API and AA Heritage Months

API and AA Heritage Months 2024
API and AA Heritage Months 2024

We celebrate API and AA Heritage Months

These events are brought to you by a wide variety of co-sponsors and co-planners including Center for Asian Pacific Islander Student Empowerment (CAPISE), Asian American Studies; the MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center; Counseling and Psychological Services; Student Affairs, Campus Life; Student Union; and many more.

API Heritage Month Events

Event OnApr8

A History of Spartan Activism and Advocacy: API and AAHM Kickoff

Time:2:00-4:00 pmLocation:Student Union Ballroom
Event OnApr8

Sheng Lor: Cloth and Refugee Memory

Time:12:00 pmLocation:Art and Design Lecture Hall, Room 133
Event On,Apr9

Spartan Speaker Series: Stephanie Hsu

Event starts at:,7:00 pmEvent is located at:,Student Union Theater (Hybrid Event)
Event OnApr10

5th Annual Night Market

Time:5:00-8:00 pmLocation:7th Street Paseo
Event OnApr11

Chai and Vibes: Eid Celebration

Time:4:00-5:30 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center
Event On,Apr11

MOSAIC Open Mic Night

Event starts at:,6:00-8:00 pmEvent is located at:,Starbucks Lounge @ Student Union
Event OnApr15

Afghan Research Talk

Time:1:30-3:00 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center
Event OnApr15

API & Arab American Mental Health w/ Saima Bhatti, PsyD

Time:5:00-6:00 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center
Event OnApr16

Tides of Change: Shifting the Narrative of Gentrification on AAPI Communities

Time:1:30-2:30 pmLocation:SU Meeting Room 2A
Event OnApr17

Decolonized Therapy: What it Means to Heal Ourselves (and Our Communities) with Stephanie Foo

Time:5:00-6:30 pmLocation:Student Union Theater
Event OnApr18

API & Arab American Mental Health Lunch & Learn w/ Saima Bhatti, PsyD

Time:12:00-1:00 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center
Event OnApr23

Empower API Futures: Navigating Careers with Purpose and Identity

Time:4:30-6:00 pmLocation:SU Meeting Room 1A
Event OnApr24

Dialogue and Diaspora: Global Roots, Local Branches

Time:5:00-6:30 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center
Event OnApr25

Cultural Commentary: Exploring Pacific Islander Representation in Media

Time:3:00-4:00 pmLocation:SU Meeting Room 2A
Event OnApr27

South Asians in Silicon Valley Exhibit Reception

Time:2:00-4:00 pmLocation:AAACNA Studies Center, 5th Floor, SJSU MLK Library
Event OnApr

South Asians in Silicon Valley Exhibit 

Location:AAACNA Studies Center, 5th Floor, SJSU MLK Library

API Heritage Month Event Descriptions

A History of Spartan Activism and Advocacy: API + AAHM Kickoff

Have you ever wanted to know about how SJSU’s Center for Asian and Pacific Islander Student Empowerment (CAPISE) came to be? Are you curious about South West Asia North Africa (SWANA)? How about spaces of belonging and student advocacy? If any of these things have ever crossed your mind, this is the event for you. Join us for SJSU’s 2024 collaborative Arab American and Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Months kick-off event! Learn about Arab, Asian, and Pacific Islander belonging and activism here at SJSU! Join us on Monday, April 8th from 2 - 3 PM for an interactive art activity to show us what belonging and advocacy means to you & for the panel from 3 - 4 PM in the SU Ballrooms!

Sponsored by CAPISE, MOSAIC, and Student Union Event Services

Sheng Lor: Cloth and Refugee Memory

Join us for a lecture and discussion with weaving artist Sheng Lor! Sheng Lor is a California-based visual and textile artist born in a refugee camp in Thailand and raised in Stockton, CA. After working in weaving workshops for 6 years, she left her job as principal weaver and moved to San Francisco to begin her textile art practice. Her work — being deeply rooted in her personal history with textiles and experience as a Hmong shamanist — explores both cloth and the refugee memory as sites of knowledge. Among her textile works, Lor will be showing her recently completed Dressed Loom, a custom and hermetic cocoon around her principal weaving tool.

