Asian and Asian American Studies

As one of the most pervasive social institutions of the modern world, media is not only a critical tool of representation, but one of power, expressive culture, and cultural meaning. This AAAS majors seminar will explore the production, circulation, and consumption of media in Asia and Asian Diasporas. The course will cover the late 19th century through the present and explore a wide range of mass-mediated forms, including film, television, advertising, print media, and electronically mediated communication. Media from various parts of Asia and diasporic locations including the US, UK, and Canada will be included. A selection of iconic as well as alternative media in Asia‹including genres such as Kung Fu, Bollywood, Anime, as well as independent productions will be studied, as will Hollywood generated images and alternative expressive forms in diasporas. We will examine media within the broader historical and social contexts in which it is created, the ways in which it is distributed and consumed by individuals and communities, and how it engenders new cultural forms and meanings. Through this lens, we will explore the significance of media in shaping dynamics of identity, gender, sexuality, nationalism, transnationalism, and diaspora. Course readings will draw on Anthropology, Asian American Studies, Cinema Studies, and related fields of study.

This lecture and discussion course takes for its main theme the significance of Asians and their migration, labor and activities to the broad sweep of American history from 1848 to the 1990s. Specific themes include first-wave Asian immigration; labor and enterprise; gender; oppression, debates over citizenship, and exclusion movements; community organization and resistance, including transnationalism; the Asian American movement; Southeast Asian and post-1965 immigration; and anti-Asian violence. Because it is not possible to study every one of the more than 20 groups identified as Asian American in one semester, we will use examples to illustrate larger themes. For majors and non-majors.

*AAAS 280F ASIAN AMERICAN CULTURAL REPRESENTATION - Ku - Tuesday/Thursday, 1:15-2:40

Course examines images, symbols, archetypes, stereotypes,caricatures, and other forms of cultural, ethnic, and racial representations that are commonly associated with Asians in the U.S.and the diaspora. Using inter- and multidisciplinary approaches as well as various textual and visual sources, this course closely interrogates the origin of Asian and Asian American cultural representations, as well as their socio-political consequences and meanings. Popular cultural images considered include the inscrutable Oriental, the model minority, the geisha/Butterfly, the dragon lady, the martial artist, the guru/yogi, the avage/heathen, the speaker of pidgin, the computer nerd, and the terrorist, among many others.

AAAS 280K RELIGIONS, IMMIGRANTS, CONTEMPORARY UNITED STATES - Kuo - Tuesday/Thursday, 11:40-1:05

Religion as a topic has received much attention in immigrant studies,particularly on passages from Europe. As transnational migration draws immigrants around the globe more than ever in U.S. history, the question of religion is only more complicated and complex. While earlier debates on immigrant religions concerned differences among diverse forms of Christianity, in the past few decades, the arrival of massive Asian immigrants brings new lights to the debates. Some questions remain similar, such as how to negotiate social acceptability in America and how to function to sustain ethnic/national identities. Within similarities, however, other questions emerge: religious practices and the right to multiple beliefs, institutional adaptation, multiculturalism and the resurgent issue of assimilation,intercultural relationships and intra-cultural struggles. Course examines religious experiences and practices of diverse immigrant groups from Asia. Includes East and Southeast Asian Buddhists, South Asian Hindus, and Middle East Muslims. Through various approaches course investigates religious experiences on individual, collective, and institutional levels.

Examines the meaning of a multi-racial/cultural Americas. Studies and compares cultural productions of Asian peoples alongside those of different ethnic/cultural groups. Literary and cultural convergences in North America, Caribbean and South America ultimately reveal the plurality and complex interdependencies of Asian, African, Latin, European and indigenous peoples due to colonialism, globalization and transnational phenomena. Course is interdisciplinary and questions assumptions of nation and subject identity. Through comparative study and linkage, the multiplicity and meanings of American citizenship and cultural identity in the U.S. are systematically re-examined.

