Cold War Asians and Asian Americans

Catalog description

“Cold War Asians and Asian Americans” is a specialized course that discusses the interplay between Asian anticolonial nationalist movements and the development of a pan-Asian American political formation during the Cold War. The Cold War is often conceived as beginning at the conclusion of World War II in 1945 and ending in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. To disrupt that linear timeline, this course considers the longer history of colonial and anticommunist sentiments that influenced America’s treatment of Asia, Asians, and Asian Americans, beginning in the 1910s and extending into the present day. This course will detail how Asians and Asian Americans exploited, manipulated, and subverted the U.S. Cold War agenda and along the way managed to forge understandings and solidarities across ethnic and political lines in the hopes of creating a more liberated future for all. Satisfies History major and minor requirement. Satisfies Cultural Diversity requirement.