Asian American Studies
214-0-20: Asian-American History

Instructor: Ji-Yeon Yuh
Office address: Harris Hall, Room 207b, 1881 Sheridan Rd, Evanston Campus
Phone: (847) 467-6538
E-mail: j-yuh@northwestern.edu
Office Hours:

Expected Enrollment: 49

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is an introductory survey of the history of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans in the United States. We will examine the experiences of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans from a historically-grounded, interdisciplinary perspective that locates these experiences within the international context of diaspora and labor migration and the domestic context of race relations, nation-building and U.S. prominence as a world power. Reaching back to the earliest encounters of Asians with the Americas, we will discuss how European imperialism and American expansionism shaped those encounters into a history that is often closer in nature to the forced migration of African slaves than to the migration of European settlers. We will examine the ways in which images such as the Yellow Peril and the Model Minority have concrete impact on the lived experience of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans, and explore their significance in American discourse on race and racial difference. The significance of race and ethnicity, class, and gender in the ongoing creation of the American nation and Asian American communities will be an important leitmotif throughout this course. Topics include work and labor; nationalism, nativism and anti-Asian movements, including the internment of Japanese Americans; gender, family and generational change, post-1965 immigration, global restructuring and Asian American communities; civil rights and the emergence of Asian American identities; and Asian Americans and multiculturalism in the so-called post-civil rights era.

TEACHING METHOD: Lectures, readings, films, on-line discussion

EVALUATION METHOD: Course participation, group project, short essay

READING: Ronald Takaki, Pau Hana
Erika Lee, At America’s Gates
Mary Paik Lee, Quiet Odyssey
S. Mitra Kalita, Suburban Sahibs
Rick Bonus, Locating Filipino Americans
Helen Zia, Asian American Dreams.

REQUIRED FILMS:
Bontoc Eulogy, 56 minutes, Marlon Fuentes, 1995
Dollar a Day, Ten Cents a Dance, 29 minutes, Geoffrey Dunn and Mark Schwartz, 1984
Rabbit in the Moon, 85 minutes, Emiko Omori, 1999
Another America, 56 minutes, Michael Cho, 1996
Blue Collar and Buddha, 58 minutes, Kati Johnston and Taggart Siegel, 1988
My America, 85 minutes, Renee Tajima-Pena, 1997

NOTE: Attendance at first class is mandatory.

[Course Descriptions for Fall 2009] [Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences] [ASIAN_AM Asian American Studies]