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AASP Course Listings

 

ABOUT ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES COURSES & THE NEW HUNTER CORE/PATHWAYS:


FOR FIRST-YEAR AND TRANSFER STUDENTS ENTERING HUNTER COLLEGE IN FALL 2013, one of the current Asian American Studies Program courses satisfies the Hunter Core requirement for Individual & Society: ASIAN 230.02, Asian American Communities & Mental Health. 

 

FOR INCOMING AND ALL OTHER STUDENTSeven if CUNYfirst says only College Option or Regular Liberal Artsall courses (including ASIAN 230.02) currently offered by the AASP fulfill a Pluralism and Diversity Requirement. Most AASP courses fulfill Group B, and a few others fulfill Group C. 

 

FOR POTENTIAL OR CURRENT AASP MINORS, ALL AASP COURSES CAN BE COUNTED TOWARDS THE 12-CREDIT MINOR!

 


 

For a list of current course listings, please visit CUNYfirst, but REMEMBER: All courses (including ASIAN 230.02) currently offered by the AASP fulfill a Pluralism and Diversity requirement, even if CUNYfirst only says either "College Option" or "Regular Liberal Arts."

 



PLEASE REFER TO CUNYfirst FOR A CURRENT SCHEDULE OF CLASSES FOR THE CURRENT SEMESTER!


ASIAN 210 • ASIANS IN THE U.S. [CROSS-LISTED WITH SOC 225.07 & URBS 403.65] 

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 3B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

There are today nearly 1.2 million Asian American New Yorkers, making up approximately 14% of the city's population. Asians in the U.S. provides a critical introduction to Asian American history and contemporary experience, frequently omitted or marginalized in mainstream narratives about the origins and ongoing formation of the U.S. With a focus on intersectional analysis and attention to constructions of race, class, gender, and sexuality, students in this course engage in active reading and discussion to become closely familiar with 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. Key topics include, but are not limited to: Orientalism; the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act; Japanese American Internment; pan-Asian and cross-racial political activism; post-9/11 detention and deportation; Asian American cultural production; postcolonial theory; cultural competency; critical race studies; media representations; U.S. wars in Asia; and transnational adoption. We highly recommend this course for anyone interested in Asian American history and experience, and who is seeking to make sure that their education - regardless of major - is relevant in our rich but complex city and nation.

ASIAN 220.01 • ASIAN AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 258.56]

In Asian American Women Writers, 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?

ASIAN 220.04 • ARAB AMERICAN LITERATURE [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 251.83]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 2C/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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. 

Examples of student projects/writings: http://arabamericanlit.wordpress.com/

ASIAN 220.05 • SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN WRITERS [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 251.83 & WGS 200.16]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

In South Asian Women Writers, 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. 

ASIAN 220.06 • FILIPINO AMERICAN LITERATURE [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 256.50]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 3A/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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. From Manong to Modernity 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.

ASIAN 220.09 • GENDER & GENRE IN ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 256.62]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 3A/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

Gender & Genre in Asian American Literature 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.

ASIAN 220.12 • SURVEY OF ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 250.96]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 3A/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

This course examines literature, film, and critical essays by contemporary Asian American writers in order to explore "Asian America" as a contested category of ethnic and national identity. Readings will cover a diverse range of experiences that challenge definitions of Asian American literature and explore the formation of subjective identities across axes of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and national identity. Texts include both domesticated narratives of immigrant assimilation as well as transnational categories of homeland and identity to explore questions of homeland, migration, exile, and transformation; transnational and multicultural identities; history, memory, myth, and imagination; form and silence in contested narratives; language, identity, and the construction of self; gendered narratives and the politics of desire.

ASIAN 320.01 • NATION, SELF & ASIAN IDENTITY [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 390.52]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 3A/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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?

ASIAN 230.02 • ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES & MENTAL HEALTH

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 2B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR/HUNTER CORE: INDIVIDUAL & SOCIETY

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.

ASIAN 320.05 • ASIAN AMERICAN MEMOIR [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 318.55]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 3A/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

This is an interdisciplinary 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.

ASIAN 320.06 • PASSPORT READINGS: WRITINGS ON DEPARTURES & ARRIVALS

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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 introduces 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 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. The instructor guides students in their writing projects and their public presentations that take the form of short prose, poetry, or multimedia presentations, including video.