Sheng Lor is the founder of Oakland Fiber and has a long-standing Hmong textile art practice.

This lecture is part of the ReWeaving Past and Future series at SJSU, coordinated by Eleanor Pries in the Department of Design. Supported by College of Humanities & Arts' Artistic Excellence Programming Grant.

Spartan Speaker Series: Stephanie Hsu

The Spartan Speaker Series is bringing award-winning actress Stephanie Hsu, best known for her roles in Everything Everywhere All at Once and Joyride, to SJSU. Stephanie will be here to speak about her experiences as an actress and what it's like succeeding in the industry.

Event will be live in Student Union Theater and livestreamed online.

Sponsored by Student Affairs Campus Life

Click here to RSVP for Livestream

5th Annual Night Market

Night Market is back for it's 5th year! On Wednesday, April 10th, from 5 PM to 8 PM Night Market will take over 7th Street Plaza. The Night Market will feature free food from local vendors, live performances from local performers and super-local clubs, craft stalls hosted by local artists, and a few surprise activities we know you'll love. All SJSU students SJSU students enjoy free food and activities. Non-SJSU guest are encourage to attend, but will not have access to free food or activities.

Hosted by Student Involvement in collaboration with CAPISE and Student Union, Inc.

Chai and Vibes: Eid Celebration 

Celebrate Eid with MOSAIC! Join us for chai and community as we celebrate together.

MOSAIC Open Mic Night

Mosaic Cross Cultural Center, in collaboration with the Center for Asian Pacific Islander Empowerment  is excited to invite you to our last Open Mic Night of the school year! For this month’s Open Mic, we’re celebrating two cultural heritage months: ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH and ARAB AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH!

Sponsored by Mosaic Cross Cultural Center and CAPISE.

Click here to sign-up.

Afghan Research Talk

Details to be announced

API & Arab American Mental Helath w/ Saima Bhatti, PsyD

Details to be announced

Tides of Change: Shifting the Narrative of Gentrification on AAPI Communities

What do you know about gentrification? This Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (APIHM), we invite you to join us to learn about the ways Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) have experienced and engaged in gentrification and displacement. We’ll be looking at waves of immigration combined with rising housing costs, tech booms, and resistance mixed with frameworks of intersectionality, time, and space. Snacks will be provided, see you there!

Sponsored by CAPISE

Decolonized Therapy: What it Means to Heal Ourselves (and Our Communities)

Join us for a talk and conversation on living with trauma in Asian American and immigrant communities with Stephanie Foo, author of What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma. Having grown up in East Side San Jose, Foo will discuss her journey unpacking how race, the city, and immigrant family shaped her experiences with complex trauma, and how she subsequently navigated through them.

API & Arab American Mental Health Lunch & Learn w/ Saima Bhatti, PsyD

Details to be announced

Empower API Futures: Navigating Careers with Purpose and Identity

Hear from Asian and Pacific Islander alumni from various industries about how they:
-Engaged in career exploration
-Balanced family expectations and career aspirations
-Applied transferable skills to different roles
-Created a sense of belonging in the workplace

Sponsored by the Career Center and CAPISE

Dialogue and Diaspora: Global Roots, Local Branches

Come join us as we explore how we experience community and culture from our roots. For those of us who navigate the diaspora experience, exploring our cultural roots could look like connecting to our cultural identities through our local communities and families. Let’s talk about our relationships to belonging and cultural connection within the Asian and Pacific Islander & Arab American (API & AA) communities. Snacks provided!

Sponsored by MOSAIC and CAPISE

Cultural Commentary: Exploring Pacific Islander Representation in Media

When we think about Pacific Islanders in Media, Moana and the Rock is what usually pops up into our minds. We will be talking about the lack of Pacific Islander representation and how the mainstream media creates cultural stereotypes and depicts the misrepresentations of Pacific Islanders. Join us to learn more about the lack of Pacific Islander representation in mainstream media.

