Develops students' critical and analytical reading ability of literature from the perspective of the Asian American experience. Grounds the discussion of Asian American experiences, literatures, and cultures in history and theory. Offers built-in assessment in HCOM MLO 6 or the concentrations in Comparative American Studies, or Literary and Film Studies. A literature course from GE Area C2 is recommended. (Prereq: GE Area A1 and A2 and A3)
Course narrative: Before taking this class, I had not experienced a lot of Asian American literature. In the course of this class, I had the opportunity to read several books and watch a variety of movies that discussed the Asian American experience. Two particular movies that I found very interesting were Gran Torino and Come See the Paradise. Gran Torino discussed the experience of the Hmong people and how they struggled to retain their culture. Come See the Paradise was about the Japanese American experience during World War Two. I was able to connect this movie with another class I took that was about the Japanese American experience in the U.S. You can see my presentations for these movies here and here. This class fulfilled the MLO 4 requirement.