| ASIANAM 53 | ASAM &COMP RACE REL | VALAYDEN, C. | The notion of risk is ubiquitous today. We are told that ‘avian flu’ or the SARS virus originating in Asia present health risks to the planet (e.g. as represented in Steven Soderbergh’s movie Contagion), while paradoxically risk-taking on the stock market is celebrated in the media and popular culture. This course looks at the intersection of risk and race in the construction of ‘Asian America.’ We will start by investigating how risk fundamentally defines belonging in modern societies from the late 19th century onwards, and how race simultaneously served to classify and analyze particular events and issues as risk. By looking at how citizenship, public health, residential segregation and environmental issues are analyzed through the frameworks of risk and race, this course provides a new way to understand the evolving construction of Asian American collective identity. We will draw on various academic articles and monographs, photographs, movies, and blogs to enrich our analysis of the role of risk and race in the making of ‘Asian America.’ |