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Academic Year 2004/2005


Asian American Literature and Its Discontents
ENGL 243 FA

Crosslistings:
AMST 244
WMST 346
CHUM 344

What is so Asian American about Asian American Literature? The course will survey Asian American literature from its emergence as first anthologized in Aiiieeee (1974) fueled by the Yellow Power Movement to the various cultural and literary challenges since then posed in terms of gender, sexuality and colonialism. The class will give a brief overview of Asian American history in the 19th and 20th centuries to contextualize the two centuries of Asian American writing in the United States, and how themes have evolved and been challenged through the 21st century. The class will develop close reading skills to interrogate literary (traditional and experimental novels) and filmic texts (melodrama and musical) by and about Asian/Asian Americans to raise questions about form, aesthetics and the literary market as they relate to the larger project of Asian American Studies. These texts offer not only different ways of understanding! sexuality, gender, migration and ethnicity but also challenge how we ask ethical questions of texts and and how we read literature.

MAJOR READINGS

Maxine Hong Winston, WOMAN WARRIOR
R. Zamora Linmark, ROLLING THE R'S
Bharati Mukherjee, JASMINE
Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, DICTEE
Lois Ann Yamanaka, BLU'S HANGING
Jessica Hagedorn, DOGEATERS
Lan Cao, MONKEY BRIDGE
Monique Truong, BOOK OF SALT
Brian Ascalon Rolley, AMERICAN SON

R=Reader
Excerpts from:
LITERARY CRITICAL ESSAYS
Chin et all, AIIIEEE (anthology)
Films: MY AMERICA...OR HONK IF YOU LOVE BUDDHA, FLOWER DRUM SONG, JOY LUCK CLUB

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Students will submit a total of six 1-page reaction/inquiry papers due on the day's assigned reading(s). Once during the semester, each student will present an aspect of the class session's reading assignment. Grades will be based on a 5-page midterm take home exam, a 10-page final paper, inquiry papers, presentations and active listening and participation in class discussion.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Required film viewings will be scheduled on Tuesdays 6-8.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Isaac,Allan Punzalan   
Times: .M.W... 01:10PM-02:30PM;     Location: ZLKA106;
Reserved Seats:    (Total Limit: 25)
SR. major: 6   Jr. major: 8
SR. non-major: 3   Jr. non-major: 3   SO: 3   FR: 2

Special Attributes:
Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-21-2005


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