Asian American History

Catalog description

This course focuses on Asian America as a historical subject and on Asian Americans as makers of their own histories. It is loosely chronological but principally organized around the emergence of an Asian American historical voice. Films, personal accounts, and historical analyses will be read. Many of the texts feature photographs, which we will engage primarily as historical documents. Examining the material realities they represent or suggest, we will also probe their political, economic and cultural dimensions. As weapon, commodity and heirloom, photography has been integral to shaping Asian Americans' visibility and therefore their social position in the United States.