What do we mean when we say, “Asian American” or “Asian America”? Emerging from student activist movements in the 1960s and 1970s, these two terms signify an imagined community of highly diverse ethnic populations with very distinct cultural histories. In this way, “Asian American” and “Asian America” are social and political constructions that help us to think conceptually about nationhood, citizenship, identity, and belonging. This course explores literary and cultural production by and about Asian Americans from the nineteenth century to the present. We will analyze key concepts in Asian American Studies, including racism, empire, militarism, and activism; examine plantations, internment camps, and digital media platforms as social spaces; and engage a variety of textual modes and media to interrogate the constructed, pan-ethnic nature of Asian America as an imagined nation. (Not offered 2024-25).

1 unit

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