Fall 2007

HIS 365G • Gender and Asian American History

Course Description

How have the historical constructions of femininity and masculinity influenced Asian American immigration and racial formation from the nineteenth century to the millennium? Expanding on Benedict Andersons definition of nationhood as an imagined community of the modern age, this course asks how immigrants, workers, "refugees," and activists negotiated gender to create Asian America as a site of belonging and citizenship. This course will be valuable for students interested in modern American History, Womens and Gender studies, and Ethnic Studies.

Grading Policy

Class participation: 20% Five-page book review: 20% Midterm take-home essay exam: 30% Final take-home essay exam: 30%

Texts

Lui, The Chinatown Trunk Mystery One chapter from the following may appear in a coursepack: Azuma, Between Two Empires Chan, Vietnamese American 1.5 Generation Eng and Kazanjian, eds., Loss Fujino, Heartbeat of Struggle Glenn, Issei, Nisei, War Bride Hsu, Dreaming of Gold, Dreaming of Home Isaac, American Tropics Jung, Coolies and Cane Lam, Catfish and Mandala Lee, At Americas Gates Lee, et al., eds., Re-Collecting Early Asian America Lee, Quiet Odyssey Leonard, The South Asian Americans McAlister, Epic Encounters Matsumoto, Farming the Home Place Okihiro, Cane Fires Okihiro, Margins and Mainstreams Palumbo-Liu, Asian/American Prashad, Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting Prashad, The Karma of Brown Folk Said, Orientalism Saxton, The Indispensable Enemy Wu, Doctor Mom Chung of the Fair-Haired Bastards Yu, Thinking Orientals Yuh, Beyond the Shadow of Camptown

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