AAAS 371 - Asian Americas

Credits: 4

Examines the meanings of “Asian” in the context of a multi-racial/cultural America. Studies and compares cultural productions of Asian peoples alongside those of different racial/cultural groups. Literary and cultural convergences in North America, Caribbean and South America ultimately reveal the plurality and complex interdependencies of Asian, African, Latin, European and indigenous peoples due to colonialism, globalization and transnational political phenomena. Interdisciplinary and questions assumptions of nation and subject identity. Through comparative study and linkage, the multiplicity and meanings of American citizenship and cultural identity in the U.S. are systematically re-examined. Readings from the 19th and 20th Centuries that consider and theorize hybridity, gender, bi/multiracialism, diaspora, globalization, coloniality and transnationalism, among other topics.