Description
Growing out of the explosion of ethnic studies disciplines in American in the 1960s, the term “Asian American” has always been a constructed and contested term. After all, what essential, common experience holds together recent immigrants from Asia with fifth generation Chinese Americans? What do people of Korean descent have in common with those whose parents come from Vietnam?
As the nation enters a purportedly “post-racial” era, it’s a productive time to re-examine the tenets of the previous “multicultural” moment. What were its assumptions about race, ethnicity, and experience? How do contemporary Asian American writers and filmmakers grapple with the increasingly malleable boundaries of the term “Asian American” as comfortable, stable, elements of an essentialized ethnic identity dissolve? We’ll pay particular attention to the effects of contexts created by immigration; generation; class; national, cultural, and political allegiances; sexuality; citizenship; and popular culture. To make these elements concrete, we’ll turn to the literary and cultural production of artists and scholars who address these contexts, and thematize a resistant aesthetic practice while doing it. In essence, we’ll wrestle with this contradiction: to define “Asian American” as a coherent designation is to recognize the specific ruptures where its margins are exceeded.
As a graduate-level introduction to contemporary Asian American literature, culture, and scholarly work, students will use advanced reading, writing, and conversational practices to develop a rich understanding of the complexity of this field.
Grading
Class Participation 15%
Expertise Project 20%
Blog Posts and Comments 15%
Reflective Essay 10%
Research Paper (inc. all drafts) 40%
Grading Scale
A: 93.5—100
A-: 93.4—89.5
B+: 86.5—89.4
B: 79.5—86.4
C: 69.5—79.4
D: 59.5—69.4
F: 59.4 or below
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