Sponsored by CAPISE

South Asians in Silicon Valley Exhibit Reception

Reception for the South Asians in Silicon Valley exhibit.

South Asians in Silicon Valley Exhibit

Between April 1, 2024 and May 31, 2024, come to visit a new exhibit about the experiences and contributions of South Asians in Silicon Valley. We focus on South Asians who are from or with origins in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka and who call Silicon Valley or the Bay Area their home.

Sponsored by MLK Library

AA Heritage Month Events

Event OnApr8

A History of Spartan Activism and Advocacy: API and AAHM Kickoff

Time:2:00-4:00 pmLocation:Student Union Ballroom
Event OnApr11

Chai and Vibes: Eid Celebration

Time:4:00-5:30 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center
Event On,Apr11

MOSAIC Open Mic Night

Event starts at:,6:00-8:00 pmEvent is located at:,Starbucks Lounge @ Student Union
Event OnApr15

API & Arab American Mental Health w/ Saima Bhatti, PsyD

Time:5:00-6:00 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center
Event OnApr18

API & Arab American Mental Health Lunch & Learn w/ Saima Bhatti, PsyD

Time:12:00-1:00 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center
Event OnApr18

SWANA Stories and Social

Time:2:00 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center
Event OnApr22

SWANA Movie Night: Fremont

Time:4:30-6:30 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center
Event OnApr25

Dialogue and Diaspora: Global Roots, Local Branches

Time:5:00-6:30 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center
Event OnApr29

A Call to Unity

Time:5:00 pmLocation:MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center

AA Heritage Month Event Descriptions

A History of Spartan Activism and Advocacy: API + AAHM Kickoff

Have you ever wanted to know about how SJSU’s Center for Asian and Pacific Islander Student Empowerment (CAPISE) came to be? Are you curious about South West Asia North Africa (SWANA)? How about spaces of belonging and student advocacy? If any of these things have ever crossed your mind, this is the event for you. Join us for SJSU’s 2024 collaborative Arab American and Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Months kick-off event! Learn about Arab, Asian, and Pacific Islander belonging and activism here at SJSU! Join us on Monday, April 8th from 2 - 3 PM for an interactive art activity to show us what belonging and advocacy means to you & for the panel from 3 - 4 PM in the SU Ballrooms!

Sponsored by CAPISE, MOSAIC, and Student Union Event Services

Chai and Vibes: Eid Celebration 

Celebrate Eid with MOSAIC! Join us for chai and community as we celebrate together.

MOSAIC Open Mic Night

Mosaic Cross Cultural Center, in collaboration with the Center for Asian Pacific Islander Empowerment  is excited to invite you to our last Open Mic Night of the school year! For this month’s Open Mic, we’re celebrating two cultural heritage months: ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH and ARAB AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH!

Sponsored by Mosaic Cross Cultural Center and CAPISE.

Click here to sign-up.

API & Arab American Mental Helath w/ Saima Bhatti, PsyD

Details to be announced

API & Arab American Mental Health Lunch & Learn w/ Saima Bhatti, PsyD

Details to be announced

SWANA Stories and Social

Details to be announced

SWANA Movie Night: Fremont

The SWANA Initiative invites you to join us to watch the film Fremont and discuss the resonant themes for SWANA. Snacks and community provided!

Dialogue and Diaspora: Global Roots, Local Branches

Come join us as we explore how we experience community and culture from our roots. For those of us who navigate the diaspora experience, exploring our cultural roots could look like connecting to our cultural identities through our local communities and families. Let’s talk about our relationships to belonging and cultural connection within the Asian and Pacific Islander & Arab American (API & AA) communities. Snacks provided!

Sponsored by MOSAIC and CAPISE

A Call to Unity

We are in a time when Islamophbia is on the rise and the state of affairs of Muslims on a global scale has deteriorated tremendously. Imam Dr. Hassan Akbar presents his book A Call for Unity that calls for the pursuit of peace and understanding through unified community.

Sponsored by MOSAIC

Zoom Background

Download our API and AA Heritage Months Zoom Background