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

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 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

Note: Graduate standing required. Students also required to attend undergraduate lectures, AMS 356, T Th 11-12:30.

Description:

This graduate seminar is taught as a companion to the undergraduate lecture course that surveys U.S. cultural history from the Civil War to the present.  We will examine the history of the United States through the lens of culture using methodology from an interdisciplinary approach grounded in American studies.  In the undergraduate class, we will trace major historical transformations and themes as we work chronologically as well as travel back and forth in time to understand the significant ideas and social and cultural practices that shaped America’s national consciousness.  In particular, we will explore how the U.S. emerged as a nation from the late nineteenth through the twentieth century and assess the ways in which this nation defined itself vis-à-vis the rest of the world.  Along with these questions, we will also investigate the cultural and social trends that shaped intellectual and political debates and analyze the cultural productions that reflect and refract those historical moments.  Uncovering various sites of culture, we will attempt to reconstruct and deconstruct different cultural artifacts including books, films, popular images, political cartoons, television shows, music, fashion, and other forms to understand their significance.  The following themes will be covered in this class:  U.S. nationalism, the rise of industrialization and consumer culture; labor and social movements, debates over immigration and citizenship; U.S. imperial expansion; ideologies of race, gender, class, and sexuality in mainstream discourses and popular representations; and much more.  The graduate seminar will not only allow us to think about methodologies and models for doing American Studies but it will also give us an opportunity to work through issues of pedagogy. 

Requirements:

Weekly Reading Responses  25%

Attendance/ Seminar Participation/ Leading Discussion 25%

Teaching assignment 25%

• Design a course syllabus and write a 5-7 page-rationale
• Include a bibliography of course materials (15-20 sources)         
• Teaching Presentation  (7-8 pages)                                                                                             

Final Paper 25%

Possible Texts

*Matthew Frye Jacobson, Barbarian Virtues:  The United States Encounters Foreign Peoples at Home and Abroad, 1876-1917 (2000)

Janet M. Davis, The Circus Age: Culture and Society Under the American Big Top (2002)

George J. Sanchez, Becoming Mexican American (1900-1945)

*Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal (1919-1939) (1990)

Christina Klein, Cold War Orientalism (1945-1961) (2003)

*Susan J. Douglas, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media (1995)

Eric Avila, Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight (1940-1970) (2004)

Lisa McGirr, Suburban Warriors:  The Rise of the New American Right (2002)

Melani McAlister, Epic Encounters:  Culture, Media, & U.S. Interests in the Middle East since 1945. (2004)

Lisa Duggan, Twilight of Inequality? (2004)

George Lipsitz, How Racism Takes Place (2011

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: Feminism has had a long-standing and ambivalent relationship with fashion, beauty, and female consumption.  This course seeks to explore the intersections of race, class, and culture in contemporary and historical discourses of sartorial and bodily practices of beauty and fashion.  We will examine how class and gender shapes definitions of beauty and why beauty is mapped on to the racialized body. By examining practices in popular culture such as beauty pageants, hair culture, fashion trends, and body modification, we will ask, for example, how are beauty ideals defined by gender and how do definitions of beauty reflect broader cultural processes?  How do body ideals take shape and who and what in society sustains those ideals?  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 has feminism engaged with fashion and beauty culture?  How have female practices of consumption responded to globalization?

Requirements:

Weekly Reading Responses 25%
Attendance/ Seminar Participation/ Leading Discussion 25%
Creative assignment 25%  
Final Paper 25%

Possible Texts:

Bonnie Adrian, Framing the Bride

Thuy Linh Tu, The Beautiful Generation

Angela McRobbie, British Fashion or Rag Trade

Susan Bordo, Unbearable Weight

Sarah Banet-Weiser, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

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

Susan Douglas, Enlightened Sexism

Sander Gilman, Making the Body Beautiful

Kathy Peiss, Hope in a Jar

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.

Spring 2010                                                                        Professor Lieu

Class Time:  MW 3:30-5pm                                                  Email: nlieu@mail.utexas.edu

Classroom:  BUR 228                                                           Office Phone:  232. 2792

                                                                                         Office:  BUR 444

                                                                                         Office Hours:  Tuesdays 11-2pm and by appt

AMS 370W (29845) /AAS 320W (35710)

“Immigrants, Amusements, and Consumer Culture”

Course 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.     

