Dear IGGI Community,
IGGI has numerous efforts in the works with the goal of contributing to the safety, well-being and empowerment of our communities, including our participation in conference organizing and the production of oral history film festivals, among regular research and education efforts to further our mission of good government and democratic inclusion. Below, please find a brief index and summary of select (7) projects that are ongoing, so that you can identify and jump to projects of interest more quickly.
Our work is supported with generous donations from the American public. We appreciate your ongoing and much-need support.
Asian American Data Initiative
September 2022, IGGI launches the Asian American Data Initiative (AADI), the goal of which is to lower the cost threshold to obtain much-needed data about Asian Americans and to make these data more readily available to the Asian American community, to scholars, students, teachers and researchers, as well as to policymakers and the American public. As part of this initiative, IGGI continues to build this repository of public data with interns, students and other volunteers. We will make the repository available as soon as it is ready.
Teaching Empowerment in College Settings through the Freedom of Information Act
May 2022, IGGI publishes, “Freedom of Information in the Classroom: Teaching for Empowerment in the Social Sciences and in Ethnic Studies,” in the Journal of Political Science Education in order to underscore that public records act requests (aka “sunshine requests” or FOIA requests) are vastly underused in college teaching. The article highlights that learning how to implement public records requests comprise invaluable resource for student empowerment and for government accountability with examples.
IGGI continues to advocate for empowerment through the implementation of public records requests in college teaching across settings.
Teaching Black-Asian Solidarity
April 2021, IGGI publishes, “The Broader Scholarly Context of Asian American Politics” in the journal PS: Political Science & Politics, which considers the need for Asian American and Black American solidarity inside and outside of the academy. The article notes, ” Nativism and racism marginalize minorities in everyday experiences, but their use in the mobilization of extremist ideologies, such as violent white supremacy, presents further risks to our democracy.”
In teaching each year, Professor Le includes lessons to build empathy and community and to enhance Black-Asian solidarity.
Innovative Research Including An Original Survey on Sexual Harassment and Asian Americans & Manuscripts in Progress
May 2020, IGGI collaborated with other institutions to implement a original survey module on sexual harassment and the Asian American experience. At conferences where we delivered presentations on article manuscripts and on survey findings, participants have observed that our work fills an important space and that we are trailblazers on a public policy issue that deserves careful study and public policy innovation.
IGGI continues our work on this program. We have posted our insights and recommendation to the Law and Society Review blog. Dr. Le is also Chair of the Western Political Science Association Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession for 2022-2023, which meets to further gender equality.
Research on Two Party Failure to Incorporate Asian Americans into the American Party and Electoral System
In 2018, IGGI published, “Trajectory of Asian American Nonpartisanship: Transitory, Transitional or End State?,” in the journal New Political Science published by Taylor and Francis. The article notes, “Although the rhetoric of mobilization for minority communities is a centerpiece for both parties, the rapid incorporation of Asian Americans into our two-party system is still in question” (Le and Ong 2018: 1). “This analysis considers one of the central questions in political science, that is, stability in partisan affiliation or variation in the ‘unmoved mover.’.. Large proportions of Asian Americans register as No Preference; in addition, over the eight-year span of the study, they demonstrate less malleability in switching from nonpartisanship than other groups” (Le and Ong 14).
IGGI continues its work, examining the impacts of COVID-19 on Asian American partisanship and political behavior.
Research into Vietnamese Americans, Korean Americans and the Immigrant Cohort Hypothesis
In 2017, IGGI published, “Party Identification and the Immigrant Cohort Hypothesis: The Case of Vietnamese Americans,” in the journal Politics, Groups and Identities.” The article pushes against a longstanding trend in political science to lump Asian Americans together as a single panethnic group in statistical analysis and introduces an innovative theoretical framework called the Immigrant Cohort Hypothesis. “With our research, we investigate patterns of party identification across immigrant cohorts—defined in our paper as Wave 1 (1975-1979), Wave 2 (1980-1994) and Wave 3 (1995-2008). These cohorts are defined not only by their characteristics or the circumstances of their departures but also by the contexts of their arrival. Findings from our cohort analysis indeed highlight that an important moment for political imprinting processes takes place among Vietnamese immigrant cohorts at the times of exit and reception. We suggest that quantitative studies of political integration would benefit from formal incorporation of the historical contexts inhering to each group’s arrival.”
IGGI’s theoretical model has nuanced implications for other groups. IGGI produced and continues its research on theoretical and empirical implications of the Immigrant Cohort Hypothesis. Ongoing projects evaluate cohort effects among Korean Americans in the United States.
IGGI is continuing its work on this program.
Oversight of Police Misuse of New Technologies Against Members of the Public
In 2015, IGGI published, “Civilian Oversight and Developments in Less Lethal Technologies: Weighing Risks and Prioritizing Accountability in Domestic Law Enforcement” in the Seattle Journal for Social Justice in order to highlight risks and present oversight recommendations to protect the American public. The article evaluates data on the use of conducted energy devices (also “Tasers”) and finds that, “Contrary to guidelines for their utilization in the field, we found that officers deploy CEDs in a substantial number of cases involving suspects who do not comprise immediate dangers to public safety, including those who offer no resistance and those who are only passively resistant.” Furthermore, we note, “While the use of less lethal weapons may have advantages in policing, there are caveats to consider by all stakeholders moving forward. These new weapons pose challenges to the police oversight community because those that are based on the electromagnetic spectrum, such as the ADS (Active Denial System) are silent and invisible to the naked eye. Yet they rely on pain compliance…Oversight professionals may find it difficult to monitor and audit how frequently, at what intensity, and at which targets these weapons are aimed and discharged; therefore, the features of these weapons call attention to substantial risk for undetected abuse” (p. 109).”
In 2016, IGGI published, “Weighing Risks and Prioritizing Accountability in Use of Force: Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement As Less Lethal Technologies Advance” in the NACOLE Review (Summer 2016). The National Association for the Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) is central to facilitating police accountability by helping to train oversight practitioners, facilitating rigorous research into oversight of law enforcement, providing key information to public officials, and assisting with establishing or improving civilian oversight organizations. The distribution list for the NACOLE Review included non-agency civilian oversight professionals and police chiefs across America.
IGGI continues our work on civilian oversight of law enforcement to enhance public safety.
In community,
Dr. Loan Le and IGGI