Nhi T. Lieu

Course DescriptionThis course aims to introduce students to the interdisciplinary study of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans in the United States. While Asian American Studies encompasses a wide range of issues and theoretical approaches, we will not attempt an exhaustive or comprehensive survey. Rather, this course will introduce you to some key themes and important methodological approaches in the field. Topics will include: immigration history, theories on identity and community formation, cultural and media representations, and intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Our goal will be to create a common vocabulary that will enable a lively and critical engagement and discussion of the complex experiences of Asian Americans. We will read materials from history, anthropology, sociology, cultural, and media studies. In particular, we will track some convergences and divergences inherent in these different disciplinary approaches to knowledge production and the consequences for the field of Asian American Studies.

Course Objectives

1)  To learn and think critically about the significance of the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality in American society.

2)  To better grasp the history of Asian American experiences in (im)migration, citizenship, and identity formation as well as the global, social, and political implications of the relationship between Asia and the United States

3)  To understand historical and contemporary concepts, themes, trends, and issues relating to Asians/Asian Americans.

Course Requirements

Students in the course will be challenged to read a variety of different texts as well as a broad range of materials from primary sources, personal accounts, videos, and other forms of representations. I included these texts so that you could appreciate the diversity of issues and voices informing the field. This means there will be a LOT of reading. One important objective in this course is to develop analytical reading, thinking, note-taking, and writing skills. Some of the challenges in this class will be managing the information and learning how to focus in on the important concepts and themes. The first half of this course was designed to give you the groundwork work for understanding the field while the later weeks will provide more opportunities to discussion contemporary issues relating to the Asian American experience. The first 45 to 50 minutes of class will be reserved for lecture while the last remaining 30 minutes will be saved for discussion. Students are expected to attend lectures regularly and participate knowledgeably and thoughtfully during classroom discussions. I will not formally take attendance but because this class is relatively small, please be aware that your presence is required for productive discussions that will count toward your grade. The exams in this class will test your understanding of key themes as well as enable you to form an argument and defend it. The final exam will be comprehensive. Students will be evaluated on the following:Class Format: This is primarily a lecture course. The texts and the lectures are designed to complement one another. You will not succeed in the class if you only read the books or just attend lecture, you must actively engage in both. I will leave time at the end of the lectures for questions and discussions of both the reading and the lecture. There will be a list of important terms and an outline for each lecture. You will be responsible for obtaining lecture notes from your classmates when you are absent.

Possible Texts:Books available at University Co-op Bookstore (2244 Guadalupe St; phone 467. 7211) or other outlets, you’ll most likely find the books online.Asian American Dreams, Helen ZiaRace for Citizenship, Helen JunAll reading materials are also available at the Center for Asian American Studies Library. You may make copies of what you need there.

Evaluation:Midterm Exam #1Midterm Exam #2Comparative 6-8 page EssayComprehensive Final ExamIn-Class assignments/Quizzes/Discussion Participation

Fulfills Cultural Diversity Flag

The spread and growth of consumer capitalism has coincided with the migration and integration of immigrants into American society.  As immigrant lives become transformed by commercial culture, they also actively sustain it.  This course will approach the study of consumer culture by examining its emergence as a force that defines modern American society and trace its developments and current manifestations throughout the world.  We will study the theories of consumption as well as investigate the roles immigrants play in the making and re-making of commercial culture, examining both processes of production and consumption.  We will attempt to answer questions such as:  How do ethnic and racialized Americans negotiate work and leisure?  How do immigrants engage with and partake in America’s capitalist consumer culture in light of race, class, and gender differences?  How do people of color construct identity around consumption and material accumulation?  What kinds of “markets” exist for consumerism to thrive?  How does race and ethnicity function in a consumer driven society?  Exploring various sites of consumer and popular culture such as the movies, amusement and theme parks, and more contemporary consumer activities such as food, fashion, shopping, and cyberspace, we will consider how consumer culture and the very act of consumption define American life.                   

