ASAM208 - Asian American Cinema

Status
O
Activity
LEC
Section number integer
1
Title (text only)
Asian American Cinema
Term
2021C
Syllabus URL
Subject area
ASAM
Section number only
001
Section ID
ASAM208001
Course number integer
208
Meeting times
W 05:15 PM-08:15 PM
Meeting location
WILL 723
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Robert V Buscher
Description
Providing a broad introduction to the history of persons of Asian descent living in the United States, this course will specifically examine the Asian American & Pacific Islander American experience as told through the cinematic lens. Equal parts socio-political history and media studies, this course will comprehensively assess factors contributing to the historical under representation of AAPIs in mainstream American media. By contrast, the media texts that we study will reveal a cinematic history that runs parallel to the mainstream, consisting of independently produced films created by and/or starring AAPIs that feature authentic portrayals of the community they represent. Topics will include economics of film production, broadcast television ratings, film festivals as a mechanism of distribution, negative stereotyping, Hollywood whitewashing, cultural appropriation, and media activism.
Course number only
208
Use local description
No

ASAM203 - Japanese-American Internment

Status
O
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
401
Title (text only)
Japanese-American Internment
Term
2021C
Subject area
ASAM
Section number only
401
Section ID
ASAM203401
Course number integer
203
Meeting times
T 01:45 PM-04:45 PM
Meeting location
MCES 105
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Eiichiro Azuma
Description
Topics vary. Please see our website for more current information: asam.sas.upenn.edu
Course number only
203
Cross listings
HIST231401
Fulfills
Cultural Diversity in the US
Use local description
No

ASAM160 - South Asians in the Us

Status
C
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
401
Title (text only)
South Asians in the Us
Term
2021C
Syllabus URL
Subject area
ASAM
Section number only
401
Section ID
ASAM160401
Course number integer
160
Meeting times
TR 12:00 PM-01:30 PM
Meeting location
DRLB 3C8
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Fariha Khan
Description
This course investigates the everyday practices and customs of South Asians in America. Every immigrant group has its own history, customs, beliefs and values, making each unique while simultaneously a part of the "melting pot" or salad bowl" of American society. Yet how do people define themselves and their ethnicities living in a diasporic context? By taking into account the burgeoning South Asian American population as our model, this course will explore the basic themes surrounding the lives that immigrants are living in America, and more specifically the identity which the second generation, born and/or raised in American, is developing. South Asians in the U.S. will be divided thematically covering the topics of ethnicity, marriage, gender, religion, and pop culture. Reading and assignments will discuss a variety of issues and viewpoints that are a part of the fabric of South Asia, but will focus on the interpretation of such expressive culture in the United States.
Course number only
160
Cross listings
SAST290401
Fulfills
Cultural Diversity in the US
Use local description
No

ASAM100 - Intro Asian Am Studies: Introduction To Asian American Studies

Status
O
Activity
LEC
Section number integer
1
Title (text only)
Intro Asian Am Studies: Introduction To Asian American Studies
Term
2021C
Syllabus URL
Subject area
ASAM
Section number only
001
Section ID
ASAM100001
Course number integer
100
Meeting times
MW 01:45 PM-03:15 PM
Meeting location
MCNB 309
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Rupa Pillai
Description
According to the U.S. Census, there are approximately 21 million Asian residents in the U.S. that comprise almost 6 percent of the total population. This relatively small number disguises the critical experiences Asian American communities face in both the local and transnational context. Yet, Asian Americans constitute one of the most heterogeneous racial groups within the U.S. Over the course of this semester we will read about and actively discuss the history of Asian immigration to the U.S., the social construction and experience of race in the U.S., and the political, economic, and cultural contributions of Asian Americans. We will also examine how Asian Americans negotiate/deploy their culture and ethnicity to achieve recognition in multicultural America and how the construction of Asian American identity intersects with class, gender, and sexuality.
Course number only
100
Fulfills
Cultural Diversity in the US
Use local description
No

ASAM006 - Race & Ethnic Relations

Status
C
Activity
LEC
Section number integer
401
Title (text only)
Race & Ethnic Relations
Term
2021C
Subject area
ASAM
Section number only
401
Section ID
ASAM006401
Course number integer
6
Registration notes
Registration also required for Recitation (see below)
Meeting times
TR 12:00 PM-01:30 PM
Meeting location
MCNB 150
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Tukufu Zuberi
Description
This course will focus on race and ethnicty in the United States. We begin with a brief history of racial categorization and immigration to the U.S. The course continues by examining a number of topics including racial and ethnic identity, interracial and interethnic friendships and marriage, racial attitudes, mass media iages, residential segregation, educational stritification, and labot market outcomes. The course will inlcude discussions of African Americans, Whites, Hispanics, Asian Ameriacns, and multiracials.
Course number only
006
Cross listings
AFRC006401, URBS160401, SOCI006401
Use local description
No

ASAM003 - Intro To Asian Amer Hist

Status
O
Activity
LEC
Section number integer
401
Title (text only)
Intro To Asian Amer Hist
Term
2021C
Syllabus URL
Subject area
ASAM
Section number only
401
Section ID
ASAM003401
Course number integer
3
Registration notes
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Meeting times
MW 03:30 PM-05:00 PM
Meeting location
COHN 402
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Eiichiro Azuma
Description
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.
Course number only
003
Cross listings
HIST155401
Fulfills
History & Tradition Sector
Cultural Diversity in the US
Use local description
No