AAAS 380L EATING ASIAN AMERICA: FOOD, CULTURE AND POLITICS - Ku - Tuesday/Thursday, 4:25-5:50

Examines the significance and meaning of Asian food and food practices in the U.S. and the diaspora. Using inter-multidisciplinary methods and sources (literary, filmic,ethnographic, historical, scientific, etc.),course addresses wide array of culinary and gustatory questions, including: What constitutes an ethnic or national cuisine? What is the relationship between “traditional” and “fusion” cuisine, especially within Asian or Asian American context? What are the gastronomic consequences of global migration, not only of people and cultures but of foodstuffs (fauna, flora, etc.)? Is “authenticity” possible in the diaspora? Must there always be a profit motive behind the exotic palate? (And what’s this I hear about curry not being Indian and the fortune cookie not being Chinese?) By carefully and rigorously exploring these and other food-related questions, course not only provides students with a deeper understanding of Asian American history and culture, but also valuable insight into food and its broader historic, cultural, and political contexts.

Internship with established institution or agency (pre-screened by AAAS program) that works with Asian communities in the U.S. Involves a theory/praxis workshop with AAAS program faculty before interning, a site supervisor's assessment, a written report by the student and a presentation to the full program faculty and interested members of the larger community.

*AAAS 105 INTRODUCTION TO ASIAN PHILOSOPHY - Goodman- Tuesday/Thursday, 1:15-2:40

Covers the basic concepts and teachings of several Asian traditions, including Hinduism, Confucianism and Daoism, with a focus on Buddhism. Readings to include scriptural texts, such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Dao De Jing, and selections from the Pali Canon, as well as the works of Asian philosophers, such as Vasubandhu, Mencius, Zhuang Zi, Shantideva and Candrakirti. Examines such issues as the existence of God, the nature of truth, and the difference between right and wrong.

We live in an age that witnesses significant environmental changes. Pollution, acid rain and deforestation are widespread across the world. Global warming increasingly seems to be a reality. Numerous forms of wildlife are endangered and bio-diversity is threatened. Environmental problems do not always follow national boundaries. Clouds of pollution silently fly across barbed borderlines. In an age of global economy, market demands in one part of the world may dictate environmental changes in a remote region thousands of miles away. The ivory trade in Asia, for example, spells death to many elephants in Africa. Mining and oil production cause serious environment destruction in local areas, but they also keep industrial societies running. Traditional national history, therefore, simply cannot explain many urgent environmental problems we are facing today. Course examines world environmental history from prehistoric times to the present, with an emphasis on the past 500 years. Begins by looking at the ancient agricultural civilizations and other modes of human societies in the world, then examines the environmental history of medieval Europe and of imperial China. Bulk of course devoted to studying European expansion and ecological imperialism, environmental history of late imperial and modern China and American environmental history. Finally, considers the rise of local and international conservation movements and environmentalism, ongoing environmental changes (for example, the green revolution, rapid population growth and urbanization in developing countries, etc.), and the important question of where we are heading.

Broad introduction to geography of East Asia from a global interdependency perspective. Six topics examined in terms of interaction between East Asia and the West: U.S., the New World and the West place name system; Agricultural Regions, Buddhism in China; East Asian practices in Western medicine; formation post-Columbian East Asia; religion, democracy, communism and fascism.

AAAS 280J INDIA-SOUTH ASIA: NEW WORLD ORDER - Jain - Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10:50-11:50

Course is designed to introduce students to international relations of South Asia comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, from the cold war period to present. Will evaluate reasons for existing tensions between India and Pakistan on interconnected core issues of cross-border terrorism. Will also examine challenges to and future of ongoing political and nuclear confidence building measures undertaken by India and Pakistan to resolve outstanding bilateral disputes. Other areas will include India's relations with Bangladesh and Nepal.

Is ‘Asia’ a narrative of one’s own making? Can it ever be? Contemporary ‘Asia’, not as simply given but as constantly in formation through complex, multi-layered narratives of continent, nation, diaspora, colonization and globalization, is the focus of the course. How is contemporary ‘Asia’ produced, if it is, by the poetics and politics of how we know, remember, imagine? By the tensions, the upheavals, and the shifts of power and meaning that these activities engender? Where cultural, economic, and artistic interpretations of ‘Asia’ offered by new generations produce a plurality of ‘Asias’, what sorts of differences does that make? The class will emphasize recent transnational feminist, queer, and diasporic theory and cultural interpretation, film, new media technologies, and activist practices by writers and visual artists such as Amitava Kumar, Rey Chow, Trinh T:. Minh-ha, Deepa Mehta, Myung Mi Kim, Kimiko Hahn, Gayatri Spivak, Kim Soo-Ja.

