The aggregate experience of Asian Pacific Americans, from developments in the countries of origin to their contemporary issues. The histories of Asian Pacific American groups as well as culture, politics, the media, and stereotypes, viewed from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Explores historical and contemporary Asian immigration to the US in comparison to and in the context of other immigrant groups. From low-skilled laborers to highly-skilled professionals, Asian and other immigrants have been an integral part of the shifting US economy and society since its inception. The course includes theories on why immigration occurs, determinants of its continuation, the uses of migrant labor, and immigrant adaptation and settlement. The second part of the course focuses on theories of ethnicity and racial formation and how immigrants develop and challenge the definitions of race, ethnicity, the "other", and ultimately, who is American. Students will also have the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of the immigrant experience through a life history interview project.

From yellow peril invaders to model minority allies, Asian Americans have crafted their own dynamic cultural expressions in a number of media from film, television, and music to fashion, sports, and food that reveal and contest the contradictions of the U.S. nation-state. Asian American culture also uniquely sits at the nexus of immigration flows and digital technologies, providing a transnational lens to view the US place in the world. This advanced course, then, will introduce students to the study and practice of Asian American cyktyre as multiple , hybrid, and heterogeneous. It will do so through three sections: section one will introduce students to classical, cultural, and media concepts as well as relevant keywords outlined by Asian American Studies scholars; section two will review the work of Asian American cultural theorists; section three will focus on analyses of particular Asian American cultural productions. In doing so, students will gain an understanding of the shifting and interlocking tensions among the local, the national, and the global that form the cultural geographies of Asian America.

Explores how Asian Americans have historically been represented in the U.S. by Hollywood, and in turn, how independent and Hollywood Asian American filmmakers have represented themselves. It covers the history of racial, gendered, and sexualized representations of Asian Americans in Hollywood, as well as Asian American filmic responses within and outside Hollywood. It also introduces how four basic tools of film analysis mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound work together to create meaning in moving images. It examines how these elements are put together in three different types of films by Asian American filmmakers: narrative, documentary, and experimental. How films function in society to circulate ideas that reproduce and challenge stereotypes about Asian Americans.

Focus is placed on Filipino American experiences with an emphasis on identity, community building and organizing to influence public policy We will cover pertinent events from the US and Philippine history in order to understand the impact of colonialism, migration, immigration and assimilation on Filipino Americans.

An interdisciplinary course examines the experiences of children of Asian immigrants in the U.S., focusing on intergenerational dynamics in the Asian immigrant family, their intersections with race, gender, class, sexuality, and religion, and how these shape second-generation Asian American life. Topics include identity and personhood, the model minority myth and education, work and leisure, language and communication, filiality and disownment, mental health and suicide.

Examines Asian/American cultural production along with theories of gender and sexuality in the field of Asian American Studies. We consider how Asian American femininities/masculinities are conceived and circulated, drawing from a diverse selection of twentieth-century and contemporary texts, films and images that connect Asian American bodies to ideas of absence, danger, inscrutability, hyper- or hypo-sexuality, and virulence. Beginning with early to mid-twentieth century representations, the course attends to theories that clarify the contested relationship between the East/West and Asia/U.S. Also examined are the methods through which bodies differentiated by sex, gender, and race are managed, surveilled, and rehabilitated, with close attention to the enduring legacies of American expansionism and conquest, anti-immigration policies in the U.S., and twentieth-century wars and occupations in Asia. The course engages Women of Color feminisms, queer theory, and disability studies.

Examines writing by South Asian American authors and authors writing about South Asian American issues. It explores major South Asian diaspora themes, considering how migration, war, the events of 9/11, global capitalism, and the changing socio-political and racial scene have affected South Asians in the United States. We will use a transnational approach to consider how writers and filmmakers explore gender, class, religious, caste, and other differences amongst South Asian Americans. We will also examine the place of South Asian Americans in relation to other Asian American populations. We will consider how South Asian American texts disrupt traditional literary classifications based on national identities by reflecting the complex global conditions, imperialistic and capitalistic expansion, and interconnectedness of peoples, nations, and cultures that have transformed American literature and conceptions of American identity.

Students will gain a greater understanding of 1) the role of Asian Americans in US politics, 2) the political attitudes and behaviors of Asian Americans and 3) how to conduct research on Asian American politics. Though the class will concentrate on Asian Americans, issues related to Asian American politics will be examined within the larger context of America's multicultural political landscape.