Anita Mannur
Election
Position
Name
Anita Mannur
Candidate statement
Director of Asia, Pacific, and Diaspora Studies and Professor of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies, American University
Bio:
Anita Mannur is Professor of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies at American University. With research and teaching interests in Asian American literature, food studies, and transnational South Asia, Anita is the author of Culinary Fictions: Food in South Asian Diasporic Culture (Temple, 2010) and Intimate Eating: Racialized Spaces and Radical Futures (Duke 2022). She has co-edited collections including Eating Asian America (NYU, 2010) and Eating More Asian America (NYU, 2025). Her work appears in journals including American Quarterly, Cultural Studies, MELUS, Gastronomica & Amerasia Journal. Anita previously served as the editor for the Journal of Asian American Studies and is a past recipient of the AAAS Early Career Award (2012) and Excellence in Mentoring Award (2019).
Candidate statement:
Like so many, I have benefited tremendously from the generosity, mentoring, and support of AAAS. Now, it is my time to give back to an organization that has functioned as a dynamic hub for interdisciplinary, intersection, and social justice-oriented work. These are precarious times, and I aim to provide compassionate, collaborative, and supportive leadership to ensure that those within the association and interdiscipline can thrive despite adversity. As a graduate student at UMass Amherst, I worked collaboratively to institutionalize Asian American Studies; these initial experiences with program building continued at Miami University and persist in my current position at American University, where I serve as the Director of Asia, Pacific, and Diaspora Studies. I have served AAAS in numerous capacities: as program committee member, as mid-Western representative and, most meaningfully, as editor of the field’s flagship publication, JAAS. I therefore bring to my candidacy experience with different institutions, a grounded understanding of diverse academic environments, and a longstanding connection to AAAS as a vibrant resource for students, artists, community members, contingent, non-tenure and tenure line faculty. Now, more than ever, we need a leader who ensures that we function as a safe space for our most vulnerable members. It would be an honor and a privilege to serve as your president.
Bio:
Anita Mannur is Professor of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies at American University. With research and teaching interests in Asian American literature, food studies, and transnational South Asia, Anita is the author of Culinary Fictions: Food in South Asian Diasporic Culture (Temple, 2010) and Intimate Eating: Racialized Spaces and Radical Futures (Duke 2022). She has co-edited collections including Eating Asian America (NYU, 2010) and Eating More Asian America (NYU, 2025). Her work appears in journals including American Quarterly, Cultural Studies, MELUS, Gastronomica & Amerasia Journal. Anita previously served as the editor for the Journal of Asian American Studies and is a past recipient of the AAAS Early Career Award (2012) and Excellence in Mentoring Award (2019).
Candidate statement:
Like so many, I have benefited tremendously from the generosity, mentoring, and support of AAAS. Now, it is my time to give back to an organization that has functioned as a dynamic hub for interdisciplinary, intersection, and social justice-oriented work. These are precarious times, and I aim to provide compassionate, collaborative, and supportive leadership to ensure that those within the association and interdiscipline can thrive despite adversity. As a graduate student at UMass Amherst, I worked collaboratively to institutionalize Asian American Studies; these initial experiences with program building continued at Miami University and persist in my current position at American University, where I serve as the Director of Asia, Pacific, and Diaspora Studies. I have served AAAS in numerous capacities: as program committee member, as mid-Western representative and, most meaningfully, as editor of the field’s flagship publication, JAAS. I therefore bring to my candidacy experience with different institutions, a grounded understanding of diverse academic environments, and a longstanding connection to AAAS as a vibrant resource for students, artists, community members, contingent, non-tenure and tenure line faculty. Now, more than ever, we need a leader who ensures that we function as a safe space for our most vulnerable members. It would be an honor and a privilege to serve as your president.