| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASIANAM 51 | THE U.S. & ASIA | WU, J. | This course explores how the relationship between the U.S. and Asia has shaped Asian America. The lectures, readings, and discussions will focus on how war and militarism, international relations, and globalization, predominantly during the second half of the 20th century, have influenced migration, racialization, politics, economic practices, sexuality, family formation, and activism among Asian Americans. The category of Asian American encompasses diverse groups of peoples who differ in terms of ethnicity, citizenship, motivations for migration, generational status, socio-economic class, and so on. However, all these groups have collectively tended to be racialized as foreign in the U.S. context, as extensions of their respective Asian countries and culture. Some Asian Americans also identify with their ancestral countries and cultures, and have vested political, economic, and cultural interests in Asia as well as the U.S. This course examines how the international shapes the local and the national in the U.S. context as well as how individuals and communities navigate complex global relationships. |
| ASIANAM 100W | RSCH METH/FIELD RES | VO, L. | Explores various research methodologies for Asian American Studies combining theoretical knowledge with field research. Goals: conduct field research about immigrants and refugees from Asia. Topics vary: migration and labor, assimilation and cultural preservation, cultural expressions in the diaspora. |
| ASIANAM 110 | CA IN ASAM FICTION | LEE, J. | If the worn truism—“as California goes, so goes the nation”—holds water, then what does the fiction written by California’s Asian Americans suggest about the past, present, and future of the United States? What vision does California’s Asian American writers bring to other Asian Americans, to other Americans? And what do these works say about those of us who live in this state, arguably the most diverse in the world? Do we who live in California recognize the California represented in these stories? And is there a California that we’d rather not see? What is the “best” way to write fiction about California? These are some of the critical questions that we will pursue throughout the quarter. Reading both short story and novel, historical and contemporary, immigrant and “longtime Californ,” we will chart the cultural and cognitive map of Asian Americans writing in and about this wondrous geography. Authors include Ronyoung Kim, Hisaye Yamamoto, Brian Ascalon Roley, Fae Ng, Karen Tei Yamashita, and Aimee Phan. |
| ASIANAM 112 | ASAM ART HISTORY | BALANCE, C. | This course takes the visual arts and culture -- its practices, strategies, forms of display, exhibition, and writing -- as its focus for discussing the wide range of social, cultural, and political issues in Asian America. For most of the quarter, we will focus on artists of Asian descent who live and work in the U.S. But we will also consider contemporary Asian artists who travel between the U.S. and Asia as well as those living abroad, with particular focus on Southeast Asia and the Philippines. Artwork slides, artists' videos, performances, and online portfolios, documentary film and other forms of visual culture will be used throughout the quarter to exemplify course topics. Guest lectures from artists will also be part of our course and visits to contemporary exhibitions, artist talks, and other public programs and events will be scheduled. Course assignments include: weekly reading responses, midterm, online group project, and final writing portfolio. |
| ASIANAM 150 | VIETNAM WAR | WU, J. | This course explores the origins, history, and legacies of the U.S. War in Viet Nam through the lens of Asian American Studies. Although commonly referred to as the Viet Nam War, the U.S. conflict in Viet Nam was preceded by anti-colonial wars by the Vietnamese against the French. In addition, the conflict expanded well beyond the borders of Viet Nam into other parts of Southeast Asia. The also wars sparked a worldwide, anti-war movement and generated significant refugee and diasporic migration to the U.S. and elsewhere. The readings and discussions for this course will draw upon multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship as well as personal narratives, visual art, and creative writing to illuminate multiple ways to understand the U.S. Wars in Southeast Asia. We will pay particular attention to the significance of the U.S. Wars in Southeast Asia for Asian American communities. The wars helped to create an Asian American political identity in the late 1960s, refugee Southeast Asian communities in the 1970s, as well as tensions among these various communities regarding war, trauma, political identity, and transnationalism. |
| ASIANAM 151D | VIET AMER EXPER | LE-HUYNH, N. | Studies the resettlement of Vietnamese in the United States following their exodus from Southeast Asia. Topics discussed include the Vietnam War, the 1975 evacuation, boat and land refugees, the shaping of Vietnamese communities, and Vietnamese American literature. |
| ASIANAM 151F | SO ASIAN AMER EXP | SHROFF, B. | The class brings together diverse perspectives on the experiences of South Asians in America. South Asian countries include India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh among others. From the historical presence of South Asians in America in the 1920s, to the experience of pop culture like bhangra remix, and the lives of working class taxi drivers in New York City, after 9/11. We examine the experience of South Asians in America as one of multiple belongings, and hybrid identities that are complicated connections between the culture of the U.S. and the homeland. Selected materials include stories by Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, sociological readings on domestic violence, and citizenship dilemmas after 9/11 and selected films like Turbans, Knowing Her Place and Pardes—the latter a Bollywood version of the South Asian in America. Same as SOC SCI 178F. |
| ASIANAM 164 | KINSHIP & BELONGING | BALANCE, C. | This course examines what the queer & feminist studies analytics of kinship & belonging bring to bear upon popular conceptions within Asian American studies. What are the various methodologies & frameworks that have been mobilized throughout U.S. popular history to analyze queer, Asian, and gendered bodies & sociality? How do historical & contemporary examples of alternative kinships within Asian America—bachelor societies, military base prostitution, transnational adoption, diasporic & immigrant communities—challenge traditional notions & fictions of the nuclear family? Likewise, this course focuses on cultural objects—theatre/performance, documentary & narrative film, literature, websites—created by, for, and about Asian/Pacific Americans, with a particular focus on queer & feminist artists. Course requirements include: weekly reading responses, in-class presentations, online group project, and a final writing assignment. Same as WS 139. |
| ASIANAM 168 | ANIMAL RIGHTS | KIM, C. | Examines animal rights/welfare movement’s efforts to transform moral, practical, and legal standing of nonhuman animals in contemporary U.S. Explores intersection of racism, sexism, and speciesism informed by theories of race and ethnicity, including Asian American Studies. |
| ASIANAM 201 | ASAM ILLNESS & DIS | LEE, J. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | BALANCE, C. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | FUJITA-RONY, D. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | KIM, C. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | LEE, J. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | VO, L. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | LEE, J. | |
| ASIANAM 290 | DIRECTED RESEARCH | WU, J. |