In the College of Arts and Sciences .
Course Offerings
The Asian American Studies Program is an inter- and multi-disciplinary academic program housed within the College of Arts and Sciences. Its aim is to promote teaching, research, and educational activities related to Asians in the Americas and to serve as a resource to campus and regional communities. The program’s courses, offered within the program and cross-listed with departments in various colleges, meet distribution requirements and count toward a minor in Asian American Studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The undergraduate and graduate minors are recognized by all of Cornell’s colleges.
Website: asianamericanstudies.cornell.edu
Faculty
C. Bacareza Balance, D. Chang, V. Munasinghe
Undergraduate Minor
The program’s undergraduate minor affords students an opportunity to develop a multidisciplinary approach to the study of Asians in the hemispheric Americas. The course of study stresses developments within the United States, but also underscores the transnational and comparative contexts of Asian America. In stressing the intellectual value of comparative analysis, the AAS Minor also draws attention to the ways in which Asian American histories, themes, and concerns are interwoven with, and need to be understood in relation to, those to be found, for example, in the subject matter of African American, American Indian, Latina/o, Feminist, Gender and Sexuality, and Asian studies.
Students must work with a faculty advisor from among the program’s core faculty members and must complete five courses for a minimum cumulative total of fifteen (15) credit hours to be distributed as follows:
- AAS 1100 - Introduction to Asian American Studies
- 2-3 additional courses in Asian American Studies
- 1-2 courses on subjects within the fields of African American, American Indian, Latina/o, Feminist/Gender/Sexuality, or Asian studies.
- Cornell offers many courses that take up this subject matter, courses that are offered through departments and programs for whom these subject areas constitute primary academic foci (e.g., Africana Studies and Research Center, American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, Latina/o Studies Program, Department of Asian Studies) but, also, courses that can be found in a number of other academic units across the university
Students should confirm with their AASP advisor (as early as possible and certainly no later than the beginning of the semester prior to graduation) that the courses selected are eligible to be used to fulfill the requirements for the Asian American Studies Minor. The AASP minor application must be approved by the Asian American Studies Program prior to graduation.
Graduate Minor
The program’s graduate minor invites any Cornell graduate student interested in Asian American studies to craft a program of interdisciplinary study. Faculty expertise spans multiple fields, including anthropology, history, literature, performing & media arts, labor relations, law, human development, psychology, and language, enabling students to develop a graduate minor that meets their specific interests.
Students must complete the following requirements:
- One pro-seminar (including foundational texts and guest speakers from among AASP’s core and affiliated faculty as well as Asian American studies scholars beyond Cornell)
- One additional Asian American Studies course at the 3000, 4000, or 6000 level. Other courses not crosslisted with Asian American Studies may be eligible upon consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies.
- As per graduate school regulations, select one AASP field member to serve as a minor committee member.
Resource Center
The program’s Asian American Studies Resource Center, located in 422 Rockefeller Hall, provides meeting space for undergraduate student organizations. It also holds a modest print collection of books, periodicals, and newspapers; a current news clipping file; a comprehensive database of publications on Asian Americans since 1977; and a sizable collection of videotapes and DVDs as well as music CDs on the Asian American experience. Resource Center staff also maintain the Program and Resource Center website, which includes a national database of Asian American/Pacific Islander-related internships.
Research
The program encourages faculty and student research on Asian Americans by sponsoring guest lectures, conferences, film festivals, readings, and exhibits. It also funds research projects and student travel to conferences and research sites on an ad hoc basis.