ABOUT THIS EPISODE
About the Episode: What if the goal was never to fit in? Lindsay sits down with sociologist and author Dr. Bianca Mabute-Louie to talk about her book Unassimilable: An Asian Diasporic Manifesto for the Twenty-First Century and her call for Asian Americans to stop earning their place in America and start building belonging on their own terms.
Bianca shares how growing up in the San Gabriel Valley, and watching her grandmother speak Cantonese everywhere without apology, shaped the book. She explains why the “good immigrant” narrative that surfaced during COVID-19 felt so wrong, and what it cost her to use her voice when her spiritual community took a stance she could not accept. The conversation closes with why ethnic studies matters more urgently than ever and Bianca’s vision for a world built on ownership of our labor, connection, and communities of care.
About Dr. Bianca Mabute-Louie
Dr. Bianca Mabute-Louie is a sociologist, author, speaker,and scholar activist whose research examines social movements, race, immigration, religion, and politics. Her work has appeared in academic journals including Social Forces,Socius, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, and Sociology of Religion, as well as in public outlets such as the LA Times and Elle.
Her book Unassimilable: An Asian Diasporic Manifesto for the Twenty-First Century (HarperCollins, 2025) blends manifesto and memoir to challenge assimilation and offer a vision of Asian diasporic identity rooted in cross-racial solidarity and collectivecare. It was featured as NPR’s Book of the Day and on NPR’s All Things Considered, KQED, and Book Riot, and Ms. Magazine named it one of the most anticipated feminist books of 2025.
Raised in the San Gabriel Valley, Bianca attended Mills College in Oakland, studied Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, and earned her PhD at Rice University. She learned to teach through community-based ethnic studies, co-teaching Filipino American studies in San Francisco public high schools with the Pinoy/Pinay Educational Partnerships, and later taught Asian American history at City College of San Francisco. She now lives in Houston and hosts the podcast Mothering NewWorlds, a show about revolutionary caregiving and world-building in the midst of societal collapse.
Connect with Dr. Mabute-Louie
Website and Book: biancaml.com
Substack: beyonkz.substack.com
Podcast: Mothering New Worlds, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
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