Course objectives:

• To take seemingly frivolous activities in daily life and think about the larger impact of their social, cultural, and political implications
• To think critically about the intersections of race, class, and gender in a consumer-driven world
• To understand how to use primary and secondary sources in research and be able to write a research paper 

Course Requirements:

American studies is an interdisciplinary field the exposes learners to a variety of different texts and sources.  One important objective in this course is to develop critical skills in reading a broad range of materials including:  images, print, film, and other media representations.  We will also focus on analytical thinking and writing as we sharpen our reading skills.  You are expected to attend class and participate knowledgeably and thoughtfully during classroom discussions.  While there are no prerequisites for this class, students in this class should have some prior basic knowledge of the history of race relations, immigration, and/or ethnic American studies.  If you require additional background knowledge or additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me for references and supplemental materials.

Required Texts:

The Immigrant Scene, Sabine Haenni

Purchasing Power, Elizabeth Chin

Consuming Citizenship, Lisa Sun-Hee Park

Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, Bich Minh Nguyen           

Course Reader at I.T. Copy, (512 W. MLK Blvd., phone 476.6662)

Students will be evaluated on the following:

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

Students are expected to attend class regularly, participate knowledgeably and thoughtfully during classroom discussions, and actively engage with their peers in small group projects and in evaluating one another’s papers.  Since this is a relatively small class, attendance and active class participation are very important components of this course.  Each student is expected to do all the assigned readings before class and come to class prepared for discussion. Please purchase a pack of 4x6 note cards and bring them to class every time we meet for quizzes and in-class writing exercises. 

15%            20 thought-provoking discussion questions

20%            Take-home midterm exam

20%            Short Research Paper (5-7 pages)

30%            Final Research Project  (8-10 page paper) on a topic of your choice in the form of an essay or a published blog     

Annotated Bibliography                10points

Research proposal 2-3pages         15points           

Peer review                                 10points           

First Draft                                   25points

Final Draft                                   40points

Late papers:  You will be docked half a grade for each day your paper is late.  So if your grade for the paper is a B+ and you submitted the paper 2 days late, you will receive a C+ on the late paper.

I will not accept anything electronically.  Please print out hard copies and place them in my box in the AMS office, 4^th floor of Burdine. 

Student File: Each student must keep all graded materials (copies are acceptable) in a file for submission at the end of the term.  This file containing a record of all your written work will enable you to showcase your work and monitor its progression over time.  Seeing all you work, particularly if you’ve shown a trajectory of improvement will facilitate the evaluation of your final grade.

The Undergraduate Writing Center provides individual, professional advice on all aspects of writing to UT undergraduates on a drop-in basis or by appointment.  512-471-6222

Location: Flawn Academic Center 211?Fall 2007 hours:?Monday- Thursday 9 a.m.- 8 p.m.(last appointments at 6:45) ?Friday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (last appointment at 1:45)

*Last consultations begin 1 hour before closing.

*If your paper is due in two hours or less, you cannot meet with a consultant. You will not have enough time to revise after your consultation.

Writer's Advice Line: free and open to everyone. Email your brief query or call us at (512) 475-VERB.

Attendance Policy: 

Attendance is a crucial component of this class.  Please be on time.  I will take attendance at the beginning of class.  If you arrive after the bell rings, you will be marked tardy.  If you are tardy three times, it will become one absence.  You are allowed 3 unexcused absences during the semester, no questions asked.  Your grade will be affected after the fourth absence.

University of Texas Honor Code:  The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community. 

Plagiarism will NOT be tolerated in this class.  I will refer all cases of academic dishonesty (ie, cheating, plagiarism) to the Office of the Dean of students.  If you are uncertain what constitutes plagiarism, please educate yourself on the matter. 

http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/scholdis_plagiarism.php

I will also make available some educational modules about plagiarism on our class blackboard site.  Please view them as necessary. 

Documented Disability Statement:  If you require special accommodations, you must obtain a letter that documents your disability from the Services for Students with Disabilities area of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (471-6259 voice or 471-4641 TTY for users who are deaf or hard of hearing). Present the letter to me at the beginning of the semester so we can discuss the accommodations you need. No later than five business days before an exam, you should remind me of any testing accommodations you will need. For more information, visit http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/

Schedule of Readings and assignments: 

Please have the assignments read and completed on the date assigned so that you will be ready to discuss.  (I reserve the right to make changes to this syllabus during the course of the semester if the need arises).