Requirements

Attendance, in-class writing, quizzes, and discussion participation     15%

20 thought-provoking discussion questions     15%

Take-home midterm exam     20%

Short Research Paper(5-7 pages)     20%

Final Research Project  (8-10 page paper)     30%

Possible Texts

Janet Davis, The Circus Age

Elizabeth Chin, Purchasing Power

Lisa Sun-Hee Park, Consuming Citizenship

Bich Minh Nguyen, Stealing Buddha’s Dinner

Course Reader

Upper-division standing required. Students may not enroll in more than two AMS 370 courses in one semester.

Flag(s): Writing, Cultural Diversity

Description

The spread and growth of consumer capitalism has coincided with the migration and integration of immigrants into American society.  As immigrant lives become transformed by commercial culture, they also actively sustain it.  This course will approach the study of consumer culture by examining its emergence as a force that defines modern American society and trace its developments and current manifestations throughout the world.  We will study the theories of consumption as well as investigate the roles immigrants play in the making and re-making of commercial culture, examining both processes of production and consumption.  We will attempt to answer questions such as:  How do ethnic and racialized Americans negotiate work and leisure?  How do immigrants engage with and partake in America’s capitalist consumer culture in light of race, class, and gender differences?  How do people of color construct identity around consumption and material accumulation?  What kinds of “markets” exist for consumerism to thrive?  How does race and ethnicity function in a consumer driven society?  Exploring various sites of consumer and popular culture such as the movies, amusement and theme parks, and more contemporary consumer activities such as food, fashion, shopping, and cyberspace, we will consider how consumer culture and the very act of consumption define American life.                      

Requirements

Attendance, in-class writing, quizzes, and discussion participation     15%

20 thought-provoking discussion questions     15%

Take-home midterm exam     20%

Short Research Paper (5-7 pages)     20%

Final Research Project  (8-10 page paper)     30%

Possible Texts

Janet Davis, The Circus Age

Elizabeth Chin, Purchasing Power

Lisa Sun-Hee Park, Consuming Citizenship

Bich Minh Nguyen, Stealing Buddha’s Dinner

Course Reader

Upper-division standing required. Students may not enroll in more than two AMS 370 courses in one semester.

Flag(s): Writing, Cultural Diversity

This course seeks to explore the intersections of race, class, and culture in contemporary and historical discourses of sartorial and bodily practices and performances of fashion and beauty.  Reading through a body of contemporary feminist scholarship and methodologies, we will investigate how class and gender shape definitions of beauty and why beauty is mapped on to the racialized body. By examining practices of beautification and style in popular and visual culture such as beauty pageants, fashion trends, makeovers, and body modification, we will ask, for example, how are beauty ideals defined?  What systems of power are they a part of and how are these modes of power sustained?  We will study the ways in which feminists have grappled with these debates that reflect broader ideological, cultural, and social processes.  We will also analyze the political and cultural implications of fashion and beauty as industries on the global market.  What impact do these practices have on gender relations and feminist discourse? How have feminized practices of consumption responded to transforming flexible economies under globalization?  We will work toward theorizing fashion and beauty culture in our contemporary world.

Requirements

Attendance, in-class writing, quizzes, and discussion participation                  15%

20 thought-provoking discussion questions reflecting readings collected for entire semester                  15%

Take-home midterm exam                                    20%

Creative Group Assignment w Description/purpose paper component (5-7 pages)                                    20%

Final Research Project  (8-10 page paper)                   30%

Texts

Susan Douglas, The Rise of Enlightened Sexism:  How Pop Culture Took Us from Girl Power to Girls Gone Wild 

Thuy Linh Tu, The Beautiful Generation:  Asian Americans and the Cultural Economy of Fashion 

Miliann Kang, The Managed Hand:  Race, Gender, and the Body in Beauty Service Work

Brenda Weber, Makeover TV:  Selfhood, Citizenship, and Celebrity

Selections from

Kathy Peiss, Hope in a Jar:  The Making of America’s Beauty Culture

Geoffrey Jones, Imagined Beauty:  A History of the Global Beauty Industry

Susan Bordo, Unbearable Weight:  Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body

Elizabeth Haiken, Venus Envy:  A History of Cosmetic Surgery

Peg Zeglin Brand, Beauty Matters

Bonnie Adrian, Framing the Bride:  Globalizing Beauty and Roman in Taiwan’s Bridal Industry

Upper-division standing required. Students may not enroll in more than two AMS 370 courses in one semester.

