table

Asian, Pacific Islander, Desi American Heritage Month

What is APIDA Heritage Month?

In 1978, Congress passed a Congressional Resolution for Asian and Pacific Islander Americans to be celebrated during the first week in May. It was the anniversary of the first wave of Japanese immigrants to the U.S. as well as the completion of the transcontinental railroad, which was predominantly built by Chinese Americans. In 1992, the celebration was extended through the entire month of May.

Here at the University of Maryland, we hold APIDA Heritage Month (APIDAHM) during April instead of May to ensure that our APIDA community gets a full month to celebrate their culture and heritage before summer break begins. 2024 will mark the 32nd year that APIDAHM has been a nationally recognized month-long affirmation of the experiences and contributions of APIDA communities. Learn more about APIDAHM 2024 as well as our past Heritage Month themes below!

Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Heritage Month (APIDAHM) 2024

The Office of Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy (MICA) of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union – Center for Campus Life is excited to announce the theme for Asian, Pacific Islander, & Desi American Heritage Month (APIDAHM) 2024 this April:

To The Table

For many, food is a touchstone of our Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American culture, identity, history, and heritage. As we follow recipes passed down from matriarchs and Youtube tutorials, we make dishes once prepared in phantom kitchens lost in time. Here, a spoonful of comfort, a taste of home.

Food is also a site of resistance – from generations of tilling land, to the prickling sweat of labor over a stove, to boycotting in solidarity with the oppressed workers and people. Some fought for a seat at the table, others sought to turn them. As those who came before us participated in hunger strikes and grew gardens out of impossible places, we must remember what it took for us to enjoy abundance in harvest, in choice, in full.

With every mouth we feed, we build communities born out of compassion and community care. Why don’t you come to the table? There is enough for everyone. So set the table, pass a plate, and eat.


Hero Events

Date/Time: April 2, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m.

Location: Charles Carroll Room (on the 2nd Floor of Stamp)

Co-Sponsor: Multiracial Student Involvement at MICA

Join Multiracial Student Involvement and APIDA Student Involvement for a crossover event to link our two heritage months! We ask you to bring your sense of agency, action, and autonomy to the table to work in collaboration to build a community together. Learn about creating cross cultural solidarity in community building through modeling with LEGOs.

Description coming soon!

Date/Time: April 11

Location: Hoff Theater at STAMP

Co-Sponsor: SEE

MICA's APIDA involvement is partnering with SEE for a special showing of Specially Processed American Me by Jaime Sunwoo. The film is a "surreal autobiographical performance that uses SPAM, the canned meat, as a portal into [Sunwoo's] Asian American upbringing and her family's experiences of the Korean War. It investigates SPAM's legacy in the military, its significance in the Asia-Pacific, and its influence on Asian cuisine through music, shadowplay, and cooking. Oscillating wildly between absurd humor and sober tragedy, Specially Processed American Me is a thought-provoking exploration of one of America's most misunderstood foods."

Date/Time: April 17, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Location: MICA Cozy Corner

Co-Sponsor: South West Asian North African (SWANA) Student Involvement at MICA

In collaboration with SWANA (South West Asian North African) student involvement, MICA is leading a migration stories workshop where we will discuss the experiences of our diasporic communities. More to come!

Date/Time: April 18

Location: Cozy Corner

 

Kat Chow, journalist and author of Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir, is hosting a workshop on food, nostalgia, and memory. All are welcome to learn more about writing fiction, non-fiction, creative non-fiction, and prose forms of writing.

Date/Time: April 21, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Location: Grand Ballroom

Co-Sponsor: Asian American Student Union (AASU)

This year’s Unity Gala theme, “Voices in Bloom,” serves as a powerful homage to the richness of Asian narratives, emphasizing the importance of preserving, celebrating, and sharing diverse stories within the community. Alongside APIDA Heritage Month’s theme of “To the Table,” we are recognizing the Asian American communities’ abilities to gather around a table to engage in important discourse while savoring and celebrating our cultural foods and similarities. It extends the metaphorical table from the physical space of dining to a symbolic centerpiece for the blossoming of narratives within the community.

Together, these themes create a tapestry that celebrates the unity, diversity, and resilience embedded in Asian cultures. “Voices in Bloom” represents the space where voices bloom, narratives intertwine, and a sense of togetherness prevails.

This aligns with our mission of advocacy, encouraging collective action, and amplifying diverse voices within the APIDA community.

Description coming soon!

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