In this episode, Jessica Schwartz talks with Dr. Runchao Liu about the LA Chinatown Punk Scene, sensationalist media interventions, and the often blurry line between appreciation and appropriation. We also discuss questions about her work on "badness" with respect to punks and Asians, countering the problematic stereotype of the model minority, and how punk has been part of the violence it often derides, which opens possibilities for divesting from such violence with thoughtful representations, collaborations, and inclusivity. Towards the end of the episode, Dr. Liu shares some of their inspirations and ideas for a more just future. 

All this and more...Check it out! 

Here's her/their bio: 

• Dr. Runchao Liu is a media and cultural studies scholar with a research focus on sound-mediated cultural practices for ways they intersect with social justice, cultural identity, and creative activism. Liu’s publications address such topics as the intersectional and transnational cultural politics of aural racialization, Asian American popular music, musical orientalism, ethnic rock music, and critical pedagogies of popular music. Before joining the University of Denver, Liu taught various media theory and production courses at the University of Wyoming and the University of Minnesota and was a postdoctoral academic fellow at the Center for Black, Brown, and Queer Studies and a visiting scholar of the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University. You may find her/their academic writing in Cinéma & Cie: International Film Studies Journal, Critical Asian Studies, M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture and edited collections Critical Race Media Literacy (Routledge), The Cultural Politics of Femvertising (Palgrave Macmillan), Sound Affects (Bloomsbury), and The Handbook of Music and Art (Bloomsbury).

Song clips & audio samples 

Avril Lavigne - ‘Losing Grip’

Paramore - ‘That’s What You Get’

Blondie - ‘Heart of Glass’

The Linda Lindas - ‘Racist, Sexist Boy’

Bands recommended by Dr. Liu:

No Party for Cao Dong

Hedgehog 

social media link:

 https://twitter.com/runchaoliu

And, a message from Dr. Liu: If anyone wants to make recommendations to the Asian American rock music archive that I’m creating, I’d love to hear from them. 

Email: runchao.liu@du.edu

Images:

Episode art features photos of buildings that once housed Madame Wong's and Hong Kong Café. Photos taken by/courtesy of Runchao Liu. 

This episode was hosted and produced by Jessica Schwartz.  It was edited by Bella Gerard.