Flag(s): Writing, Cultural Diversity

Description

The history of Asian communities in the United States is diverse and the constitution of these communities is mediated through complex social and cultural relations. This class will explore U.S. involvement in Asia and the relationships forged between the nations in Asia with that of the United States of America.  In particular, it will to examine the historical and contemporary exchanges throughout the regions of the Pacific Rim using methods from cultural studies.  We will investigate the causes and effects of war, commerce, labor, and the flows of people, goods, ideas, and services.  We will also interrogate the implications of these relations as they are governed by cultural, racial, and gendered ideologies.  This class will not be a comprehensive survey course about U.S. foreign relations but rather a course that will think through why certain nations in Asia are privileged over others with regard to their relationships to the United States.  These nations include: China, Japan, Korea, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, the Pacific Islands, and others dependent on U.S. economic and political support.  Students will be grappling with challenging concepts and themes such as Orientalism, U.S. imperialism, U.S. engagement with war, sexual politics, race and nation, transnationalism, globalization, and diaspora.

Possible Texts

Kuan-Hsing Chen, Asia as Method:  Toward Deimperialization

Christina Klein, Cold War Orientalism:  Asia in the Middlebrow Imagination, 1945-1961

Susan Zeiger, Entangling Alliances:  Foreign War Brides and American Soldiers in the Twentieth Century

Selections from: 

Evelyn Hu-DeHart, Across the Pacific:  Asian Americans and Globalization

Rob Wilson & Arif Dirlik, Asia/Pacific as Space of Cultural Production

Arif Dirlik, What is in a Rim?: Critical Perspectives on the Pacific Region Idea

Requirements

15%    Attendance, in-class writing, quizzes, and discussion participation

10%    20 thought-provoking discussion questions

25%    Take-home midterm exam  

20%    Current Events Project: 

30%    Final Research Project  (8-10 page paper)

Upper-division standing required. Students may not enroll in more than two AMS 370 courses in one semester.

Flag(s): Writing, Global Cultures

Description

The spread and growth of consumer capitalism has coincided with the migration and integration of immigrants into American society.  As immigrant lives become transformed by commercial culture, they also actively sustain it.  This course will approach the study of consumer culture by examining its emergence as a force that defines modern American society and trace its developments and current manifestations throughout the world.  We will study the theories of consumption as well as investigate the roles immigrants play in the making and re-making of commercial culture, examining both processes of production and consumption.  We will attempt to answer questions such as:  How do ethnic and racialized Americans negotiate work and leisure?  How do immigrants engage with and partake in America’s capitalist consumer culture in light of race, class, and gender differences?  How do people of color construct identity around consumption and material accumulation?  What kinds of “markets” exist for consumerism to thrive?  How does race and ethnicity function in a consumer driven society?  Exploring various sites of consumer and popular culture such as the movies, amusement and theme parks, and more contemporary consumer activities such as food, fashion, shopping, and cyberspace, we will consider how consumer culture and the very act of consumption define American life.                      

Requirements

Attendance, in-class writing, quizzes, and discussion participation     15%

20 thought-provoking discussion questions     15%

Take-home midterm exam     20%

Short Research Paper (5-7 pages)     20%

Final Research Project  (8-10 page paper)     30%

Possible Texts

Janet Davis, The Circus Age

Elizabeth Chin, Purchasing Power

Lisa Sun-Hee Park, Consuming Citizenship

Bich Minh Nguyen, Stealing Buddha’s Dinner

Course Reader

Upper-division standing required. Students may not enroll in more than two AMS 370 courses in one semester.