Week 1:
Wed             1/ 20 Introductions and syllabus overview

Week 2:  Historicizing Amusements and Immigration

Mon             1/25

Readings:

Mark Gottdiener, “Approaches to Consumption:  Classical and Contemporary Perspectives”

George Lipsitz, “In the Sweet Buy and Buy:  Consumer Culture and American Studies”

The Immigrant Scene, Intro.

Wed             1/27

Readings:

The Immigrant Scene, Chapter 1 & 2

Week 3:  De-constructing/Re-constructing race in representations

Mon            2/1

Readings:

The Immigrant Scene, Ch 3 & 4

Wed             2/3

Readings: The Immigrant Scene, Ch. 5 & Coda

Week 4:  Consuming Difference

Mon             2/8 

Readings:

bell hooks, “Eating the Other”

Henry Giroux “Consuming Social Change:  The United Colors of Benetton”

Wed             2/10

Readings: Purchasing Power, Intro, Ch 1

Week 5:  Consumption and Social Inequalities

Mon            2/15

Readings: Purchasing Power, Ch 2, 3.

Wed             2/17

Readings: Purchasing Power, Ch 4 & 5

Week 6:  Commodification of Ethnic/Racial Identities

Mon             2/22 

Readings: Purchasing Power, Ch 6 & Afterward

Mark Gottdiener, “The Consumption of Space and the Spaces of Consumption”

Steven Hoelscher, “Tourism, Ethnic Memory and the Other-Directed Place”

Adria Imada, “Hawaiians on Tour:  Hula Circuits through the American Empire”

Take home midterm essay questions will be passed out. 

Wed             2/24

Video:  Hoop Dreams, Part 1

No readings—work on midterm

Week 7:

Mon             3/1

Meet at the Library for presentation and submission of your midterm

Due Date alert:  Midterm due 3/1/10

No readings

Wed             3/3  Writing Center In-class Presentation

Week 8:  Ethnic Markets and Advertising

Mon            3/8
Video:  Hoop Dreams, Part 2

Discussion of film and readings.

Readings:  Selections from Marilyn Halter, Shopping for Identity

Wed             3/10

Video:  Advertising and the End of the World

Readings: Selections from Arleen Davila, Latinos, Inc.

Due Date Alert:  Abstracts for first paper due 3/10/10

Week 9:  Spring Break

Week 10:  Consumerism and the Politics of Belonging

 Mon             3/22

Readings:  Consuming Citizenship, Ch. 1-3

Wed            3/24

Readings:  Consuming Citizenship, Ch. 4-5

Week 11: 

Mon            3/29

Readings: Consuming Citizenship, Ch. 6-7

Wed            3/31  In-class presentations of Papers

Due Date Alert:  Short Research Paper due  3/31/10

Week 12:  Consuming Cultures

Mon   4/5  Class, Food and Family

Readings:  Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, p. 1-116

Wed            4/7

Readings:  Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, p. 117-250           

Week 13:     Cyberspace, Fashion, and the American Dream

Mon  4/12 

Readings: 

Oh and Arditi, “Shopping and Postmodernism:  Consumption, Production, Identity and the Internet”

Erika Bsumek, “Exchanging Places:  Virtual Tourism, Vicarious Travel, and the Consumption of Southwestern Indian Artifacts”

Wed 4/14

Readings:

Thuy Linh Tu, “Outside In:  Immigration and popular culture in Asian New York”

Grace Wang, “A Shot at Half-Exposure:  Asian Americans in Reality TV Shows”

Week 14:            

Mon 4/19             Thesis writing workshop

Due Date alert:  Paper proposals and annotated bibliography due 4/19/10

No Readings:  Work on papers 

Wed  4/21       

No Readings:  Paper writing/ researching workshops             

Week 15:

Mon 4/26            Peer Review, Round 1

Wed 4/28            In-class paper discussions/presentations

Week 16:

Mon 5/3             In-class paper discussions/ presentations

Wed 5/6               Final Peer Review

                        Final Papers due 5/6/10

American Studies Graduate Seminar (AMS 390)

“Transnationalism and Diaspora in Theory and in Practice”

