01 MTH3 CAC 10372 CHOI MU-11
This course same as 050:377:01
Crises and Debates in Asian American Literature and Culture
This course offers an opportunity to read widely in the field of Asian American and diasporic literature. We will cover the foundational debates, central issues, and canonical literary texts that have grounded the study of Asian racial formation in the United States and established Asian American literature as a discipline. But we will also read lesser known or more recent works that reflect the constantly evolving conceptualization of this literary category. Throughout the course, particular attention will be given to situating our texts in the transnational historical contexts that have shaped Asian lives in the United States since the late-nineteenth century to the present. These contexts include (but are not limited to) Asian exclusion, U.S. imperial wars in Asia, global movements for decolonization, and global capitalism. Drawing from an archive that varies widely in genre and form (novels, short stories, essays, memoirs, poetry, translations, and film) we will explore how writers of Asian descent look beyond national frameworks to push towards new political horizons.