Please note that most courses offered by or cross-listed with Asian American Studies fulfill at least one of the Pluralism and Diversity Requirements even if the Hunter College Schedule of Classes does not indicate them as such. Most - if not all - AASP courses fulfill Group B, and many others fulfill Groups A and C. Courses not indicated as fulfilling one of the P & D requirements in the Schedule of Classes may be petitioned to do so. For more informatedent. If you are considering a minor in Asian American 390Studies, we recommend that you take ASIAN 210.00 (Asians in the U.S.) in the early stages of your minor coursework.

For continuously updated course information, please visit the Hunter College Online Schedule of Classes and click on the course title for information regarding cross-listed courses and GER requirements.

Courses Currently Offered by the AASP

Please see the Hunter College Online Schedule of Classes for updated information!

Asian 210: Asians in the U.S.

Asian 210 is an interdisciplinary introduction to key topics in Asian American Studies, where students through active reading and discussion examine the history of Asian migration to the U.S.; historic and contemporary issues in Asian American communities; the social construction of race in the U.S.; and Asian American political, economic, and cultural contributions to the larger fabric of U.S. culture.

Meets P&D Group B. Cross-listed with SOC 225.07 & URBS 403.65.

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 210. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 220: Survey of Asian American Literature

Critical examination of a cross-section of literature and film/video/performance by Asian American writers and artists in an interdisciplinary investigation of the historical and contemporary experiences of Asians in the United States and western diaspora. Course emphasis is placed on an intersectional analyses of the social constructions of class, gender, sexuality, and race.

Meets P&D Group B & GER 2/C. Cross-listed with ENGL 250.96.

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 220. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 220.01: Asian American Women Writers

In Asian 220.01, we will read a range of literary texts – some short stories and poems, but primarily novels – written by Asian American women. In our discussions of these readings, we will explore questions of identity formation in relation to factors such as racial ideology, global migrations of labor and capital, class status, sexuality, military conflict, geography, and language, all the while examining the role these texts may or may not fill as part of the category of literature considered “Asian American.” As such, what sociohistorical context best helps us enter into the worlds that these works of fiction offer? What concerns do these writers share, and how do they differ in their intentions and modes as Asian American cultural producers?

Meets P&D Group B or C. Cross-listed with ENGL 258.56.

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 220.01. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 220.04: Arab American Literature

Critical examination of a cross-section of literature and film/video/performance by Arab American writers and artists in an interdisciplinary investigation of the historical and contemporary experiences of Arab Americans in the United States and western diaspora. Course emphasis is placed on an intersectional analyses of the social constructions of class, gender, sexuality, and race.

Asian 220.05: South Asian Women Writers

In Asian 220.05, we will read South Asian women writers to examine how colonialism and nationalism have intersected with migration in the formation of the South Asian diaspora.  In the trajectory of this migration, we will learn about how issues of race and nationalism have been shaped and how they have overlapped with gender, class, sexuality, religion, and language.  We will analyze literary, historical, and theoretical texts with a focus on the cultural production and social movements of South Asian women. 

Meets P&D Group B. Cross-listed with ENGL 251.83 & WGS 200.16.

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 220.04. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 220.06: Filipino American Literature

Because the Philippines was once a colony of the United States, from 1899 to 1946, there exists a continuum between literature in English created in the former colony and the literature written by Filipino Americans. Additionally, many contemporary Filipino-American writers were born in the Philippines. The course therefore examines fiction and poetry written in both countries. The course will enable the student to better appreciate both the historical and social contexts in which Philippine-American literature has evolved, and the diverse aesthetics and themes of individual writers, whether they developed in the Philippines or matured as writers in the United States.

Meets P&D Group B. Cross-listed with ENGL 256.50.

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 220.06. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 220.09: Gender & Genre in Asian American Literature

Asian 220.09 explores the social construction of Asian American identity in various genres: video art, prose, poetry, memoir, performance, and film. The emphasis of the course is on intersectional analyses that critically examine how race, gender, class, and sexuality inform Asian American artists' decisions regarding form and genre.

Meets P&D Group B. Cross-listed with ENGL 256.62.

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 220.09. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 320.01: Nation, Self & Asian Identity

Asian 320 is set up to focus on the relationship between the nation-state and the construction of diasporic Asian identity: how do hegemonic forces (e.g. the government, but also other sites of power – the mass media, corporate interests, and the people themselves) depend upon Asian subjects in the framing (and re-framing) of national identities, borders, and transgressions? In the simplest terms, how do Asian subjects fit into our understanding of “us“ and “them“? How, in turn, do Asian diasporic subjects respond to and revolt against these cues?

Meets P&D Group B. Cross-listed with ENGL 390.53.

