AAAS 275History of Asian America

Catalog

This course surveys the history of Asians and Asian Americans in the United States from the mid-19th century to the present. The class will contextualize Asian migration to the U.S. within global diasporas and transnational relationships while exploring Asian American experiences in Hawaii, the East and West Coasts, Alaska, the Midwest, and the American South. Students will analyze interethnic relations between and among diverse Asian American groups (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, South Asian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Lao, and Cambodian), as well as interracial relations with African Americans, Native Americans, and European Americans. Topics include but are not limited to: the coolie trade in the Americas; early Asian laborers in the U.S.; Native Hawaiian sovereignty and Asian settler colonialism; citizenship debates and immigration law; community organizing and resistance to multiple forms of oppression; second-generation Asian American identities; Asian Americans and war (Philippine-American War, World Wars I and II, Korean War, Vietnam War); Korean adoptees; Southeast Asian refugees; activism and the Asian American Movement; and anti-Asian violence in the U.S. before and after 9/11.