Workshop Sessions: Dr. Donald Johnson of New York University and Dr. Colleen Kelly, Social Studies Liaison in Connecticutt’s Fairfield High School, were both involved in the Asia Society’s well-known study, "Asia in American Textbooks," and are current members of a Blue Ribbon National Commission on Asia in the Schools. They will lead two sessions, one of which offers a historical perspective on Asian stereotypes in American textbooks and the second of which evaluates contemporary American textbooks. Over many years, they have observed teachers actually teaching about Asia, and they will use those practical examples to show how U.S. schools have offered students a definite Orientalist and Eurocentric representation of Asia.

Among their many topics, they will discuss race and the Aryan tradition; America as the New Jerusalem; scientific racism after the Civil War; the rise and dominance of Western Civilization texts from 1920 to 1960s; the rise of area studies; and the spread of integrated world history courses after the 1980s. Professors Greg Gross and Ann Sheehan of The College of Saint Rose will conclude the evening’s sessions with a discussion of stereotyping in the Arts by examining contrasting traditions of Asian puppetry.