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 320.01. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

ASIAN 230.02: Asian American Communities & Mental Health

This course is an introduction to the psychological experiences of Asian Americans, including the historical, sociopolitical, and cultural influences that shape personal and mental health. Special emphasis is given to how minority group status, acculturation processes, and bicultural development influence various aspects of identity development and psychological functioning.  Specific topics include stereotypes and racism, processes of acculturation and enculturation, cultural values and behavioral norms, family roles, ethnic identity development, communication styles, gender, interracial relationships, academic and career achievement, stressors and social support systems within Asian communities, psychopathology, and culturally competent mental health treatment and service delivery. Although the course focuses on Asian Americans as a racial group, it is important to keep in mind the many differences in history, culture, and experience within the Asian American Diaspora.

In this class, students will explore the foundational concepts of culture, ethnicity, and race as they relate to Asian Americans at multiple levels (social, community, familial, and individual). The values and meanings shaped by these foundational concepts will help create a lens through which students will explore mental health and challenges in multiple contexts (community, family, individual). Using the foundational concepts, students will consider the values and meanings shaped by culture, ethnicity, and race that influence Asian Americans and mental health. Specific psychological disorders that are particularly relevant for Asian American populations (e.g. depression, intergenerational conflict, and trauma) will be considered.

Meets P&D Group B and GER 2B.

Asian 320.05: Asian American Memoir

This is an inter-disciplinary course whose primary goal is to examine the construction of personal and collective identity through the narrative, whether in the form of personal biography or fiction. We will read and discuss literary texts that encompass a range of experience: from immigration and gendered narratives to explorations of longing and belonging but all of them containing insights into the personal lives and histories of various Asian Americans. In addition we will also read relevant essays and screen selected videos. Above all, we will explore the formation of subjective identities and the roots of memory: how, what, when, and why we remember. The course will require oral presentations and writing of personal essays relevant to the text being investigated.

Meets P&D Group B. Cross-listed with ENGL 318.55.

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 320.05. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

ASIAN 320.06: Passport Readings: Writings on Departures & Arrivals

This course is designed as a hands-on workshop and seminar originating primarily from Amitava Kumar's book Passport Photos and the anthology Asian Americans on War and Peace -- the first published before 9/11 and the second right after that event. Both works offer perspectives on the immigrant experience; on racialization and war, violence, and peace; and utilize prose, essay, and poetic approaches to articulate what it means to be living in a post-9/11 generation.

This course will introduce critical writings by Asian Americans from a primarily post-9/11 perspective in relation to topics of migration, 9/11, racial profiling, youth, and artistic production. Students will do a collective class project with New York as the focus, resulting in a public community reading of student works at Hunter College.  Most of the work will center upon writings and images in relation to the greater New York area, including its ethnic and racial communities. Prof. Leong will help students with their writing projects and their public presentations in the form of short prose, poetry, or multimedia presentations that include video.

This is an interactive class that combines textual learning with actual production of original materials. It is multiethnic, multiracial and multigendered in intent; the class is open to all regardless of race, ethnicity, language, religion, or sexual orientation. Asian American texts will be used as a catalyst for broader discussions in the class.

Meets P&D Group B.

Asian 321: Asian American Social Protest Literature

Asian 321 utilizes literatures of Asian American social protest from the past and present as tools in the research, mobilization, and realization of student-initiated community-based projects. Literature will be the foundation of this course, and action will be its end result. To begin these projects, we must first expand the meaning of “social protest” and look at how these words both liberate and constrict us in our conception of ourselves as agents of change. Student projects are intended to effect some form of transformation, but the scope and nature of that change must be determined by the student’s willingness to challenge what she or he conceives of as an “activist” effort. So, we will remain generous and flexible in our collective understandings of social protest and activist practices: some students may seek to organize a large-scale movement or develop a community-based initiative, whereas others may attempt to teach a family member how to speak English or tutor a friend in preparation for the citizenship examination. All projects have equal value: for this class, what will determine the quality of each endeavor is the student’s level of engagement and thoughtfulness, as well as her/his willingness to invest not only in individual success, but also in that of the class.

Meets P&D Group B. Cross-listed with ENGL 398.81.

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 321. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 330.08: Muslim Diasporas

Muslim Disaporas is an interdisciplinary course moving through the history of Islam and its expressions in many areas of the world (including Sufism), to the cultural identity, art, and literature of the Muslim Diaspora in the United States, their mis-portrayal in the media, and fetishization by popular culture. Curriculum includes studying works of literature, comedy, theater, film/TV, music and art. Requirements include a class project (group presentation) outlining the timeline of world areas with Muslim populations throughout history, short reports on field trips, midterm paper and final revision. First book for class: Excerpts from the Koran.

Meets P&D Group B.

