**This course meets 2nd 8 weeks only**
3 credits
This course carries COLL A&H distribution credit

This course will seek to build an understanding of the historical,
cultural, sociological, and racial dynamics behind the evolution of
Asian American identity.  “Asian American” implies the melding of
two traditions.  We will study the roots of “Asian-ness” by
differentiating this broad signifier by examining individual
traditions rooted in Korean, Chinese, and Japanese cultural
communities.  The course will also study the gaps between prevailing
stereotypes of Asian Americans and the wide range of experiences and
identifications expressed in Asian American literature, journalism,
and contemporary film.  The sources for our study will be
contemporary narratives of Asian American history, film, novels, and
essays that illumine the Asian American experience from the late
19th century until the present.  We will hope to refine our
understanding of how cultural identity is formed generally, and how
it is shaped by the changing interplay of ethnic culture, race and
politics in American society.  Too often the public discourse on
race and ethnicity in America operates from simplistic assumptions
that to become “American” means to efface original ethnic
difference.  This course will focus on how cultural identity
develops nuances and complexity in its negotiations between the
powerful forces of race, power, and class in American society.