Professor Valverde
ASA 150 E
Although I've only been at a four-year university for two quarters, this has easily become one of the best classes I have ever taken. As an anthropology major and first-year transfer, I was excited about the idea of learning about the Southeast Asian American experience. However, when I got to the class I was made very aware that it wouldn't be an exercise in traveling back and forth between the homeland and the diaspora. Although it threw me for a loop, learning about the Vietnam War not only gave me a chance to more deeply understand the gratuitous, tiny paragraph about the American War but to understand history and permission in very new and liberating ways. The first week of class, Professor Valverde gave us permission to have our own histories. It was a permission I did not realize I needed until that moment. Not only did she break up the class into ancient, past, and current issues in Southeast Asia, but she also taught us the delicate balance of being selfish in speaking through generations before us and permission to stop living and paying for pains that are not our own.
In addition to having the lock on handed-down diasporic trauma, I genuinely appreciated the way that Professor Valverde instructed our class. The lack of tests or quizzes didn't stop me from doing my reading or wanting to know more about our topic, but just reduced the stress that nearly kills me in all my other classes. Not only does she demonstrate the possibility of Asian women reaching and carving out their own space in academia (and sharing amazing stories), but she also cares about the community of this school. I have never had the honor and sheer joy of having a professor who asked if we would prefer a more chill day. And I wish all other professors could take more notes from her book.
My last questions are: Is it too much to ask that Professor Valverde post OOTDS? And when is the ao dai exhibit going to happen?
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