Asian 330.10: Asian Americans and Education

The goal of this course is to provide an overview of the schooling experiences of Asian Americans. Reading a variety of texts we will examine the historical, social, economic, and political contexts of the educational experiences of Asian Americans. We will analyze scholarly and popular media texts that frame and explain the various educational experiences of Asian Americans. Students will learn about issues such as the social construction of race, culture and identity; the model minority myth; social class; and the role of the family in Asian American and immigrant experiences. We will explore how such concepts overlap and intersect to inform dominant discourses and then explore alternative theoretical perspectives. Finally, students will learn to be critical thinkers and writers through persistent engagement with the course content.

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 330.10. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 330.52: Oral History, Cultural Identity and the Arts

Oral History is a complex process in the creation of artistic projects across the disciplines: documentary film, theatre, book arts, exhibitions, web art, public radio, etc. This course offers training in interviewing and editing techniques, and looks at the impact of "truth-telling" on the people we interview, their families and friends, ourselves and the culture at large. Research explores the balance in accurately reflecting the realities and integrity of the people represented while staying true to the vision of the artist/creator and addresses some of the following questions: Who has a right to a story? How do we represent people with different experiences than our own? What are the nuances in understanding needed for representing people in our own culture and identity or those from a different cultural or class background? Readings include (but are not limited to): Greg Halpern's Harvard Works Because We Do; Art Spiegelman's Maus I & II; Ira Berlin, et.al (eds) Remembering Slavery; Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan's Crossing the BLVD; Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn's Oral History of Hip-Hop's First Decade Yes Yes Y'all; as well as works by Studs Terkel, Anna Deveare-Smith, and articles and theory on oral history as a field of study. Guest lectures by filmmakers, book artists, theatre artists as well as viewing of films and listening to public radio projects will be included in the weekly class sessions. For final projects students create collaborative or solo work in the discipline of their own training; theatre, artist books, photography, poetry, music, radio, audio art, film or video.

Fulfills GER Stage 3A and Meets P&D Group B. Cross-listed with MEDIA 399.21  

Asian 330.53 Asian American Art History

Asian Americans' unique history in the United States has helped shape Asian American art practices and the popular and critical reception of their work. Positioning race as a central issue and incorporating social and cultural history as well as critical race and transcultural visual theories, this interdisciplinary course will explore art made by Asian American and Asian transnational artists. Works of art will include community-based social practice, land art, experimental music/Fluxus, installation, painting, performance, photography, sculpture, and video/film made by U.S.-based Asian-descent artists. We will examine the works as they have been chronicled and discussed. 

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 330.53. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 340.01: Asian Pacific American Media

This course will explore and critically analyze representations of Asian Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs) in the media, including stereotypical images of APIA identity, culture, behavior, sexuality and history, as well as media that contests or subverts these dominant narratives. This course will examine how political, social, and cultural forces have affected Asian American participation in the media and how these forces have shaped APIA media representations. Through class readings and analyzing films and other media, we will utilize frameworks on immigration, nationalism and citizenship, race, ethnicity, gender, capitalism, class, sexuality and transnationalism, all within the social construction of race in the United States both historically and currently. Specifically, using these frameworks, we will look at representations of APIAs in the media within the following contexts: Historical context; current social context in the U.S. and globally; political frameworks, i.e. media justice; entertainment media, including film, television, radio, and video game genres; sex and adult entertainment industry; and mainstream news media and reporting.  

Meets P&D Group B. Cross-listed with ENGL 318.62

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 340.01. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 340.04: West Asian American Literature & Film

West Asian Literature and Film is an interdisciplinary course that first examines the cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity of West Asia, sometimes called Central Asia, and/or the Middle East, to then focuse on the literature and film of their diaspora communities in the US. Requirements include a class project (group presentation) outlining a grand timeline of West Asia throughout history, short reports on field trips, midterm paper and final revision. First book for class: Excerpts from the Shahnameh (The Book of Kings).

Meets P&D Group B. Cross-listed with ENGL 318.53.

Asian 340.05 New Directions in Asian American Cinema

This course will offer a dynamic and idiosyncratic exploration of recent non-fiction works in Asian American filmmaking and basic approaches to media literacy and critical thinking. Drawing upon a diverse set of moving image media including: documentary, experimental film, infomercial, music video, public access television and YouTube video, the class will dismantle ideas of genre and representation by constructing a framework to interpret how Asian American filmmakers have formally negotiated questions of race, nationalism and representation. 

The practice of curation and the radical juxtaposition of ideas will be central to how the class will be organized. Each session will be built around a thematically-curated selection of films which, in diverse and contradictory ways, address a knotty question in either film form or Asian American cultural studies. Students will be asked to respond to the form and content of the films as well as the dialogue created between the films themselves. 

