WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS
GROUP PRESENTATION
MID TERM
AD ANALYSIS
FINAL EXAM
WS COLLOQUIUM
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dr. Monisha Das
Gupta
George Hall 306
Ph: 956-2914
dasgupta@hawaii.edu
Office Hours: Th 3-5pm, F 10-11 am
or by appointment
Monisha Das Gupta's Home Page
Course Description:
Who are Asian Americans and how can we go about understanding their
experiences in the United States? This course provides an overview of
Asian American history, experiences, and identities. We are
centrally concerned with two sets of questions. 1) How does
centering Asian America transform our understanding of U.S. history,
society and culture? Moving through time, we will look at the
treatment of Asian Americans and their multiple resistances to such
treatment. 2) How does Asian America look when we take into
account differences in ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and
generation among Asian Americans? By exploring the structures
that shape Asian American experiences and Asian American challenges to
those forces, the course asks students to consider their own role in
transforming the state of Asian America.
* Please use my office hours. If you cannot make those,
make an appointment to see me. One-to-one meetings enable us to
discuss your ideas, help you with any difficulty you face with the
course material, and help me to get to know you better.
* Students who have special needs should make an appointment to
see me within the first week
of class so that we can ensure your full participation.
Learning Objectives:
• Become familiar with Asian American issues in the
past and present as well as debates within Asian American Studies
• Become critical thinkers. The course
challenges you to move away from description to analysis by learning to
ask “what,” “why,” “how” questions about the material.
• Link historical events and issues to contemporary
concerns.
• Develop writing and oral presentation skills.
Required Readings:
The following books are available at Revolution Books, 2633 S. King St,
973-6599
1. Mary Danico and Franklin Ng. 2004. Asian
American Issues. Greenwood Press.
2. Linda Trinh Vo and Rick Bonus. 2002. Contemporary
Asian American Communities: Intersections And Divergences. Temple
University Press
3. Sunaina Maira. 2009. Missing: Youth, Citizenship,
and Empire after 9/11. Duke University Press
Getting
a
major, minor or certificate in Ethnic Studies:
Many of you have been taking
Ethnic Studies courses
that qualify you for a major, minor, or certificate in these
fields. AMST/ES fulfills Ethnic Studies’ course
requirements. To
learn how to get a major, minor, or certificate in Ethnic Studies go to
the Ethnic Studies Academic Programs and contact
Prof. Ibrahim
Aoude at aoude@hawaii.edu or at
956-4000.
Assignments
and Grade Distribution (Total=100)
Weekly Assignments
(Weeks 2-16):
15%
Group Presentations (See Course Outline): 15%
10/13 Take Home Mid Term : 25%
Ad Analysis: 10%
Take Home Final
Exam: 25%
Participation: 10%
Course Requirements:
Attendance:
Attendance is mandatory. You are not supposed to be anywhere else
during the scheduled class period. An attendance sheet will be
passed around at the beginning of class. You cannot sign the
sheet if you come in late. Early departures or coming late to
class — unless by permission — will be considered as absences.
You are allowed two unpenalized absence during the semester (this
amounts to a week’s worth of class) but in all cases of absence, you
need to inform me via e-mail. I reserve the right to fail a
student whose attendance is irregular. Please understand that if
you are absent then you obviously cannot participate in class.
Your absences will be reflected in the grade you receive for
participation.
Participation:
Speaking and active listening in class counts for participation.
The success of this E focus class depends on honest and respectful
discussion that engages with the ideas presented in the readings,
lectures, videos, and by your classmates. The grade of students
who do not participate in class discussion will automatically drop to a
“B.” If you have problems speaking in a classroom setting, please
talk to me about it.
Readings:
You must come to class having done the assigned reading. You
cannot participate in class discussions or do the weekly assignments
without doing the readings. This is an upper level class.
In taking it, you are making a commitment to come to class
prepared. Please bring the readings we are covering on a
particular day (books or reader or both) to class.
Writing:
All written work for this course needs to be word-processed,
grammatical, free of spelling errors, and well-organized. All
direct quotations taken from the readings must be cited. A paper
that does not cite direct quotes taken from the readings by author and
page number or that inadequately paraphrases the readings will receive
an "F."
Group Presentations:
I will give you a list of suggested topics to research for your group
presentation. You will get guidelines from me as to how to go
about the research, and how to organize the presentation. The
oral presentations should be polished and well-organized. All group members need to be
equally involved and need to plan the presentation in consultation with
me.
Extra credit: (4 credits per
semester)
You can earn extra credit by attending a maximum of four events on
campus that I will announce in class or post on this page. To get
credit you need to submit short write up within a week of the
event. The write-up should explain the event and your response to
it, including a question you asked or wanted to ask.
Policies:
Late papers:
All assignments are due at the beginning of the class. The dates on
which the papers are due are firm deadlines. You will lose 1/3 of
a grade for every day that an assignment is late. For eg., if you
submit a A- paper a day late, the grade will be scaled down to a B+.
Absences:
Attendance is mandatory.
Academic honesty:
Any infraction of codes of academic honesty will lead to sanctions from
the instructor. You will receive a failing grade if you copy or submit
other people's work, or do not properly attribute ideas that are not
original to you. Please read Section H of Impermissible Behavior of the
Student Conduct Code for familiarizing yourself with what constitutes
academic dishonesty http://www.hawaii.edu/student/conduct/imper.html.
See also http://studentaffairs.manoa.hawaii.edu/policies/
to understand the working of the Academic Grievance Procedure.
Course Outline:
Week I
What is Asian American Studies?
8/25: Introductions
8/27: Danico and Ng, Ch1, pp. 1-14, Whitson, "The San Francisco State College Strike Collection:
Introductory Essay" (webpage)
UNIT I: Who
is Asian American?
Week 2
