History of Asian Americans and the Law

Catalog description

This course explores the unique role the law has played in Asian American racialization and identity formation while also introducing students to the fundamentals of legal analysis and research. Students will learn how to read legal documents such as case law, legislation, legal reviews, and executive orders alongside other primary sources such as newspaper reporting, oral histories, and cultural texts. In using the law to frame an analysis of Asian Americanness, students will put both the law and race under a critical lens and explore how the historical constructions of both have shaped the Asian American experience.