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 340.05. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 351.52: Asian American Literature & Popular Culture

How do you define Asian America?  What is the significance of Asian America literature and popular culture?  In particular, how has Asian American culture been central to the building of the United States of America?  This is a course about Asian American literature and popular culture after the Civil Rights Movement.  It provides an overview of race, gender, and class relations in the United States embedded within the broader structure of culture and social institutions.  This course is a comparative study of Asian American writers, filmmakers, spoken word artists, hip-hop performers, sports figures, and internet cyberstars, and the historical contexts in which they produce their works.  I hope that this framework will foster critical reflection about how we imagine and reimagine Asian American identity and culture, and the importance of “national culture” for the formation of citizenship and community.  In particular, we analyze constructions of femininity and masculinity, narrations of race and national belonging, and contestations and solidarities between racialized communities.  Furthermore, in this course, I ask students to explore the interconnections between race, gender, sexuality, class, and nation in relation to the global economy and multicultural discourses.  Though we will discuss specific ethnic and racial groups at times, the overall focus will be the ample context connecting each of those groups to a shared history with present day relevance.

Meets P&D Group B. Cross-listed with ENGL 318.61. Department permission required.

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 351.52. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 390.02: Asian American Civil rights & the Law

This course will explore civil rights jurisprudence through an analysis of the historical and contemporary experiences of Asian Americans. Major topics include: the differential treatment of Asian Americans as “perpetual foreigners” and as a “model minority” group; the interplay of race, national origin, and immigration law; discrimination based on citizenship and immigration status; the Japanese American internment and contemporary issues of national security; legal responses to questions of language and cultural difference; problems of racial identity and intraracial diversity and interracial dy­namics; inter­sectional discrimination involving race and sexuality; Asian American political participation and access to democracy. 

The seminar focuses on Asian Americans, but several themes in the course are applicable to other racial and ethnic groups, such as Latinos and Arab Americans, as well as to emerging problems of racial dis­crimination involving immigration, citizenship, national security, and language. The readings will draw on case law, historical materials, legal scholarship, social science re­search, and advocacy documents.

Fulfills GER Stage 3B and meets P&D Group B. Caross-listed with POLSC 317.01

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 390.02. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 390.18 Asian American Poetics

This course will provide a broad survey of contemporary poetry by Asian Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs). This course will examine how assumptions and dominant narratives about APIA identity, culture, behavior, sexuality and history-and our own values and belief systems about what poetry is-affect both the reading and availability of APIA poetry. We will also read critical essays and other texts to contextualize readings of poetry and class discussion. This course strives to equip students with a framework to both read and relate to poetry as an artistic discipline as well as a framework with which to use poetry as a means to connect individual and collective expression within a broader social, political, migratory, historical, colonial and/or neoliberal context. Works explored will include both Asian American canonical poetry, experimental and other schools of poetry, and poetry that contests or subverts the dominant narratives. Students will also be given the opportunity to participate directly in the creative process by writing their own poetry and other creative work. 

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 390.18. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Asian 390.19 Asian American Queerness

This course will explore the issues, struggles, political organizing, and theory of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) Asian Americans, South Asians, Southeast Asians, and Pacific Islanders. Through readings of historical and modern texts, law and public policy, film and video, guest speakers, and field work, students will come to understand the intersection between LGBT identity and racial/ ethnic identity. Major topics will include: Queer History in America, Asia, and the Pacific; Identity and Coming Out; Love and Desire; Family, parents, and parenting; Discrimination/ Marginalization; Political Organizing Struggles Health and Wellness; Arts and Culture; Theory Underrepresented Constituencies (Transgender, South Asians, Pacific Islanders, Women); Public Policy including (immigration, schools and bullying, marriage, violence and harassment, media representation). 

Click here for a PDF of a sample syllabus for ASIAN 390.19. Please note that syllabi will vary depending on the instructor for the course.

Engl 771: Asian American Literature & Theory

This course is an advanced study of key texts in Asian American literature and theory.  We will underscore the historical contexts from which Asian American novels have been produced, and the theoretical conversations that have commented on their significance.  My purpose of constructing such a framework is to offer a working methodology for teaching Asian American literature and to illuminate the intellectual contributions of Asian American studies.  We will focus on seven major novels and the critical theoretical debates that have emerged around them.  In this way, we will locate the texts within the socio-historical processes of social movements and transnational capitalism.  Some themes we will investigate include settlement histories of the ethnic communities, legal discourses of immigration, post-civil rights class cleavages, multiracial hierarchy, multiculturalism, neocolonialism, and imperialism.  Thus, our inquiry will take into consideration a range of conversations taking place in and outside the academy, including feminist, queer, critical race, Marxist, postcolonial, American, and cultural studies. 

Graduate level course - department permission required.