Spring 2010  (Unique#29890)                                                               Professor Nhi Lieu

Class Meetings:  Weds, 10am-1pm, Bur 436B                                         Email: nlieu@mail.utexas.edu

Office Hours:  Tues, 11-2pm and by appointment                                    Office:  Burdine 444

                                                                                                          Office phone:  512. 232. 2792

Course Description:

In an effort to revise the cultural nationalism and critique the celebratory exceptionalism that has historically informed the field of American Studies, contemporary American Studies scholarship has turned toward an increasingly transnational, diasporic, global, and post-national approach.  The movement of people, labor, capital, and commodities across national boundaries has created migratory flows and circuits that challenge the role of the nation-state and question its relevance in this postmodern globalized world.  How does the United States become reconfigured in the world and how do scholars begin to envision a critically transnational and international vision of American Studies?  This course will investigate the move from ‘national’ to ‘post-national’ fields of study reading from a wide range of disciplines including:  American Studies, cultural studies, immigration studies, history, anthropology, and sociology.  We will examine the theoretical formations of modern nationalism and transnationalism and explore the cultural, social, and political effects of migration, globalization, ethnic consciousness, cultural identity, citizenship, and diasporic communities. Finally, we will examine neoliberalism and attempt to understand how ideologies and these forces are operating together in late capitalism.

Course Requirements:

Weekly Reading Responses                                                                                            25%

Conference Paper (250 word abstract & 7-8 page presentation)                                        25%

More Developed Research prospectus (15-20 pages) AND                                                       

            Annotated Bibliography (15-20 sources)                                                             25%

Leading Discussion/seminar participation/in-class presentations                                       25%

Required Texts:

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities

Paul Gilroy, Black Atlantic

*Bash, Glick-Schiller, and Szanton Blanc, Nations Unbound

Coco Fusco, English is Broken Here

*Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large

Sandhya Shukla, India Abroad

*Eiichiro Azuma, Between Two Empires

*Gina Perez, Near Northwest Side Story

Andrea Louie, Chineseness Across Borders

*David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism

Aihwa Ong, Neoliberalism as Exception

All books are on reserve at the PCL and the books with the * are also available as e-books.

Weekly Course Schedule

Week 1                          1/20              Review syllabus; course overview; sign up for presentation;                                                 Discussion of Presidential Addresses           

Week 2                           1/27              Nation/Theorizing Nationalism

                                                Text:  Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities

Week 3                         2/3            Framing Transnationalism

                                                Text:  Paul Gilroy, Black Atlantic

Week 4                        2/10            Transnational Theory in Practice 

                                                Text:  *Bash, Glick-Schiller, and Szanton Blanc, Nations Unbound

Week 5                        2/17            Thinking Through Race, Migration, and Aethetics

                                                Text:  Coco Fusco, English is Broken Here

Week 6                        2/24            What’s New about Transnationalism?

                                                Text:  Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large

Week 7                        3/3            Depending upon the topics you submit, I will organize the conference into panels.  The first half of the class will do their conference lecture presentations this week.           

Week 8                        3/10             The second half of the class will do their lecture presentations this week.

                                                Conference papers due on 3/10/09 at the end of class

Week 9                         3/15-3/19   Spring Break

Week 10                         3/24            Transnational/ Post Colonial? 

                                                Text: Sandhya Shukla, India Abroad

Week 11                          3/31            Historical Frameworks for thinking about transnationalism

                                                Text:  *Eiichiro Azuma, Between Two Empires

Week 12                         4/7            Multi-Sited Ethnography, Case I

                                                Text:  Gina Perez, Near Northwest Side Story

Week 13                         4/14            Multi-Sited Ethnography, Case II 

                                                Text:  Andrea Louie, Chineseness Across Borders

Week 14                          4/21            Globalization and Neoliberalism

                                                Text:  David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism

Week 15                        4/28            Implications for Neoliberalism

                                                Text:  Aihwa Ong, Neoliberalism as Exception

Week 16                         5/5             Futures of American Studies Discussion

                                                Prospectus Proposal Workshop

                                                Final Prospectus Paper due Monday, May 10^th.

All assignments must be completed by their respective due dates.  Please note that I will NOT grant any incomplete grades for this class. 

Note: Graduate standing required. Students also required to attend undergraduate lectures, AMS 356