As a trade, military, and diplomatic discourse which has been formalized through measures such as the Transpacific Trade Partnership, the transpacific names the connections that have been forged across continents along historical routes of Western imperialism. The Transpacific in this regard serves as another reminder that promises of global connection often maintain imperial and neocolonial power - only, this time, certain Asian states’ capital and military power are also on the rise. However, the Transpacific as a theoretical turn in Asian American cultural studies has offered new possibilities for thinking with artists, organizers, and critics who have responded to these crises of mass displacement, nuclear militarization, and planetary extinction to imagine new forms of attachment across and with the planet in spite and because of promises of the global.
This seminar will provide an introduction to Asian American cultural studies, the Transpacific turn, and Indigenous response through a brief survey of theoretical, literary, and cultural texts by Asian North American, Asian Anglophone, and Pacific Islander authors that focus on displaced people, perpetual migrants, oceans, and other figures that challenge liberal U.S.-centric frameworks of model minorities, claiming America, and intergenerational conflict. Along the way, we will challenge the current state of Transpacific studies through conversations with postcolonial theory, area studies, Transatlantic Black studies, and hemispheric studies toward new visions of the planet. Assignments will be aimed toward professionalization and may include teaching and research presentations, research reviews, and conference paper writing. Reading requirement will average one novel and three critical chapters or articles per week. Authors may include Chang-rae Lee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Craig Santos Perez, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Lisa Lowe, Erin Suzuki, Michelle N. Huang, Habiba Ibrahim, and Dean Saranillio.
Keywords: Asian American, Pacific Rim, multiethnic, postcolonial, area studies