| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|
| ASIANAM 60C | INT ASIA AMR ST III | LEE, J. | Same as SOC SCI 78C. Take a cursory glance at recent critical work on Asian American Studies, and you’ll notice immediately how often the term “Asian America” appears, as if such a formation actually exists. Less a claim to take actual territory from the United States than a broad appeal to grant Asians a place at the American table of citizenship and national belonging, the literature of Asian Americans can be productively read alongside persistent yet often divergent, even contested, visions of Asian America. This course is designed to trace one such trajectory in the creation and recreation of Asian America through literature. Paying special attention to the political, economic, and social constraints during the time of their production and reception, we will examine how Asian American literary work both reflected and transformed the social protocols of their day, and in doing so helped to reimagine what it means to be “Asian,” or “American,” and everything else in between. Writers may include Edith Eaton (Sui Sin Far), Carlos Bulosan, John Okada, Maxine Hong Kingston, Chang-rae Lee, Jhumpa Lahiri and Nina Revoyr.
Students will be evaluated through weekly assignments in discussion section, a midterm and a final exam.
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| ASIANAM 101 | GLOBAL DIASPOR&RACE | RADHAKRISHNAN, R. | Same as SOC SCI 177A. We are living in an age of intensive globalization and the diasporic movements of people. Thanks to technology the “global village” has become a reality. The near and the far have imploded into one another. A new global economy dependent on flexible capital has redefined the parameters of global labor and commodity production. The ideology of free trade seems to have transcended the sovereignty of nations and nation states. We now have multinational and transnational corporations that rely on outsourcing as the most profitable mode of production. But even as globalization is taking place as if it were a fait accompli (a done deal), there is furious resistance to globalizations from many perspectives. There is the suspicion that globalization is increasing the gap between rich and poor. In addition, there are gross disjunctures among the economic, the political, and the cultural versions of globalization. Despite the so-called tearing down of walls and boundaries in the name of a global worldliness, the policing of borders continues unabated; and racism and ethnocentrism and xenophobia are on the increase. Globalization seems to work on behalf of the interests of the developed nations and at the expense of the developing nations who are condemned to play a chronic game of catch-up. The diasporic movement of people across the globe presents a parallel picture. As a result of movements, the very definition of home is changing rapidly as immigrant populations renegotiate the relationship between their original homes and their present locations. As they become citizens in their new locale, they are also subjected to racialization, minoritization, and cultural alienation. Issues such as multiculturalism, multilingualism, ethnic hyphenation, fusion and hybridity, assimilation and naturalization, identity politics, loss of authenticity, and the politics of representation take on a very special charge in the context of the diaspora. Just as in the context of globalization, here too, disjunctures and discontinuities play a crucial role as diasporic populations attempt to reconcile the history of their past with the history of their present. As they endeavor to translate their displacement into an emerging sense of belonging, diasporic subjects reconceptualize the relationship between individuality and collectivity, between the personal and the political, between the private and the public.
This objective of this course is to understand and analyze “globalization” “racialization,” and “diaspora” with reference to one other. The course package will consist of a variety of readings drawn from sociology, cultural studies, critical/literary theory, critical race theory, and political economy. Format: Lecture and discussion sections with the TA. 1 take home exam, 1 short paper and 1 long paper.
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| ASIANAM 117 | SEXLTY ASAM FLM&VID | 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 139 | ASIANAM & EDUCATION | SHAO-KOBAYASHI, S. | Same as EDUCATION 155. This course offers an introduction to educational issues Asian Americans encounter in both historical and contemporary American society. We will focus on topics that impact U.S. born and immigrant Asian Americans including education policies, racial implications within the public education system, and cross- and intra-racial and ethnic peer relationships within K-12 and post-secondary education. The class will discuss topics and issues such as bilingual education, English as a Second Language education, the model minority stereotype, affirmative action, mental illness, and the reconstruction of cross- and intra-racial and ethnic relationships, identities and ideologies among Asian American students within and across school, community and cyberspace contexts. Assignments include response papers, a midterm project and a final paper. |
| ASIANAM 150 | VIET. SHORT STORIES | TRAN, T. | Same as Vietnamese 150: : Vietnamese Short Stories in Translation. The course is taught in English, offering a combination of Vietnamese literature and culture. Students will learn culture through the literary works, comparing and contrasting it with cultural formations in and outside of Vietnam. Also of focus is the
comparison and contrast between Vietnamese culture in Vietnam and how it is maintained and transformed in Vietnamese communities in the United States and other parts of the diaspora. The course contents include assigned readings, classroom discussion, homework assignments, two exams, and a final
term paper. Topics may vary, in which case the course can be repeated for
credits.
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| ASIANAM 151C | KOREAN AMER EXPER | CHO, J. | Same as Social Science 178C: We will investigate the question how do Korean Americans affect the world, and how does the world, in turn, influence Korean Americans? Our study will look at transnational factors that compel Korean Americans to work in global and local, material and imagining, arenas of the Korean “nation;” emerging adoptee activism, culture makers, labor and political organizing, religion, and for Spring 2010: an ethnographic study of Korean American students in the university. Course requirements include essay exams, weekly blog posts, and group presentations. |
| ASIANAM 161 | RACIAL/ETHNIC COMM | LIU, J. | Same as Soc Sci 175B. This course will examine different conceptions of how racial and ethnic communities are formed and maintained as well as the conditions that enable these communities to continue to exist. Contemporary Chinese, Korean, South Asian, and Khmer communities will be looked at to determine the applicability of these varying conceptions. Although the focus is primarily on various Asian American communities, comparison to African American and Latino communities will be made when appropriate. |
| ASIANAM 167 | ASAM & AFAM RELATNS | FUJITA-RONY, D. | Same as AFAM 138, HISTORY 152B. This course will explore the comparative and often connected history of Asian Americans and African Americans in the United States, with particular emphasis on the contemporary era. Themes will include labor, community formation, political mobilization, and cultural expression. Requirements will be a 5-page paper, midterm, final exam, and engaged class participation. |
| ASIANAM 171A | COMPRTV INTL MIGRTN | LIU, J. | Same as Soc 175D. This course examines international migration within the common context created by globalization and Western colonialism and differences resulting from diverse national experiences. Topics to be examined include immigration’s relationship to globalization, different theoretical approaches in understanding immigration, specific patterns of immigration, issues related to transnational and diasporic perspectives, assimilation and multiculturalism. Specific attention will be paid to immigration to Australia, Canada, and the United States, the largest immigrant receiving nations both in the past and present, and to Asian migrants, who played a significant role in defining race/ethnic relations in all three nations and comprise significant components in contemporary immigration to all three nations since World War II. This course meets the Multi-cultural VIIA general education breath requirement. |
| ASIANAM 201 | MOVMENT &DISPLACMNT | VO, L. | |
| ASIANAM 201 | RACE GNDR & SPECIES | KIM, C. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | FUJITA-RONY, D. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | MIMURA, G. | |