

Biography
James Zarsadiaz is an Associate Professor of History and serves as Director of the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program. His research and teaching interests include urban and suburban studies, California and the U.S. West, Asian American history, and the twentieth-century United States. Prof. Zarsadiaz was a fellow at both the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and Asian Pacific American Center.
Prof. Zarsadiaz's first book, Resisting Change in Suburbia: Asian Immigrants and Frontier Nostalgia in L.A. (published with University of California Press), comes out in fall 2022. His first research article, "Design Assimilation in Suburbia: Asian Americans, Built Landscapes, and Suburban Advantage in Los Angeles's San Gabriel Valley since 1970," (co-authored with Becky Nicolaides) was published in the Journal of Urban History (2015). The article won the Urban History Association's Arnold Hirsch Award and the Vernacular Architecture Forum's Catherine W. Bishir Prize. Prof. Zarsadiaz's second article, "Raising Hell in the Heartland: Filipino Chicago and the Anti-Martial Law Movement, 1972- 1986," was published in American Studies (2017) and received an Honorable Mention from the Filipino Section of the Association for Asian American Studies. Prof. Zarsadiaz's third peer-reviewed article, "Methodists against Martial Law: Filipino Chicagoans and the Church's Role in a Global Crusade" was published in Alon: Journal for Filipinx American and Diasporic Studies (2021). He has also published work in Amerasia Journal, International Migration Review, Journal of Asian American Studies, Journal of Social History, New Jersey Studies, and Pacific Historical Review.
James has written articles and op-eds for City Lab, National Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, and Washington Post. He has done live interviews on BBC, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, and Southern California Public Radio regarding current affairs and his research.
- Appointments
- Program Director, Yuchengco Philippine Studies
- Education
- PhD, History, Northwestern University
- MA, History, Northwestern University
- BA, American Studies and Political Science, George Washington University
- Research
- Urban and Suburban Studies
- Urban Planning
- California and U.S. West
- Asian American History
- Oral History
- Selected Publications
Zarsadiaz, J. (Forthcoming, fall 2022). Resisting Change in Suburbia: Asian Immigrants and Frontier Nostalgia in L.A. University of California Press.
Zarsadiaz, J. (2021). "Methodists against Martial Law: Filipino Chicagoans and the Church's Role in a Global Crusade." Alon: Journal for Filipinx American and Diasporic Studies 1(3).
Zarsadiaz, J. (2017). "Raising Hell in the Heartland: Filipino Chicago and the Anti-Martial Law Movement, 1972-1986." American Studies, 56(1), 141-162.
Zarsadiaz, J. and Nicolaides, B. (2015). "Design Assimilation in Suburbia: Asian Americans, Built Landscapes, and Suburban Advantage in Los Angeles's San Gabriel Valley since 1970." Journal of Urban History, 43(2), 332-371.
- Awards & Distinctions
Best Article (Honorable Mention), Association for Asian American Studies, Filipino Section, 2020
Catherine W. Bishir Prize, Vernacular Architecture Forum, 2018
Arnold Hirsch Award, Urban History Association, 2016