Regional Specialization ASIA Course option:
English 245A: Introduction to Asian-American Literature
MoWeFr 10:30AM - 11:20AM | Andrews Hall 39
As a survey course in Asian-American literature, this course primarily takes the form of a miniature literary history focused on works written by Asian writers living and/or born in the United States from the early 20th century to the present. Much of modern art is a reflection of major events whose historical occurrence changes politics, economics, and artistic expression literally over night. For these reasons, China, Japan, Korea, and other nations have captured the American imagination. Thus, though a literary survey, this course is inseparably intertwined with history as well, especially because the historical and political relationship between the United States and many Asian countries since late-nineteenth century has conditioned the immigration of Asian people to the United States and their identity formation as the U S citizens. With this in mind, the course closely investigates 1) the historical trauma each text represents and 2) the protagonist's struggle to heal the trauma as part of the cultural process, eventually, of forming an Asian-American identity. Our focus will be the reading of a variety of literary texts covering different Asian regions/cultures and diverse genres--such as novel, short story, memoir, drama, and poetry--written by the authors whose works have been highly recognized. For a more comprehensive approach and better cultural and historical understanding, you will also read important historical documents, watch documentaries, movies and video clips, and listen to music, closely related to the backgrounds and contents of the main texts. Though the primary focus falls on close reading and text analysis, this course also deals with formal and rhetorical issues and critical theories, related to each text, in an integrative approach.
See Emira Ibrahimpasic to fill out a substitution form and bring this course into your degree audit.