Spring 2014 Courses

ASAM 75. Asian American and Queer Zines.
T. Honma, PZ, T 6:00-9:00 p.m.
This course examines do-it-yourself (DIY) politics through independently produced zines. We will focus on Asian American and queer zine subcultures to understand various aspects of contemporary media, including: production and consumption, representation and self-expression, identity-construction and place-making, creativity and resistance, and the relevance of print in an increasingly digital world.

ASAM 86. Social Documentation and Asian Americans.
K. Mak, HMC, W 1:15-4:00 p.m.
Viewing of films and other documentary forms by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) for critique and discussion. Basic instruction in use of digital video technology to document social issues relevant to Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Community- project.

ASAM 102. Fieldwork in Asian American Communities (1/2 credit).
Staff, PZ, M 6:00-9:00 p.m.
The goals of this class are for students to understand the difference between service-learning and social justice education and to understand the roles of power, privilege, and positionalities in working in partnership with community members. The college students will provide English conversation support or provide coaching one-on-one with adult immigrants who have naturalization exam dates.

ASAM 111. Pacific Islanders and Education.
K. Vaughn, PZ, M 1:15-4:00 p.m.
This course will explore various topics within Indigenous education. Through a variety of mixed methods this seminar will examine previous and current educational policy and its affects on diverse Indigenous peoples. It will also examine education as a tool for empowerment, resistance, and healing within varied Indigenous communities.  Course topics covered include: Native/Indigenous epistemology, decolonizing methodologies, settler colonialism, cultural reclamation, and critical pedagogy. In addition to the course materials, students will engage in service learning by partnering with the Saturday Tongan Education Program (STEP). Participating in STEP will allow students to actively participate in an Indigenous educational initiative that directly relates to the course content and discussions.

ASAM 130. Science, Technology, Asian America.
T. Honma, PZ, TR 2:45-4:00 p.m.
This course explores the implications of Western science and technology on the Asian American experience. By interrogating how science has been defined in the “West” in relation to “non-Western” peoples, we will explore questions related to epistemology, racialization, migration, education, professionalization, and research, and the political stakes therein.

ASAM 160. Asian American Women’s Experiences.
E. O’Brien, SC, F 1:15-4:00 p.m.
This course is an interdisciplinary examination of Asian and Pacific Islander American women.  It will examine the history and experiences of Asian American women in the United States.  The class will include both lecture and discussion and will cover various issues, such as gender roles, mass media stereotypes, Asian women’s feminism, and the impact of sexism and racism on the lives of Asian American women through education, work, and home life.

ASAM 187. Art, Activism, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders.
E. O’Brien, SC, R 7:00-9:50 p.m.
This course will focus on the role that different artistic forms including but not limited to music, fine arts, street art, and poetry, have played in social justice work. The participatory course analyzes the transformative power and potential of art within the context of Asian American social movements seeking transformative social and political changes. The course will put students directly into contact with the performance and display of Asian American art events, and seek to integrate their active participation in these events as a means to develop both creative outlets as well as critical thinking.

ASAM 190b/191PO. Asian American Studies Senior Thesis.
TBA
Students will work with one or more faculty on original thesis research toward completion of senior thesis.

ENGL 054. Asian/American Literature Since 2000.
J. Jeon, PO, TR 2:45-4:00 p.m.
This course examines Asian/American literature published after 2000, three decades after the initial Asian American Movement. Students will read texts in multiple genres (fiction, poetry, graphic novels, drama) with an eye toward interrogating the emergent issues that come with the changing sociopolitical terrain of the new millenium.

PSYC 153AA. Asian American Psychology.
S. Goto, PO, TR 1:15-2:30 p.m.
Introduces students to the salient psychological issues of Asian Americans. Taking into account the social, cultural, and historical context of the Asian American experience, this course addresses values and cultural conflict development, acculturation, marriage and gender roles, vocational development, psychopathology, and delivery of mental health services.

PSYC 155. Seminar in Ethnic Minority Psychology and Mental Health.
W. Hwang, CMC, MW 2:45-4:00 p.m.
This course examines the roles and influences of ethnicity, race, and culture on psychology and mental health.  Students will learn about intergroup dynamics, racism and White privilege, ethnic identity development, acculturation and immigration, ethnic differences in the expression of distress, differential patterns and barriers to help-seeking, mental health disparities, and ethnocultural issues that influence treatment processes.

SOC 126AA. Immigration and the Second Generation.
H. Thai, PO, TR 2:45-4:00 p.m.
Analysis of post-1965 children of immigrants, and/or immigrant children in Asia America.
Emphasis on variations on coming of age patterns, the course examines diverse childhood experiences, including ‘transnational’ children, ‘refugee’ children, and ‘left-behind’ children. Emphasis on gender, class, ethnicity, intergenerational relations, education, sexuality, popular culture, and globalization, and specifically how young adults negotiate major American institutions such as the labor market and educational systems.

THEA 115O. Applied Theater: Theatre of the Oppressed and Playback Theater.
J. Lu, PO, TR 1:15-4:00 p.m.
This course is an introduction to the fundamentals Theatre of the Oppressed and Playback Theatre, two genres of applied theatre developed by Augusto Boal and Jonathan Fox, respectively. We will read materials in order to gain some understanding of the philosophies behind these forms and also experience the forms together through sharing stories, improvising, and dialoguing with each other. In this process, we will learn what makes these two approaches to theater both aesthetically and emotionally satisfying forms of artwork and community building, and what makes them potential vehicles for change.