This panel addresses the conference theme of inclusion and exclusion by centering and interrelating South Asian/American Studies and Southeast Asian/American Studies in ways that expand and transform Asian American Studies. Anchored in a historicized approach, this panel’s transnational exploration of war, identity, and displacement links Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Afghanistan and their diasporas. It is animated by two key questions: How might new attention to different geographies, temporalities, diasporas, and archives reshape how and what we see about migrant and refugee experience? How does engaging with Critical Refugee Studies (CRS) offer new insights for our understanding of racialized citizenship and belongings that inhabit Southeast Asian/American and South Asian/American lives, whether or not our communities are
classified as “refugees” by the US government? Linking diverse texts, performances, foods, and histories within and across communities–in North America, as well as beyond–this panel directly addresses a key conference topic: the Global and Transnational relating to Asian “America.” The papers gathered here create an interdisciplinary dialogue that studies the impact of empires on “refugee” status for Indonesians; the formation of Vietnamese refugee cultural archives of digital foodways; migrant justice and graphic storytelling about refugees from South Asia; and Sri Lankan performing artist groups in Southern California. By gathering scholars from a range of disciplines, public and private institutions, and ranks, including junior and senior scholars from the east and west coasts, this panel contributes to the 2024 theme in inclusive and innovative ways.