ASIANAM Course Descriptions for 2024-2025

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Spring Course Descriptions
CourseTitleInstructorDescription
ASIANAM 53ASIAN AMER & RACEKIM, C.This course examines the racialization of Asian Americans in the U.S. from the mid-1800s to the present, with special attention to the role structural anti-Blackness has played in shaping the status and experience of Asian Americans.  How have Asian Americans been positioned in, and how have they positioned themselves in, an anti-Black racial order?  Topics to be covered include: Chinese “coolies”; the racial advancement strategies adopted by early Asian immigrants; Japanese American internment and the emergence of the “model minority”; the relationship of the Asian American Movement to the Black Power movement; the Los Angeles uprising of 1992; the politics of disposability around Hurricane Katrina; and cutting-edge developments in the fight over affirmative action in higher education.
ASIANAM 114ASNAM LIT/FLM ADAPTSHROFF, B.This course analyzes the historical context in which Asian American literary texts have been adapted into films. This context illustrates how representations of Asian Americans have evolved from the stereotypical images of the 1920s to the self-representations by Asian American writers and filmmakers today. We examine various literary genres, such as novels, plays, and short stories, including Mohsin Hamid's novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Le Ly Hayslip's memoir, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, and David Henry Hwang's play, M. Butterfly.

We explore how the literary form translates into a visual medium by modifying the story and characterization for the screen. For example, dramas adapt to screen format more easily than novels. We examine the strengths of each medium, including the scope of the literary text and the spatial-temporal capabilities of cinema.
ASIANAM 130UNDOCUMENTD IMM EXPSTAFFThis course will explore the laws and policies that shape the everyday experiences of undocumented immigrants in the United States. We will cover various topics including the historical production of the undocumented population in the U.S., demographic trends, the educational, work, and family lives of undocumented immigrants, immigrant rights activism, and the shifting policy terrain including the impact of DACA and its rescission. We will pay attention to the diversity of undocumented immigrant experiences, including differences by racial/ethnic background, age of migration, and life stage. You will have the opportunity to engage in a collaborative project to develop deeper knowledge about a single issue related to undocumented immigration and/or immigrants. I approach this course as a sociologist but we will be tapping scholarship from a wide variety of scholarly disciplines: sociology, political science, economics, history, anthropology, education, public health, art, and public policy.
ASIANAM 151CKOREAN AMER STUDIESCHO, J.This course introduces histories of Korean Americans from the early 20th century to the present. We will investigate how social, cultural, political, and economic forces in the United States, in Korea, and around the world impact ways in which Korean Americans develop their identities and communities. The first half of the course examines autobiographical accounts on early migration to the U.S., ethnographic study on racial identity, history of U.S.-Korea military and cultural relations, immigration factors, and intergenerational religious practices. We will further study how Korean Americans have and continue to negotiate intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, in projects of political and community organizing, adoptee social movements, undocumented youth, and fluidity in “ways to be Korean” consciousness-work throughout the Korean diaspora.

Class meetings will primarily be dedicated to discussion and small group work, with occasional media screenings and possible guest speakers.
ASIANAM 162ASIAN AMER WOMENQUINTANA, I.This upper-division undergraduate course is designed to introduce students to the study of gender in Asian American Studies, with a specific focus on women. Using intersectional frameworks, we will examine how Asian American women have experienced, challenged, and acceded to power. Additionally, we will learn about individual Asian American women, whose activism and ideas help us to better understand the world and the choices we have in making it.
ASIANAM 199INDEPENDENT STUDYWU, J.
ASIANAM 199INDEPENDENT STUDYVO, L.
ASIANAM 199INDEPENDENT STUDYQUINTANA, I.
ASIANAM 199INDEPENDENT STUDYLEE, J.
ASIANAM 199INDEPENDENT STUDYLEE, J.
ASIANAM 199INDEPENDENT STUDYKIM, C.
ASIANAM 199INDEPENDENT STUDYFUJITA-RONY, D.
ASIANAM 290DIRECTED RESEARCHWU, J.
ASIANAM 290DIRECTED RESEARCHVO, L.
ASIANAM 290DIRECTED RESEARCHQUINTANA, I.
ASIANAM 290DIRECTED RESEARCHLEE, J.
ASIANAM 290DIRECTED RESEARCHLEE, J.
ASIANAM 290DIRECTED RESEARCHKIM, C.
ASIANAM 290DIRECTED RESEARCHFUJITA-RONY, D.
ASIANAM 291DIRECTED READINGWU, J.
ASIANAM 291DIRECTED READINGVO, L.
ASIANAM 291DIRECTED READINGQUINTANA, I.
ASIANAM 291DIRECTED READINGLEE, J.
ASIANAM 291DIRECTED READINGLEE, J.
ASIANAM 291DIRECTED READINGKIM, C.
ASIANAM 291DIRECTED READINGFUJITA-RONY, D.
ASIANAM 399UNIVERSITY TEACHINGKIM, C.