As we celebrate May as the Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, it presents an excellent opportunity to acknowledge and honor John Jay's diverse scholars who represent the multifaceted Asian and Pacific Islander diaspora. Our goal is to showcase the achievements of our AAPI scholars and how they inspire the diverse John Jay College faculty we serve. 



Across a wide range of disciplines, our AAPI researchers are pushing the boundaries of knowledge and producing significant scholarship that positively impacts the real world. We take immense pride in highlighting the contributions made by Asian American faculty in fields like criminal justice, psychology, sciences, and more. Please keep reading to discover some of the exceptional work that sets the standards of excellence at John Jay College.

Celebrating Diversity in Scholarship

Hung-En Sung, the Director of International Research Partnerships, and his colleague Yuliya Zabyelina, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science, have been recognized with the Anthem Award in the human and civil rights category for their anti-corruption work. This award was presented to them by Café.art.br, a group of Brazilian developers who designed the platform. It is worth noting that the Anthem Awards are a subdivision of the Webby Awards, which celebrate goal-oriented and purpose-driven work worldwide.

Ke Li, an assistant professor of Political Science, delivered a book talk titled "Marriage Unbound; State Law, Power, and Inequality in Contemporary China." 

In her talk, she highlighted women's challenges in navigating the divorce litigation process in China. She provided a detailed account of the functioning of the modern Chinese legal system. Li's research also sheds light on the power dynamics between individuals and authorities involved in dispute resolution, the intricate relationship between culture and the state, and the use of statecraft that often leads to neglecting women's rights and interests. 

Tarun Banerjee, an assistant professor of Sociology, has been awarded a $30,000 pipeline grant from the Russell Sage Foundation in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's economic mobility and opportunity program. The grant will support his research on the implementation of the War on Poverty in the 1960s and the role of the Civil Rights Movement in shaping federal policy. 

Tarun's study will specifically examine the distribution of Community Action Program grants and analyze data from the Dynamics of Contentious Action dataset to determine the underlying factors that contributed to the implementation of the federal policy during this time.

Hyunhee Park, a professor of History, has published a research paper titled "Open Space and Flexible Borders: Theorizing Maritime Space through Premodern Sino-Islamic Connections." The report aims to evaluate the significance of the Sino-Islamic maritime connections in the premodern Afro-Eurasian cross-cultural network by studying the geographical knowledge of the sea space acquired by individuals involved in naval activities before the Mongol era.

Mangai Natarajan, a professor of Criminal Justice, conducted a study on the Gender equity approach to policing in Kenya. The study gathered survey data from 455 male and female police officers in the Kenya Police Service to observe the challenges faced by women in policing and propose gender equity strategies for better recruitment and retention of women in the police force. The study found that women officers can perform most tasks as well or better than men, but there are some line duties where they face difficulties. This finding is consistent with the international literature on women in policing.

Mangai, a researcher, and Brittany Suh, a professor at CUNY Queens College, collaborated to publish an article. The article titled "Hot Spots for Commercial Sex Activities in New York City Neighborhoods" explores the geography of commercial sex activities (CSA) in urban areas, aiming to identify and address the harms against sex workers and identifying sex trafficking operations. The study found that immigrant and racial-ethnic enclaves were significant hotspots for CSA and used NYPD data to explain this pattern.

Nivedita Majumdar, a professor of English, recently joined the BFA Visual & Critical Studies and the SVA NYC to discuss her latest work, The World in a Grain of Sand. In this important piece of literary criticism, she presents a new framework for interpreting literature from the global South, which challenges traditional cultural studies theories, particularly postcolonial theory. 



Majumdar questions the praise for local literature often seen in cultural theories, which tends to dismiss universal categories as strictly Eurocentric. She argues that this approach further exoticizes the South and instead promotes a more complete, non-parochial form of universalism. Rejecting Eurocentric perspectives does not require privileging local literature; rather, it can also involve embracing an alternative universalism that is richer and more inclusive.

Mucahit Bilici, associate professor of Sociology, wrote an article that sheds light on how the Turkish state leverages Islam to undermine and invalidate the unique Kurdish identity and associated demands for rights. He examines the rhetoric used by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during political rallies held in Diyarbakır, the symbolic center of Turkish Kurdistan, to highlight how religion is used to sustain Turkish hegemony.

Yeju Choi, an assistant professor of Sociology specializing in conflict resolution, published an article about applying cultural anthropological approaches to conflict resolution. The article focuses on the case of "Comfort Women" and examines the discrepancies in how people analyze and approach conflict resolution. It also utilizes three conceptual frameworks, which include the emic and etic approaches in cultural anthropology, the inclusive and restricted models of conflict resolution, and different levels of reconciliation, to provide a comprehensive analysis.

• In an NBC news article discussing therapeutic approaches for Asian Americans struggling to find effective treatment, Kevin Nadal (psychology) provided his input.
• Yuk-Ting (Joyce) Lau, Biology lecturer and Co-Director of FEMMS at John Jay College, was named a Heroine during Women's History Month. She is recognized as an exceptional student and a dedicated researcher and is currently pursuing her master's in forensic science with a toxicology specialization.

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