Introduction to Asian American and Diaspora Studies

What does it mean to be Asian American? Asian American Studies is an interdisciplinary field that draws on social sciences, humanities, and the arts to explore the historical and contemporary experiences of Asian Americans in the western hemisphere. This course provides students with an introduction to this dynamic and growing field of study, taking race, gender, immigration, diaspora, class, labor, and sexuality as primary subjects of the field. The course also historicizes Asian American racialization to better understand the structural forces that have shaped Asian American lives and the ways that writers, scholars, and activists have responded to and resisted these forces.