Aztec Nights and the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Resource Center co-hosted a Pop Expo at the Tula Community Center on Oct. 21.
This Expo showcased Asian culture in the San Diego State University community.
“It’s Filipino American history month, so we wanted to highlight that because APIDA makes up about 14% of SDSU,” Virginia Loh-Hagan, APIDA director, said. “We want people to know that we’re here and there’s lots of joy.”
At the event, hundreds of students were treated to various activities, including partaking in anime-themed sketching tutorials, playing APIDA-themed board and video games and participating in a Bollywood dancing workshop.
Students were also able to sample a range of Asian snacks, such as spam musubi and mochinuts.
The night’s highlight was the Korean American Student Association’s (KASA) K-pop random dance play, where many students participated and found their spots for the challenge.
Joshua Dumaua, KASA’s president and senior kinesiology major, spoke about the importance of KASA at SDSU and discussed K-pop random dance plays, which feature choreographies of various K-pop songs from the early generations to the new generation of today.
Duama also emphasized that apart from K-pop, Korean culture can also be shown through games, dance, music, food and other aspects.
Sophomore Miya Domingo, KASA co-coordinator and biology major, said the growing popularity of Korean media in Western pop culture and the matter of tabling at APIDA’s Pop Expo.
“With Korean culture influences such as Bong Joon-Ho’s ‘Parasite,’ BTS’s K-pop, and Netflix’s ‘Squid Game,’ it’s important to have our presence here, especially with the Hollywood expansion of Korean media,” Domingo said. “Being here is important because it distinguishes us between the different cultures.”
SDSU’s Asian Pacific Student Alliance, Anime and Manga Club and the Vietnamese Student Association were among the student organizations tabled at the APIDA’s Pop Expo.
Senior Austin Mrsny, graphic design major and president of the SDSU Anime and Manga Club, discussed the club’s presence at the Expo and the club’s no-longer-so-niche anime genre.
“Our organization is for anyone who wants to meet new people and share an interest in anime, comics, video games or anything else,” Mrsny said. “It’s more of a safe space because anime used to be a source of ridicule for those who felt they had to hide it. Anyone you meet now is a Pokémon, Dragon Ball, Naruto, or One Piece fan or has at least heard of them.”
Mrsny also discussed the club’s openness to anime newcomers who may have wanted to watch anime but didn’t know where to begin.
“Every Friday from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the Pride Suite of the Student Union Center we meet,” Mrsny said. “The theme is different every week and we try to mix it up to make people more social.”
SDSU’s APIDA Center opened in July 2020, at the height of the pandemic. Since then, APIDA has continually produced programs and engaged with many students on campus and in the SDSU community.
For more information on upcoming APIDA Center events, visit @sdsuapidacenter on Instagram.
