Introduction to Asian American Literature
ENGL 230
Spring 2019 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 264, CEAS 231 |
This course surveys how Asia and Asian Americans have figured in the U.S. cultural imaginary from the middle of the 19th century to the present, from Herman Melville's American epic Moby-Dick to Ruth Ozeki's comic novel about transnational television, trade, and activism My Year of Meats. As the choice of these framing texts suggests, we will be exploring two kinds of representations. On the one hand, we will examine the narratives, tropes, and images through which dominant American culture has envisioned its incursions into Asia and the reciprocal movement of Asians into the United States; on the other, we will also explore the ways in which Asian Americans have sought to represent their own varied and uneven encounters with U.S. culture. The course is organized chronologically in order to emphasize the ways in which these cultural artifacts reflect and influence their social and historical contexts. In the latter half of the course, as we enter the period beginning with the 1970s in which Asian American literature becomes an institutional category in its own right, we will add to this historical framework a number of other analytical frames that have emerged from within Asian American Studies itself: cultural nationalism; gender and sexuality; postcoloniality; cultural assimilation; and globalization. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(CEAS-MN)(CEAS)(CEAS-Lit&Cult)(ENGL)(ENGL-Literature) |
Major Readings:
Carlos Bulosan, America is in the Heart
Frank Chin, The Chickencoop Chinaman
Jessica Hagedorn, Dogeaters
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly
Joy Kogawa, Obasan
Chang-rae Lee, A Gesture Life
Ruth Ozeki, My Year of Meats
Karen Tei Yamashita, Through the Arc of the Rainforest
*Additional readings available as library E-Reserves
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Examinations and Assignments:
Attendance and active participation; shorter writing assignments; midterm; longer final paper; presentation. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course meets the Literature of Difference major requirement and contributes to the American Literature and Race & Ethnicity concentrations for the English major. |
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