In order to foster pointed discussions, this class will limit its focus on the Asian diaspora to Asian American literature and film in the post-1945 period—a particularly dynamic time of Asian American cultural production. A number of political, economic, and social developments in this period have had a direct bearing on Asian immigration to the US, on the country’s Asian diaspora, and on Asian American life more generally. A non-exhaustive list would include the forced detention of Japanese Americans in the 40s; the easing of immigration quotas in the 50s and 60s; the Vietnam War and the refugee crisis it created; the US-backed economic expansion of Asian markets; 9/11 and the subsequent War on Terror; and the sometimes-waning, sometimes-swelling racism directed at people of Asian descent.
The main thesis of this class is that literature and film are potent forms of cultural politics. Apart from examining the stylistic facets of creative texts made by, and largely about, people of Asian descent, we will draw on cultural theory to investigate the identitarian elements of each work, as well as locate each among relevant political, economic, and social currents. We will stage conversations between theories of diaspora and theories of cultural nationalism and hybridity, consider “cosmopolitanism” as a lens with which to read Asian American cultural texts, and attend to the difficulties and powers, the limits and affordances, of minority subjectivity. Ideally, the class will generate more questions than it solves.
- Teacher: dandufournaud, Dufournaud Daniel