| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|
| ASIANAM 60C | INT ASIA AMR ST III | KIM, C. | Same as Soc Sci 78B. This class will cover the major issues affecting Asian Americans in the post-World War II era, particularly in regard to race, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality. Topics will include labor, immigration, colonialism, community formation, public policy agendas, political participation, education, and cultural production. The requirements will be a mid-term, a final exam, and participation in discussion section. |
| ASIANAM 100W | RSCH METH/FIELD RES | VO, L. | This seminar will introduce students to a range of key methodological issues in Asian American Studies. The readings are organized around questions, approaches, and critiques that will help students develop technical skills in qualitative research and analysis, as well as examine how researchers have studied the demographic transformations, economic restructuring, and political changes that shape social relations. We will gain a critical understanding of some of the theoretical, empirical, and ethical challenges posed by scholarly research in the humanities and social sciences. In addition, we will discuss "voice" which can refer to literal, direct forms of expression such as interviews, personal testimonies, and oral histories; and more broadly, as well to forms of symbolic representation such as photographs, videos, and other cultural texts. Students are required to complete a fieldwork research project, a presentation, and short writing assignments. |
| ASIANAM 110 | AFAM & ASIANAM LIT | HUA, L. | This course focuses on a selection of novels written from the perspective of Black and Vietnamese daughters in search of maternal genealogy. With the aid of literary and cultural criticism, we will examine the gendered pressures experienced by mothers and daughters of the diaspora. Novels will include: Unburnable by Marie-Elena John, Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, Grass Roof, Tin Roof by Dao Strom, and Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao. |
| ASIANAM 114 | ASNAM LIT/FLM ADAPT | SHROFF, B. | This course analyzes the historical context within which Asian American texts have been adapted into films. There is a vast body of Asian American Literature but very few texts have been adapted to cinema since issues of audience and market are primary considerations. A historical context demonstrates how representations of Asian Americans have changed from the stereotypical images in the 1920s to self-representations by Asian American writers and filmmakers in contemporary times. We analyze different literary genres such as novels and dramas and short stories, for example Jhumpa Lahiri's novel, The Namesake, Le Ly Hayslip's memoir When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, David Henry Hwang's drama, M. Butterfly and Philip Kan Gotanda's drama, The Wash. Cinematic adaptations/versions of literary texts sometimes retitle and reconstruct texts as suitable for a mass audience such as Heaven and Earth directed by Oliver Stone, and others such as Hot Summer Winds directed by Emiko Omori based on two Hisaye Yamamoto short stories, Seventeen Syllables and Yoneko's Earthquake. We employ literary and film theory in reading the novels and plays to analyze language, structure, characterization and historical representation. We also discuss how the literary form translates into a visual medium, and the modifications of story/plot and characterization for the screen--for instance, how dramas lend themselves to screen adaptation more easily than do novels. We interrogate the strengths of each medium such as the scope of the fictional framework, and the spatial and temporal capabilities of the cinematic medium. |
| ASIANAM 116 | ASIANAM POP CULTURE | BALANCE, C. | This course begins with the recent Asian American YouTube phenomenon as a launching point for discussing 1) independent media by and 2) mainstream popular representations of Asians/Asian Americans throughout U.S. cultural history. Employing theories of cultural studies, media studies, and performance studies, we will discuss the style and impact of various popular cultural forms and representations created by, for, and about Asians/Asian Americans. This course will examine popular cultural genres/media: zines/blogs/indie publishing, karaoke & cover performances, documentary & narrative film, television/variety shows, theatre/stand-up comedy, and popular music. It will focus on themes/issues raised by the recent YouTube explosion—the transnational/domestic nature of Asian America, the archiving & distribution of oppositional performances & politics, participatory culture, and the “phantasms of Orientalness.” Course assignments include: lecture/discussion sections, weekly reading responses, midterm, online group project/presentation, and a short final writing assignment. Contact Prof. Balance at cbalance@uci.edu for an authorization code for this course. Same as Film & Media Studies 130. |
| ASIANAM 150 | ASAM WMN HEALTH III | TRIEU, S. | This is the final installment of a 3-quarter course that provides intensive training in social science research methods within the context of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) women and public health. Students will continue to learn about API women’s health issues both locally and nationally. Students use research findings as a foundation to develop campus and community projects and campaigns. Students are expected to share project strategies and findings with students, family members, community-based organizations, policymakers, funders and governmental entities. This is done through presentations, fact sheets, educational forums and other methods that students identify at local, statewide or national venues. Lastly, students will have an opportunity to work in groups on preparing a manuscript to be submitted to a peer-review journal. |
| ASIANAM 151C | KOREAN AMER EXPER | CHO, J. | We will investigate the question how do Korean Americans affect the world, and how does the world influence Korean Americans? Our study will look at transnational factors that compel Korean Americans to work in global, local, material, and imagining arenas of the Korean “nation.” The first half of the course introduces ethnographic research, studies of pre-immigration racial identity, history of U.S.-Korea relations, and issues of religion, gender, and family, in connection to our core reading on Korean American students in the university. The second half examines contemporary racial formation, political organizing, adoptee social movements, and imagining the future of Korean American community through emerging cultures.
Class meetings will primarily be dedicated to discussion and small group work, with occasional screenings and guest speakers. |
| ASIANAM 162 | ASIAN AMER WOMEN | VO, L. | This course focuses on the intersection of ethnicity, race, class, gender, generation, and sexuality in the lives of Asian American women. We will analyze the historical and contemporary cultural, social, political, and economic forces that shape their life experiences in the United States and in transnational communities. In this regard, we will consider the diversity of their ethnic experiences and the commonalities of their social histories. Additionally, our focus is to discover the voices and agency of women from the various ethnic groups, in order to understand how they are critically and creatively responding with strategies of resistance, social change, and coalition-building. Students will examine conceptual frameworks that link theory to concrete individual and collective experiences. Course requirements include a mid-term exam, analysis paper, and final exam. |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | BALANCE, C. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | KIM, C. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | LEE, J. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | VO, L. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | FUJITA-RONY, D. | |