Flag(s): Writing, Cultural Diversity

Description

The spread and growth of consumer capitalism has coincided with the migration and integration of immigrants into American society.  As immigrant lives become transformed by commercial culture, they also actively sustain it.  This course will approach the study of consumer culture by examining its emergence as a force that defines modern American society and trace its developments and current manifestations throughout the world.  We will study the theories of consumption as well as investigate the roles immigrants play in the making and re-making of commercial culture, examining both processes of production and consumption.  We will attempt to answer questions such as:  How do ethnic and racialized Americans negotiate work and leisure?  How do immigrants engage with and partake in America’s capitalist consumer culture in light of race, class, and gender differences?  How do people of color construct identity around consumption and material accumulation?  What kinds of “markets” exist for consumerism to thrive?  How does race and ethnicity function in a consumer driven society?  Exploring various sites of consumer and popular culture such as the movies, amusement and theme parks, and more contemporary consumer activities such as food, fashion, shopping, and cyberspace, we will consider how consumer culture and the very act of consumption define American life.     

Requirements

Attendance, in-class writing, quizzes, and discussion participation     15%

20 thought-provoking discussion questions     15%

Take-home midterm exam     20%

Short Research Paper (5-7 pages)     20%

Final Research Project  (8-10 page paper)     30%

Texts

 Janet Davis, The Circus Age

Elizabeth Chin, Purchasing Power

Lisa Sun-Hee Park, Consuming Citizenship

Bich Minh Nguyen, Stealing Buddha’s Dinner           

Course Reader

Upper-division standing required. Students may not enroll in more than two AMS 370 courses in one semester.

Flag(s): Writing, Cultural Diversity

Description

This course aims to introduce students to the interdisciplinary study of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans in the United States. While Asian American Studies encompasses a wide range of issues and theoretical approaches, we will not attempt an exhaustive or comprehensive survey. Rather, this course will introduce you to some key themes and important methodological approaches in the field. Topics will include: immigration history, theories on identity and community formation, cultural representations, and the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Our goal will be to create a common vocabulary that will enable a lively and critical engagement and discussion of the complex experiences of Asian Americans. We will read materials from history, anthropology, sociology, cultural, and media studies. In particular, we will track some convergences and divergences inherent in these different disciplinary approaches to knowledge production and the consequences for the field of Asian American Studies.

Requirements

Midterm  20%

Short Paper  20%

Media Watch Assignment  20%

Final Exam  25%

Participation  15%

Possible Texts

Helen Zia, Asian American Dreams

Andrew X. Pham, Catfish and Mandala

Course Reader

Flag(s): Cultural Diversity

Description

            By examining a variety of popular cultural production and media forms including film, video, print, television, and the Internet, this intensive writing course will explore the complex ways in which Asians/Asian Americans have been represented by the mass media as well as how they use media technology to re-present themselves.  Students will learn about the multiple ways in which Asian Americans resist and accommodate to media representations and engage in critical analyses of cultural forms.  Topics will include: Asian American representations in popular culture, film, and television; music, performance culture, and theatre; print and ethnic publications, and Asian presence in cyberspace.  Students will also be introduced to communication theory, historical productions of racial representations, contemporary discourses on gender, Orientalism, cultural identity, and transnational media circuits.

Requirements

1-2 page response papers to 3 cultural artifacts

6-8 paper of media watch OR website group project           

10 page Final Research Paper                       

Possible Texts

Robert Lee, Orientals:  Asian Americans in Popular Culture

Tu and Nguyen, Alien Encounters: Popular Culture in Asian America

Dave, et al., East Main Street: Asian American Popular Culture

Deborah Wong, Speak it Louder:  Asian Americans Making Music

Lee and Wong, AsianAmerica.net

Films:

Flower Drum Song

Blade Runner

Year of the Dragon

Bend it Like Beckham

Better Luck Tomorrow

Flag(s): Writing

Upper-division standing required. Students may not enroll in more than two AMS 370 courses in one semester.