In line with both the “model minority” and “forever foreign” racial tropes, Asian Americans are often viewed as newcomers to the literary and cultural scene. Against this prevailing attitude, this course will introduce readers to central works from across the two centuries of Asian American literatures. Along the way, we will address how authors have used literary texts to reflect, theorize, and negotiate the historical conditions of their existence, as well as how they have used writing to imagine new relationships to formal and cultural citizenship, racism and racialization, gender norms, class and socioeconomic status, and the expansion of U.S. empire during the “American Century.” Further, students will be introduced to key issues in Asian American literary criticism, and the course will culminate in students research and writing criticism of their own.
As a course that meets the DIV requirement, you will be asked to learn about and respectfully discuss issues of racial identity, community, systemic racism, immigration, citizenship, xenophobia, and U.S. imperialism. You are not required to purchase any textbooks for this course, but you are required to download and annotate the scanned digital copies of stories, poems, and essays as though they were any other textbook. As a course that meets the W requirement, the course final will be the culmination of a quarter-long writing project; it will be due during finals week but will be submitted electronically.
The instructor will NOT distribute add codes to students who have not contacted him AND attended the first day of the class.