Reentering the Dragon: Reclaiming Revolutionary Nationalist Theory on Asian Amerikan Terrain

This article outlines the project of Asian Amerikan revolutionary theory through a dialectical and historical materialist analysis of the Asian Amerikan community. Drawing inspiration from the noninstitutionalized, loosely affiliated revolutionary nationalist school of thought that emerged during the 1960s and '70s, I reconstruct the national formation framework to analyze how the uneven development of capitalist class relations both determines and is determined by community consciousness. I then apply this framework to the historical development of Asian Amerikan consciousness, to identify the fundamental contradictions of the Asian Amerikan revolutionary struggle and propose a revolutionary path forward.