AAS 1100 - Introduction to Asian American Studies

(CA-AS)

Spring. 4 credits. Student option grading.

D. Wong.

This course introduces students to historical and contemporary issues and research methods in Asian American studies by examining the intersections of theory, activism and cultural production. We will attend to a set of key questions: How does the racial formation of “Asian American” emerge from and produce overlaps and tensions between theory and practice? What are the conceptual and geographical reaches of the term “Asian American,” particularly as it pertains to Asian North American and Pacific Islander studies, and their critiques of settler colonialism and imperialism? What coalitions between Asian Americans and other marginalized groups have been and continue to be forged? The course will examine these questions by thinking about issues of gender, sexuality, nationality, ability and class.