ASIAN 320.08 • PACIFIC ISLANDER LITERATURE [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

Pacific Islander Literature provides a study of 20th century literature(s) written by authors in or from the Philippines, Hawaii, Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand, and other Pacific regions. Focus will be on the role of language and its relationship to recognition (or misrecognition), mobilization, colonization/decolonization, resistance, reparation, and sovereignty. Furthermore, we will consider the political potential of various literary forms, ranging from oral chants, music, and dance (these three often labeled the unwritten literature of the Pacific) to essays, cartoons, short stories, novels, films, plays, and poetry. Our course reading will cover authors such as Epeli Hau’ofa, Lydia Liliuokalani, Alan Duff, Patricia Grace, Haunani-Kay Trask, Vilsoni Hereniko, Witi Ihimaera, Albert Wendt, Jose Rizal, Jose Garcia Villa, Salvador Ponce Lopez, and N.V.M. Gonzalez.

ASIAN 321 • ASIAN AMERICAN SOCIAL PROTEST LITERATURE [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 398.81]

SATISFIES GER 3A/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR DOES NOT SATISFY PLURALISM & DIVERSITY!

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.

ASIAN 330.08 • MUSLIM DIASPORAS [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 317.55]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 3B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

Muslim Diasporas is an interdisciplinary course that seeks to analyze the experiences of Muslims in “the west,” historically and today.  As students read literature from different disciplines such as history, political science and cultural anthropology, they will address the following questions: What does it mean to be a Muslim in the post-9/11 western world? How have hierarchical systems of power, such as colonialism and imperialism, contributed to the current imagined “clash of civilizations” between “Islam” and “The West? How does Islamophobia as a discourse and as a socially constructed phenomenon of racialization fit within larger racial narratives in the west? And finally, how do constructs of hegemony and Eurocentricism shape the very liberties and lives of Muslims today?

ASIAN 330.10 • ASIAN AMERICANS & EDUCATION

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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.

ASIAN 330.12 • ASIAN AMERICANS & PUBLIC POLICY *** NEW COURSE FOR FALL 2013 ***

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

This course will examine public policy and its effects on Asian American communities.  Students will gain an understanding of the policy and political dimensions of government, the strengths and challenges of pan-Asian coalition building, and the skills and strategies to influence public policy.  We will begin with an exploration of key historical policies that have shaped the racial formation, ethnic identity, immigration history, political power, and socioeconomic status of the diverse Asian American community.  We will then seek to understand contemporary policies at the local, state, and federal levels and analyze the extent to which different Asian American ethnic groups – as well as other racial and ethnic groups – are affected.  Through case studies and guest speakers, we will examine how the Asian American community has advocated for and protested against policies.  Policy areas will include immigration, education, health, economic
development, political representation, language access, and public finances.

ASIAN 330.53 • ASIAN AMERICAN ART HISTORY [CROSS-LISTED WITH ARTH 381.01]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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. 

ASIAN 340.01 • ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN MEDIA [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 318.62]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 3A/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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.

ASIAN 340.04 • WEST ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE & FILM [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 318.53]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 3A/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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).

ASIAN 340.05 • NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASIAN AMERICAN CINEMA

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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.

ASIAN 351.52 • ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE & POPULAR CULTURE [CROSS-LISTED WITH 318.61]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 3A/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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.

ASIAN 390.02 • ASIAN AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS & THE LAW [CROSS-LISTED WITH POLSC 317.01]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/GER 3B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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. 

Asian American Civil Rights & the Law focuses on Asian Americans, but several themes in the course are applicable to other racial and ethnic groups, such as Latino/as, 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.

ASIAN 390.18 • ASIAN AMERICAN POETICS [CROSS-LISTED WITH ENGL 399.92]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

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.

ASIAN 390.19 • LGBTQ ASIAN AMERICA (FORMERLY "ASIAN AMERICAN QUEERNESS") [CROSS-LISTED WITH WGS]

SATISFIES PLURALISM & DIVERSITY GROUP B/COLLEGE OPTION/AASP MINOR

This course will explore the issues, struggles, political organizing, and theorizing 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; media representations; love and desire; family, parents, and parenting; discrimination / marginalization; political organizing; 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.

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

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