This May 2020, the Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies will be launching a 1-credit online course taught by Bee Vang-Moua that aims to help medical professionals better understand the needs of Hmong patients in the health field. The first of its kind, this course addresses a need within the Twin Cities community and beyond.

Oil, feminism, minorities, and genies. All of these are the focus of classes taught by new Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Professor Shir Alon. Her classes are rooted in her comparative literature background. “I feel that literature provides us with tools and metaphors to think about our social and political life in ways that are more powerful than anything else that I’ve encountered,” she says.

Ray Barney is a senior at the University of Minnesota double-majoring in gender, women & sexuality studies (GWSS) and Asian languages and literatures (ALL) with a minor in art. They are already doing work informed by feminist, Black, trans, and queer praxis. With the tools and opportunities they’ve gained during their time at the University of Minnesota, Barney hopes to be a part of the shared fight for shared liberation.

The name of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Asian Languages and Literatures has changed to the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies to provide a more accurate description of the courses offered in the department.