Asian American Studies (AAS) is a vibrant interdisciplinary field of study about race and racism, colonialism and empire, immigration and diaspora, war and militarism, labor and embodiment, citizenship and identity, and much more. AAS research and teaching are grounded in the histories, social relations, and cultural expressions related to Asian American, Asian immigrant, and/or Asian diasporic people. Asian Americanist scholars, artists, and activists thus continuously generate critical insights into these communities within, or in relation to, the United States or the Americas more broadly. The field encompasses comparative methods of study, transnational analysis, and the work of scholars from around the globe. AAS courses at Williams encourage inquiry within traditional disciplines, bolster a number of interdisciplinary fields, and showcase a wide variety of theories, methods, and methodologies (both creative and scholarly). AAS courses emphasize intersectional analyses of difference (e.g. race, gender, sexuality, ability, religion, citizenship, class), as well as the social and cultural construction of place and identity. Knowledge in this field is thus crucial for understanding society, history, literature, religion, culture, art, and beyond.