About

My name is Donna Doan Anderson (she/her) and I am a research assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I completed my Ph.D. in U.S. History with an emphasis in Asian American Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In short, my research interrogates the relationship between land policy and Asian migration in the U.S. Midwest from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries.

My commitment to sharing the diverse stories of the Midwest is rooted in my experience as a mixed-raced Vietnamese American growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, and my previous career as a high school history teacher. While teaching, I struggled to find materials that adequately reflected the experiences of my upbringing and my students, who represented over thirty nationalities and spoke fifty different languages. For many, the Midwest does not evoke images of diversity and culture, perpetuating coastal narratives in U.S. History and Asian American studies scholarship. My work supports the current arguments against the myth of the Midwest as local, isolated, insulated, and traditional by providing a more nuanced engagement with midwestern Asian American communities. My first research article, "Acceptance for Admission: Administrations of Japanese American Relocation and the Midwestern University" (American Studies, Fall 2023), won the Midwestern History Association's Dorothy Schwieder Prize for Best Article on Midwestern History in 2023. 

My research contributes to the U.S. Law and Race Initiative at UNL and the ÉXITO program at UCSB. I also am a host for the New Books Network podcast in Asian American Studies. I previously served as the Assistant Editor for the Journal of Asian American Studies (2021-2023) and the graduate student representative for the Association for Asian American Studies History section (2022-2024).

Thank you for taking the time to visit my site! I gladly accept any questions or inquiries about my research.