AAAS 380B WORLD WAR II AND ITS AFTERMATH, Bix - Tuesday/Thursday, 1:15-:40

Lectures on Japan's experience of World War II. Particular attention will be given to the underlying causes of the "Asia-Pacific War" of 1931-45, decision making in Tokyo and Washington, how each side fought, the war crimes that Japanese and American soldiers committed during the fighting, the lessons they drew from their wars, and the consequences that followed. This term special attention will be given to the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the ensuing U.S.-Soviet cold war. There will be a midterm paper (eight pages) and a final report (eight to nine pages). The goal will be to cut through myths and deepen understanding of war and its consequences.

The course examines the images, roles, and experiences of women in Asian religious traditions (primarily Buddhism, Confucianism, and Hinduism) both historically and through the lens of feminist theory. Discussion issues include: attitudes towards female embodiment and female spiritual capacity in religious doctrine and practice; gender norms and roles; women’s religious experiences and achievements; exemplary women; the worship of goddesses and other female deity; and feminist interpretation and reconstruction. Phenomenological methods will be supplemented by historical analysis and feminist critical theories.

Course seeks to develop undersanding of driving forces behind increasing engagement and interaction between India and U.S. in diverse fields of mutual interest, beginning with the visit of President Clinton to India in March 2000. Aim is to discuss and evaluate evolving strategic partnership in defense, military, international terrorism, civilian nuclear and space technology, high technology trade fields through case studies, futuristic trends and scenarios in their multidimensional relationship in order to assess prospects for peaceful and stable political world order.

AAAS 385D STATES AND MARKETS IN EAST ASIA- Lee - Tuesday/Thursday, 2:509-4:15

Emergent diasporic and feminist narratives, drawn primarily from recent African and Asian visual productions, literatures, and theorizings, will be the focus of the class. Motile debris, the residue of post-, neo-, and trans- colonial implosions, scatters everywhere, not into a collection of readily identifiable categories, but into a fractious gnawing at the marrow of contemporary life. Ever in relation to memory and vast forgetting, omissions, burials, and denials, the course will examine the critical implications and promise of narratives that persistently erode predictable parameters, that inhabit transborder flows, unstable dimensions, gelatinous intervals and glossy strands. Such chancy narratives, animated by the gravitational push, or pull, of borders, longings and luminous habitations, are themselves pierced with incongruous linkages and the ambiguity of unknown error. Do such entangled narrative forms render ecologies of survival? Student projects for the course may be in any medium.

Course seeks to sort out multi-layered processes that create, perpetuate, and challenge stratification and inequalities within and across societies. Focus moves from global context to that of US, whereby students will analyze their own location within power and wealth structures. Emphasis on interconnectedness of global, regional, national, and local realities, contemporary and historical, as they affect lives of people in everyday domains. Addresses the marginalization as well as highlights resistance of those denied equal opportunities.

Course will explore issues of access and retention in higher education. Historical and current issues of access and theories of departure and retention will be covered. More specifically, course will look at studies that focus on experiences and perspectives of Latino/a, African American and Asian Pacific American students on college campuses. Using the framework of social justice and equity, this course will also look at understanding how systemic and institutional structures ultimately affect the experience and retention of historically underrepresented groups.