ASAM002 - Asian-American Lit

Status
O
Activity
LEC
Section number integer
401
Title (text only)
Asian-American Lit
Term
2021C
Subject area
ASAM
Section number only
401
Section ID
ASAM002401
Course number integer
2
Registration notes
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Meeting times
MW 12:00 PM-01:30 PM
Meeting location
BENN 401
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Jean-Christophe Cloutier
Description
An overview of Asian American literature from its beginnings at the turn of the twentieth century to the present. This course covers a wide range of Asian American novels, plays, and poems, situating them in the contexts of Asian American history and minority communities and considering the variety of formal strategies these different texts take.
Course number only
002
Cross listings
ENGL072401
Fulfills
Arts & Letters Sector
Cultural Diversity in the US
Use local description
No

ASAM313 - The Chinese Body (SNF Paidea Program Course)

Status
X
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
401
Title (text only)
The Chinese Body (SNF Paidea Program Course)
Term
2021A
Subject area
ASAM
Section number only
401
Section ID
ASAM313401
Course number integer
313
Registration notes
Permission Needed From Instructor
Designated SNF Paideia Program Course
Meeting times
CANCELED
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Kenneth Robert Lum
Amrita Corinne Stuetzle
Description
This course looks at representations of the Chinese (and Asian body) since the Limehouse district in East London and the advent of Chinese contract laborers to the Americas in the 19th century. The localization of the Chinese throughout the Americas within Chinatown precincts were also subject to representational imaginings that were negotiated through the lens of civic planning, literature and later in cinema. Chinatowns are ultimately a product of racism. They were created as a political and social support system for newly arrived Chinese immigrants. While Chinese laborers arrived into the United States in 1840 and in significant numbers into Canada about 1860, Chinese contract workers were encouraged to immigrate to the Americas as an inexpensive source of labor, especially after the end of the American Civil War. Industrial leaders in America, Canada and elsewhere in the Americas (Mexico, Cuba, Peru, etc) saw the arrival of Chinese workers as a victory for commercial interests. However, the celebration was short-lived, as anti-Chinese sentiment quickly transformed into anti-Chinese hysteria. Rather than attacking the vested interests that exploit foreign labor as embodied by the Chinese worker, racist unions with the cooperation of civic leaders and the police deemed it safer to burn Chinatowns than capitalist property. Deeply under-studied to this day is the number of mass murders of Chinese workers in the 19th century by anti-Chinese thugs. This seminar will focus in on how the body of the Chinese (and Asian) was imagined and reimagined multiple times from the middle of the 19th century to today.
Course number only
313
Cross listings
FNAR313401, FNAR613401
Use local description
No

ASAM239 - Migration & Middle East

Status
C
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
401
Title (text only)
Migration & Middle East
Term
2021A
Syllabus URL
Subject area
ASAM
Section number only
401
Section ID
ASAM239401
Course number integer
239
Registration notes
Course Online: Synchronous Format
Meeting times
T 01:30 PM-04:30 PM
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Heather Sharkey
Description
This reading-and discussion-intensive seminar examines the phenomenon of migration into, out of, within, and across the Middle East and North Africa. We will focus on the period from the late nineteenth century to the present, and will emphasize the cultural (rather than economic) consequences of migration. Along the way we will trace connections between the Middle East and other regions-- notably the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Caucasus, and Western Europe. Readings are interdisciplinary and include works of history, anthropology, sociology, medical research, literature, political science, geography, and human rights advocacy. As students develop final projects on topics of their choice, we will spend time throughout the semester discussing tactics for research and writing.
Course number only
239
Cross listings
SAST269401, NELC239401, NELC539401
Use local description
No

ASAM220 - Asian American Women: Asian American Women: Nation, Self, Identity

Status
O
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
401
Title (text only)
Asian American Women: Asian American Women: Nation, Self, Identity
Term
2021A
Subject area
ASAM
Section number only
401
Section ID
ASAM220401
Course number integer
220
Registration notes
Crse Online: Sync & Async Components
Meeting times
W 02:00 PM-05:00 PM
Level
undergraduate
Instructors
Raili Roy
Description
This course examines the literary constructions of Asian American Womens' identity in relation to the U.S. nation state. How have the figures of the tiger mother, the Asian nerd, the rice queen, the trafficked woman, the geisha, the war bride, emerged to represent Asian American women, and how have Asian American feminists responded to these problematic racial stereotypes? How does the scholarship on such racialized representations illuminate historical and contemporary configurations of gender, sexuality, race, class, nation, citizenship, migration, empire, war, neoliberalism and globalization as they relate to the lives of Asian American women? In exploring these questions, this course examines Asian American histories, bodies, identities, diasporic communities, representations, and politics through multi- and interdisciplinary approaches, including social science research, literature, popular representations, film, poetry and art.
Course number only
220
Cross listings
SAST221401, GSWS220401
Fulfills
Cultural Diversity in the US
Use local description
No