Community Forces Podcast
The Community Forces podcast features the voices of UIC students learning community engagement skills and building awareness of the issues that different Asian American communities in the region face as they contribute to the day-to-day operations of local organizations as interns and volunteers. We also hear from the organizational leaders and community members they work with as we explore what it means to learn from, uplift, and engage Asian American community.
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Our name comes from Glenn Omatsu’s critical essay: “The ‘Four Prisons’ and the Movements of Liberation: Asian American Activism from the 1960s to the 1990s” in which Omatsu highlights the key role of liberatory education as part of Asian American movement building and community organizing.
“… the [Asian American] movement was not centered on the aura of racial identity but embraced fundamental questions of oppression and power; … the movement consisted of not only college students but large numbers of community forces, including the elderly, workers, and high school youth; and … the main thrust was not one of seeking legitimacy and representation within American society but the larger goal of liberation.” – Glenn Omatsu
Recording elements of the Connecting to Community episode of the Community Forces podcasts at the Fall 2019 Ice Cream Social organized by the Asian American Resource and Cultural Center on the UIC Quad Heading link
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Connecting to Community
In this episode of Community Forces, we hear from a diverse range of students serving Asian American communities in Chicago and some of the community leaders that they work with.
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Finding Solidarity
As an intern with the Japanese American Service Committee in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, Pablo Cisneros finds meaningful connections between his own experiences as a Mexican-American, Chicano identified child of immigrants and the histories of Japanese Americans.
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Put the Students in Charge
In this episode, we learn about the significance of Asian American youth development and mentorship from Wasinee Siewsrichol, a UIC student who drew on her relationships in her local Thai community as part of her internship with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and Steve Hosik Moon, Wasinee’s mentor.
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More information about internship opportunities with GLAS is available on our internship page.
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The Community Forces podcast project and GLAS internships program was funded in part by the UIC Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) grant from 2015-2021. AANAPISI grants are fully funded by the Minority Serving Institutions program of the U.S. Department of Education.