ABOUT THE SERIES: 

Homeward Bound: Memories, Identity, and Resilience across the Chinese Diaspora is a series of public events that highlights everyday resilience in Chinatowns around the world. It is spearheaded by three local artists, ethnographers, and facilitators of The W.O.W. Project: Diane Wong, Mei Lum, and Huiying Bernice Chan, who have spent the past several years conducting ethnographic research and oral history interviews with the Chinese diaspora in New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Seattle, Lima, Havana, Johannesburg, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, and Sydney. Each of these communities have overcome extraordinary struggles due to the lasting impacts of war, violence, displacement, and dispossession. This public series is the first of its kind to preserve and build on the history of Chinatowns around the world through community-led and curated narratives from residents globally. By sharing an expanded collection of oral history interviews, photographs, and videos, we hope to build collaborative knowledge and space for community members to come together to expand our understanding of diaspora. The first event of the series is titled “Chinatowns Around the World” featuring Huiying B. Chan, and will be held on April 6, 2018 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm at Wing On Wo & Co (26 Mott Street).

ABOUT HOMEWARD BOUND: CHINATOWNS AROUND THE WORLD:

What can elderly Chinese Cuban women in Havana teach us about the fight to preserve Chinatown in New York City? How does Johannesburg’s Chinatown relate to Black and Asian race relations in the U.S.? Where is home for the lineages of immigrants in the diaspora? The Chinese diaspora is worldwide, in countries where perhaps one may not expect to find thousands of Chinese restaurants in one city (Lima, Peru). In one year, Huiying B. Chan traveled solo to seven countries using Chinatowns as a starting point to learning about global stories of migration, activism, and resilience across the diaspora. Beginning in Latin America, stopping in South Africa, traversing Asia, and ending in Australia, Huiying shares their journey.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Huiying Bernice Chan is a creative writer, multimedia storyteller, and aspiring healer with roots in Chinatown and the Toisanese diaspora. Huiying received the 2016-2017 Knafel Fellowship to travel solo to Chinatowns in eight countries around the world to document global migration and resilience across the diaspora. As a current Open City Fellow with the Asian American Writers' Workshop, Huiying is covering stories of intergenerational arts and activism in Chinatown. Their writing has recently been published in Culture Push's PUSH/PULL Online Journal, The Blueshift Journal, and the Asian American Journal of Psychology. Huiying is continuing to dream a life that is oceanic. 

SPECIAL NOTE: Donations for tickets are accepted on a sliding scale basis. Please email wingonwo26mott@gmail.com if you would like a ticket and cannot make a donation. *No one will be turned away for lack of funds!* All donations go towards supporting The W.O.W. Project and Homeward Bound Series.

*This event is co-sponsored with Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU