| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
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| ASIANAM 60C | INT ASIA AMR ST III | KIM, C. | (Same as Soc Sci 78C) This course examines the position of Asian Americans in the American racial order and how this has changed over time. This is the third and final course in the Introduction to Asian American Studies series, and it is a required course for Asian American Studies majors and minors. Grades are based upon attendance and participation in lectures and section meetings, an in-class midterm examination composed of essay questions, a group research project with an oral presentation component, and an in-class final examination composed of essay questions. |
| ASIANAM 101 | GLOBAL DIASPOR&RACE | RADHAKRISHNAN, R. | Each of the terms in the course title has been pluralized to suggest that there has not been and cannot be any one normative, representative, or exemplary embodiment of transnationalism, diaspora, or globalization. There are conflicting and competing versions, and the purpose of this course is to seek out the differences and the commonalities. The movement of peoples, goods, and ideas is as old as human civilization, and this course is not an attempt to deal with the complexities of movement, migration, immigration, and exile in a historical or chronological manner. The focus here will be on the contemporary moment: its particular flows and trajectories. We will be paying special attention to a number of “theories” that have emerged from the locations of diaspora, the globalizing imperative, and the so-called “trans-nation.” There are at least three strong features that differentiate contemporary movements from earlier forms: 1) the pace of change has become exponential thanks to technology and the flows of capital, and 2) “mobility” and “movement” have become an intrinsic component of “identity” and the representation of identity, and 3) the relationship between “history” and “theory” has stepped beyond the old model of representation: hence the proliferation of terms such as post-modernism, post-structuralism, post-political, post-ethnic, post-feminist, post-historical, etc. . By way of a number of crucial texts that have defined the field, we will be asking and exploring the following questions. Is nationalism still a valid analytic category? In what ways does nationalism linger on, and in what ways has it been transcended? How have forms of heterogeneity such as “fusion” “hybridity” challenged canonical notions of identity, community, and belonging? How have the discourses of critical race theory, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality “re-territorialized” the politics of identity and the practices of representation? How does the diaspora function simultaneously as “home” and “location?” How are we to distinguish among different models of globalization: trickle-down, grassroots, elitist-dominant, subaltern? How do discourses of globalization, diaspora, and transnationalism feed into one another, and what are the critical tensions among them? We will be paying particular attention to the cultural dimension even as we try to understand critically the connections among history, culture, politics, and economics. The overarching question that informs the course is this: what bridges do people construct between “places where they live” and “places where they think?”
There will be a course package made up of essays from the following fields: Diasporan Theory, Transnationalist feminist, gender, and sexuality theories, Critical Race theory, and theories as well as critiques of globalization. WELCOME ABOARD. |
| ASIANAM 110 | FILIPINA/O AMER LIT | FUJITA-RONY, D. | This class will introduce students to the field of Filipina/o American literature through examining personal narratives, fiction, poetry, and other forms of literary expression. Themes will include nationalism, migration, community, and family. Requirements will include a 5-page paper, midterm, final, and active class participation. |
| ASIANAM 110 | ASNAM & AFAM LIT | SMITH, C. | What are the similarities and differences between Asian American and African American writers? How can literature represent voices that illuminate what it means to be American? This course explores Asian American and African American literature and culture after the Civil Rights Movement. It provides an overview of race and gender relations in the United States embedded within the broader structure of culture and social institutions. This course is a comparative literary study of Asian American and African American writers and the historical contexts in which they produced their works. It utilizes the framework of identity, labor, family, love, race, and gender politics as a means to discuss major movements and themes in twentieth century multiethnic literatures. Though we will discuss specific ethnic and racial groups at times, the overall focus will be the ample context connecting each of those groups to a shared history with present day relevance. Finally, this course challenges us to understand the function of "literature" and "culture" and they ways in which they form communities and spaces of conflict and mutual understanding. |
| ASIANAM 114 | SEXUALITY ASNAM FLM | SHROFF, B. | (Same as Soc Sci 179) This course analyzes sexuality and gender roles in specific social, historical and political contexts represented in selected Asian and Asian American films and videos. We will examine how patriarchy polices borders and boundaries of feminine and masculine constructions especially in the context of colonialism and nationalism. Different representations of male and female sexuality as depicted in selected films and readings explore how the body becomes a contested terrain for various manifestations of desire. Our study will also include an analysis of various sexual and social roles and definitions such as daughter, son, wife, mother, and issues of lesbian and gay sexuality. Different representations of male and female sexuality as depicted in selected films and selected readings explore how the body becomes a contested terrain for various manifestations of desire. |
| ASIANAM 115 | THE WOMAN WARRIOR | HU, Y. | (same as East Asian Studies 150) This course focuses on the figure of the woman warrior as constructed through the ages in Chinese literature and Chinese-American literature. Our readings include poetry, fiction, and autobiography. Our questions include the following: What constitutes the cultural and historical code of the warrior/knight/xia? How does the code change when gender is introduced into the picture? And how does it change when cross-cultural context is present? Through the image of the woman warrior, how does fictional imagination conform to, deviate from and subvert normative gender behavior? |
| ASIANAM 115 | ASIANAM PERFOR/WRI | UYEHARA, D. | Participants will explore and create performance and narrative that responds to the Asian/Pacific American experience. Course includes ensemble and individual theater games and visual projects as well as take-home assignments. Participants are encouraged to create truthful work from their unique perspective, work that does not fall back on convenient answers to ethnicity, class, and gender issues. Grades are based on weekly presentations and discussions, assigned readings, essays, and one final presentation. A willingness to learn, regular and prompt attendance are mandatory. This is an intensive workshop, so be prepared to work hard and reap the benefits. Workshops led by performance artist and writer Denise Uyehara. |
| ASIANAM 135 | ASAM PUBLIC HEALTH | FOO, M. | This course focuses upon the major public health issues affecting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in the United States and California. The framework used for this course is based upon the social ecological model that uses a multi-level approach to analyze community health issues at individual, family, organizational, community and policy levels. Through lectures, class participation, readings, a short analysis paper, and exams, students will increase their understanding of the relevant public health issues, service delivery systems, community capacity building efforts, and public policy priorities for AAPIs. Grades will be based upon one midterm (30%), a short analysis paper (20%), final exam (40%), and class participation (10%). |
| ASIANAM 141 | ASIAN-AMER PSYCH | TSONG, Y. | (Same as Psych 174A) |
| ASIANAM 150 | ASNAM & THE LAW | STAFF | The aim of this course will be to teach students to analyze, from a legal perspective, historical events and current issues that pertain to the Asian American community. The class sessions will be heavily centered around interpretation and understanding case law. Classroom discussions are to be devoted to understanding the underlying legal principles affecting Asian-American communities. With a firm understanding of such legal principles, students are encouraged to analyze case studies to apply their newfound reasoning to current events. The topics covered during the course include modern issues such as affirmative action, as well as historical events such as internment during World War II. Grading will consist of class participation, two short papers, and a group presentation." |
| ASIANAM 150 | ASAM&U.S. MILITARY | SMITH, C. | How has the U.S. military affected Asian American identity and communities? Perhaps more importantly, how might the lens of the U.S. military unify a common thread in Asian American experiences? This course directs our attention to the crucial relationship between Asian Americans and the U.S. military during the twentieth century. Specifically, we will investigate the historical, cultural, and legal contexts and constructions out of which Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders such as Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian communities have negotiated U.S. military interventions in the Asian continent, Pacific Rim, and Pacific Basin. From the Philippine-American, World War II, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laos military encounters, Asian Americans have been placed as central bodies both as enemies of the state and subjects who needed to prove their loyalty of American ideals. Thus, we will try to define and question categories such as "nation," "citizenship," "racialization," and "modern democracy," embedded within the broader structure of culture and social institutions through examining literary works, films, spoken word, internet, and music. |
| ASIANAM 151J | CHINESE AMER EXPER | LIU, J. | This course examines the factors that have contributed to diversity of experiences among Chinese who have been migrating to the United States since the nineteenth century. The emphasis on diversity does not mean the absence of any commonalities among Chinese Americans. Rather, it indicates that a fuller understanding of the experiences of Chinese Americans requires examining the differences as well. Topics to be addressed include the factors underlying the social construction of Chinese American identities, the fluidity of these constructions, and the institutional and personal ramifications of continuous identity formation on our changing perspectives of both Chinese and other Asian Americans. Examination of these topics will contribute to a general understanding of the nature of race and ethnicity in the United States, the social construction of identities among racial and ethnically defined groups, and the relationship of identity to political economic circumstances. |
| ASIANAM 162 | ASIAN AMER WOMEN | YONEMOTO, K. | This course seeks to re-center the lives of women in the Asian American historical and contemporary experience. We will discuss the ways in which women have played a central role in creating, sustaining and leading continuity and change in Asian America, and address issues such as immigration and labor, race and representation, violence and the body, religion and civic life, and media and popular culture, from an interdisciplinary perspective. Course requirements include: attendance and participation (20%), in-class assignments (10%), midterm (20%), course paper (25%), and final exam (25%). |
| ASIANAM 164 | GENDER, GEN&PERFORM | KATRAK, K. | This course explores the intersections of gender and generation in Asian American cultural expression. The importance of generation (first, second, third, and beyond) is a significant theme along with male and female parameters of gender identity in the representation of Asian American lives within cultural and political histories. I explore the performance of ethnicity as a broad category, namely, ethnicity in daily life as well as its representation in literary and expressive arts such as novels, drama, performance art, dance. Our study includes representations of different generations of one family and personal history on videos about the Japanese-American internment, as well a cultural politics of tradition and innovation in South Asian American dance and music and responses from elders and youth within the community.
We discuss how new diasporic locations for immigrants influence how men and women of different generations look back on the past. Selection of literary texts include fictional memoir by Maxine Hong Kingston, novel, Obasan by Joy Kogawa, as well as texts by South Asian Americans (photocopies) and by Vietnamese-Americans in the anthology, Watermark. Denise Uyehara's Maps of City and Body dramatizes ethnicity in performance in her performance art.
Course Requirements: Attendance and participation, Class presentation, in-class Midterm, and Final Essay.
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| ASIANAM 190C | ASIANAM HONOR III | VO, L. | In the last of the three-part honors sequence, students revise their thesis based on constructive comments from their Faculty Advisor. A final draft of the thesis is evaluated by the Faculty Advisor and the Department Chair of Asian American Studies. Prerequisite: Asian Am H190A & H190B.
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| ASIANAM 201 | RACE&GENDER&SPECIES | KIM, C. | This course examines the historical processes by which race, gender, and species have been mutually constituted in Western thought. |
| ASIANAM 201 | COMPARTV INT MIGRAT | LIU, J. | This course examines the development of international migration theory, the relationship of immigration to globalization, and the general economic integration of migrants by comparing the experiences of Asians, who represent either the largest or second largest source of migration to the three main countries of permanent settlement: Australia, Canada, and the United States. The topics to be covered include: the characteristics of diasporas, factors underlying immigration policies, approaches to multiculturalism, ethnic community formation. |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | FUJITA-RONY, D. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | MIMURA, G. | |