Editor's Preface

This current issue of JAAS explores some of the recent trends within my own discipline's approach to examining and interpreting the history of Asian American experiences. Diane Fujino presents an exhaustive and meticulous study of work focused on the Asian American Movement of the 1960s -1970s period. Four shorter pieces follow, which emanate from a panel organized by their authors for the 2007 annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians. Augusto Espritu and Madeline Y. Hsu pay particular attention to the growing significance of transnational perspectives in shaping research on Asian Americans, Espiritu within the Filipino/a American context and Hsu in the form of a more comprehensive challenge to preoccupation with the nation-state. Lili Kim and Shirley Jennifer Lim analyze new directions in two areas of rapidly expanding productivity: the histories of Korean Americans and of Asian American youth culture. Together, these five articles offer an insightful and provocative investigation of some key developments in the evolution of our field's historical scholarship—one that I hope you will find stimulating.

In addition to introducing JAAS 11.2, I am most pleased to welcome my friend, Huping Ling, as the journal's Editor-Elect. The many years of our professional and personal interactions have inspired my deepest respect for Professor Ling's scholarship, integrity, and exceptional organizational skills. Her appointment indeed promises an ever-brighter future for the Journal of Asian American Studies and its continued collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University Press. I look forward to working with her throughout the coming months, and to handing her the reins with the completion of my second term next spring.