Courses for Spring 2019

Title Instructors Location Time Description Cross listings Fulfills Registration notes Syllabus Syllabus URL
ASAM 001-401 Asian Americans in Contemporary Society Vani S Kulkarni TR 01:30 PM-03:00 PM This class will introduce you to sociological research of Asian Americans and engage in the "model minority" stereotype. We begin by a brief introduction to U.S. immigration history and sociological theories about assimilation and racial stratification. The class will also cover research on racial and ethnic identity, educational stratification, mass media images, interracial marriage, multiracials, transracial adoption, and the viability of an Asian American panethnic identity. We will also examine the similarities and differences of Asian Americans relative to other minority groups. SOCI103401 Society Sector
Cultural Diversity in the US
ASAM 003-401 Intro To Asian Amer Hist Eiichiro Azuma ARCH 208 MW 03:30 PM-05:00 PM This course provides an introduction to the history of Asian/Pacific Americans, focusing on the wide diversity of migrant experiences, as well as the continuing legacies of Orientalism on American-born APA's. Issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality will also be examined. HIST155401 History & Tradition Sector
Cultural Diversity in the US
ASAM 110-601 Asian American Activism Robert V Buscher WILL 25 W 04:30 PM-07:30 PM Please see our website for more current information: asam.sas.upenn.edu Cultural Diversity in the US https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019A&course=ASAM110601
ASAM 120-301 Asian Am Pop Culture: Asian American Popular Culture Peter T Van Do WILL 28 TR 04:30 PM-06:00 PM This course will examine the ways in which Asian Americans have constituted and positioned their identities through various mediums of popular culture, community building and activism. First, students will become familiar with major concepts relating to Popular Culture, Cultural Studies, and Asian American Cultural Studies. Second, students will have a deeper understanding of the Asian American Movement. Third, students will make connections between representations and dominant images of Asian Americans within various mediums. Cultural Diversity in the US https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019A&course=ASAM120301
ASAM 165-401 Forgotten Asians of the Americas Rupa Pillai DRLB 3W2 MW 02:00 PM-03:30 PM Although Asians have lived in the Americas for centuries, the Asian American community and experience tends to be defined by the post-1965 wave of immigration to the United States. In an effort to correct this narrative this course will explore the histories, experiences, and contributions of some of the forgotten Asians of the Americas. In particular, we will focus on the earlier labor migrations of Chinese and South Asian individuals to the Caribbean and the United States. The experiences of these individuals, who built railroads, cut sugarcane, and replaced African slave labor, complicate our understandings of race today. By examining the legal and social debates surrounding their labor in the 19th century and exploring how their experiences are forgotten and their descendants are rendered invisible today, we will complicate what is Asian America and consider how this history shapes immigration policies today. SAST166401, GSWS165401
ASAM 175-301 Asian Am Race Relations: Asian American Race Relations: Comparative Case Studies and Theories MCNB 167-8 TR 03:00 PM-04:30 PM This course provides an introduction to comparative racial frameworks and case studies in Asian American Studies. In line with an emergent body of work that considers the relational nature of racializations, we will examine how Asian American racial constructions are not only formed in relation to whiteness but also to other groups of color. Starting from the premise that the US is dynamically multiracial, we will consider how Asian Americans have been both "lumped together" with and "counterpointed" to other racially marginalized communities across historical time. Moreover, we will explore how Asian Americans themselves have articulated racial positions both in solidarity with and opposition to other people of color. Lastly, we will survey the different comparative racial frameworks Asian American Studies scholars have developed to understand the shifting terrain of race relations. The course places a particular emphasis on Asian-Black relations and Afro Asian political theory, given the unique juxtaposition of these groups in US racial discourse, the significance of "Blackness" to Asian American political and cultural identities, and the seminal place of these discussions in Comparative Ethnic Studies. Course materials include primary and scholarly readings, media, and material collaboratively gathered by members of the class. We will focus on developing diverse research methods for understanding the relational nature of Asian American racialization and community formation, culminating in individual research projects on case studies chosen by students in consultation with the instructor.
ASAM 180-401 Asian American Food Fariha Khan MCNB 285 TR 12:00 PM-01:30 PM You are what you eat. Asian American Food explores the history, politics, and ethnic identity of food through a cultural lens. Growing food, eating, and sharing meals serve as intimate expressions of self and community. By examining the production and consumption of food, the course investigates the ways that Asian Americans navigate traditions, gender norms, religious dietary laws, food habits, and employment as they create lives in the United States. The course overviews the history of Asian American foodways, but has a particular focus on Philadelphia's Asian American communities. URBS180401, SAST180401 Cultural Diversity in the US
ASAM 203-401 Wartime Internment of Japanese Americans Eiichiro Azuma PWH 108 T 01:30 PM-04:30 PM Topics vary. Please see our website for more current information: asam.sas.upenn.edu HIST231401
ASAM 215-401 Asian Am Gendersexuality: Asian American Gender and Sexuality Rupa Pillai CAST A19 TR 10:30 AM-12:00 PM This course explores the intersection of gender, sexuality, and race in Asian America. Through interdisciplinary and cultural texts, students will consider how Asian American gender and sexualities are constructed in relation to racism while learning theories on and methods to study gender, sex, and race. We will discuss masculinities, femininities, race-conscious feminisms, LGBTQ+ identities, interracial and intraracial relationships, and kinship structures. SAST215401, GSWS215401
ASAM 294-601 Facing America William D Schmenner JAFF 113 M 05:00 PM-08:00 PM This course explores the visual history of race in the United States as both self-fashioning and cultural mythology by examining the ways that conceptions of Native American, Latino, and Asian identity, alongside ideas of Blackness and Whiteness, have combined to create the various cultural ideologies of class, gender, and sexuality that remain evident in historical visual and material culture. We also investigate the ways that these creations have subsequently helped to launch new visual entertainments, including museum spectacles, blackface minstrelsy, and early film, from the colonial period through the 1940s. AFRC294601, ARTH274601, CIMS293601, LALS274601 Cultural Diversity in the US