AAAS 480M MOVING PICTURES: TRANSNATIONALISM - Mehta - Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10:50-11:50

Course will situate film in transnational and global contexts. Along with scholars and critics, we will examine transnational connections in film production, exhibition, and reception. The course begins with the assumption that national cinemas do not exist in isolation. Rather, they are shaped by external stylistic influences, the circulation of filmmakers and practices between various film cultures and the impact of the global film economy on national film industries. Our task will be to try to understand the complex network of cross-cultural, economic and artistic exchanges which have taken place amongst various national film industries. Furthermore, we will analyze films by and about migrants that challenge us to rethink established notions of national cinemas. We will explore how experiences of migration, dislocation, and exile are visualized in cinema. Some of the topics that will be covered in the course include orientalism & Hollywood; nation & national cinema; the construction of gender & sexuality; independent transnational cinema; tourism; transnational audiences; film festivals; and auto-ethnography.

Tutorial or seminar study of special problems that meets needs of advanced students.

Overview of the structure of the Korean language, discussing the relevant analyses of a certain structure. Based on readings of the text, students discuss the adequacy of the analyses, including the generalizations, and consider expanded sets of data. Touches on the general areas of Korean linguistics, from Korean language background to socio-linguistics. Each week, students are required to complete the assigned readings specified in the syllabus and encouraged to read the related literature if possible. They are strongly advised to further investigate the issues before class meetings and reach their own conclusions concerning the adequacy of the analyses presented in the books.

AAAS 240 KOREAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE: PRE 20th CENTURY - Pettid -Tuesday/Thursday, 4:25-5:50

Introduces pre-modern Korean society and culture through literary works of various genres, dramatic performances, music, rituals and cultural practices. Overall, enables students to have a better understanding of the cultural practices of pre-modern Korea (i.e., pre-1900). Primary materials used are literary works (in translation) and these are supplemented with discussions on cultural practices, religious worldviews, popular culture and daily-life habits. Moreover, where possible, recordings and film are used to help students better understand this period.

AAAS 280A CONTEMPORARY CHINESE LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION - Kaldis - Tuesday/Thursday, 6:00-7:30

This course introduces important Chinese works of fiction and poetry of the 20th century, tracing the development of modern Chinese literature from the reaction against traditional literature and the classical language in the teens and twenties through the reaction against socialist realism and “Maospeak” beginning in the late 1970s. In addition to analyzing the relationship between literature and its historical context, students will also be introduced to some theoretical approaches used in the study of Chinese literature and culture. No prior knowledge of Chinese language or culture is required.

Surveys representative Japanese films produced between the 1930s and 1980s. Furthers understanding and appreciation of Japanese culture and society. Examines cinematic styles and thematic concerns of major directors of the "humanist school" (Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Ozu) as well as those of post-1960 "New Wave" filmmakers (Oshima, Shinoda, Imamura). Works are analyzed both in relation to the cinematic tradition and the values and conflicts characteristic of pre-modern and modern Japan. Special attention devoted to the representation of figures distinctive to Japanese culture, such as the samurai and the geisha, and to institutions such as the family. Ample consideration given to cultural, historical, social and political context. Works include THE SEVEN SAMURAI, SANSHO THE BAILIFF, TOKYO STORY, HARAKIRI, DOUBLE SUICIDE, CRUEL STORY OF YOUTH, VENGEANCE IS MINE, GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (anime) and THE FAMILY GAME.

AAAS 282D TRADITIONAL JAPANESE LITERATURE AND CULTURE - Stahl - Tuesday/Thursday, 10:05-11:30

Surveys representative works of poetry and prose from the first thousand years of Japanese literary history. Develops appreciation and understanding of 1) classical literature through detailed, in-depth examination of the origins, formation and evolution of the Japanese (waka) poetic tradition and its significance to other literary genres and; 2) Japanese culture, society, aesthetics and perspectives on existence, nature, human experience and human relationships as reflected in traditional writings. These goals will be realized by discussing and analyzing traditional works in Japanese terms (thus students learn, and learn to use, essential Japanese literary terminology). Particular attention given to historical and political context.

Close reading of historical, philosophical and literary texts written in the classical Chinese language, including selections from the Analects (Lunyu), Historical Records (Shiji) and Tang poetry. Students develop vocabulary and grammatical structure essential to the reading of classical Chinese texts while improving their understanding of Chinese literary heritage and human experience in the broad context of Chinese history.

NOTE: Courses denoted with an asterik (*) are also part of the AAAS major core requirements.