Spring 2020 Courses
Courses marked with an asterisk are appropriate for first year students.

ASAM 094. Community Health.
Staff, PZ, TR 4:15-5:30p.m.
This course explores the struggle for social justice and health equality for and with underserved Asian American communities and Pacific Islander communities. Through participatory teaching strategies, the class will examine health care as a basic human right and analyze movements working towards eliminating disparities in health. Fulfills Pitzer social responsibility requirement.

*ASAM 105. Zines, Creativity, Community.
T. Honma, PZ, M 2:45-5:30p.m.
This course examines do-it-yourself (DIY) politics through independently produced zines. We will focus on Asian American and queer zine subcultures to understand various aspects of contemporary media, including: production and consumption, representation and self-expression, identity-construction and place-making, creativity and resistance, and the relevance of print in an increasingly digital world.

*ASAM 106. Asian American Literature.
Staff, SC, MW 11:00a.m.-12:15p.m.
This course will survey Asian American literature from the late 19th through early 21st centuries. Through memoir, fiction, drama, poetry, and essays by writers from several different ethnic groups (Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Indian, and Vietnamese), this course explores key literary and critical issues, such as aesthetics and activism, assimilation and exilic identity, immigration and diaspora, economic and cultural labor, intergenerational and gender conflicts, interethnic relations, and the intersections of race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.

*ASAM 160. Asian American Women’s Experiences.
Staff, SC, MW 1:15-2:30 p.m.
This course is an interdisciplinary examination of Asian and Pacific Islander American women. It will examine the history and experiences of Asian American women in the United States. The class will include both lecture and discussion and will cover various issues, such as gender roles, mass media stereotypes, Asian women’s feminism, and the impact of sexism and racism on the lives of Asian American women through education, work, and home life.

ASAM 172. Race and Visual Culture.
T. Honma, PZ, W 2:45-5:30p.m.
This course explores the field of visual culture to examine the complexities and contradictions of Asian American racial subjectivity. We will ask, what is the relationship between race and visual aesthetics? What is the work of creativity and how does it intervene in salient issues that continue to impact Asian American communities today? How is racialization (and its various intersections) connected to questions of space and place, particularly environmental, carceral, and settler colonial landscapes? Issues to be considered include: immigration, confinement, deportation, and other forms of cultural and political marginalization and social control. Previous coursework in Asian American Studies recommended.

*ASAM 175. Asian American Comics: Racial Politics.
T. Honma, PZ, MW 9:35-10:50a.m.
This seminar focuses on comics as a form of storytelling within Asian American communities and the politics of racial representation. How do Asian American comic writers situate themselves (and their narratives) within a US settler society structured by capitalism, heteropatriarchy and white supremacy? Readings will include comics and graphic novels by and about Asian Americans from a variety of ethnic and gendered subject positions, as well as works distributed by both mainstream, independent, and do -it-yourself publishers. Theoretical work that examines race and visuality, political economy, positionality and intersectionality, transnationalism, aesthetics, and affect will also be required.

ASAM 179B. Asian Americans and the Law.
Staff, HM, T 7:00-9:45p.m.
Analyze the intersection of Asian American history to American Jurisprudence, especially Constitutional and Immigration law. In many regrettable instances, our legal system has been used to oppress Asians and Asian Pacific Americans. However, Asian Americans have used the courts to fight back for equality and justice, contributing immensely to the formation of Civil Rights in the United States. The class will attempt to tie in current events and contemporary issues to past legal struggles and victories. We will use actual court cases in the same manner that a law school course might to examine issues such as Immigration, Property Rights, Employment, Education, Hate-crimes, Racial Profiling, among others.

ASAM 179F. Pacific Islander History.
A. Flores, HM, TR 1:15-2:30p.m.
This survey course introduces students to the native/indigenous histories of Oceania, with an emphasis on Aotearoa, Guam, Hawai‘i, the Marshall Islands, and S?moa. By examining these areas, students will learn about the global and local histories of colonialism, diaspora, empire, migration, militarization, and resistance in the region. In addition, this course critically explores other related themes such as class, gender, labor, race, sexuality, and war from the perspectives of Native Pacific Islanders. Class discussions, lectures, film screenings, and readings constitute the interpretive lens for this course.

ASAM 191PO. Asian American Studies Senior Thesis.
Students will work with one or more faculty on original thesis research toward completion of senior thesis.

GWS 162. Decolonizing Gender and Sexuality in Asian/America.
A. Bahng, PO, W 7:00-9:50p.m.
Through an analysis of historical and contemporary Asian American and Pacific Islander literature, film, performance, art, and popular culture, this course emphasizes a wide range of engagements with gender and sexuality that disrupts binary thinking on the topic. Students will examine the formation of Asian American genders and sexualities alongside histories of racialization, migration, and labor that span East, South, and Southeast Asian, as well as Pacific contexts.

*MS 101PZ. Asian American Media In Communities.
M. Ma, PZ, MW 1:15-2:30p.m.
This course focuses on the exhibition and distribution of Asian American independent media, and explores how it can mobilize, educate, and empower communities. Students will engage in service-learning projects in collaboration with local non-profit community partners. Through these collaborations, they will design and execute events in diverse communities based on programs from the Asian Americans in Media (AAIM) Film Festival, curated by the students in MS 100: Asian Americans in Media. Students will also engage in a parallel trajectory studying Asian American film festivals and media organizations, as well as theories of social change and case studies on community building. Prerequisites: MS 049, 050, 051, ASAM 090, HIST 125, or SOC 150. Although it is not required, students who have taken MS 100 will be given priority for enrollment.

*MUS 126. Music in East Asia and its American Diasporas.
Y. Kang, SC, TR 1:15-2:30p.m.
This course introduces the “traditional” music of China, Korea, and Japan and explores the ways in which traditional performing arts have been transformed, adapted, and given new meanings in these modern nation-states and the East Asian diasporic communities of the United States. A survey of these musical traditions will be followed by a closer study of pungmul, kabuki, taiko, Chinese opera, and pansori.

PSYC 153AA. Asian American Psychology.
S. Goto, PO, TR 1:15-2:30p.m.
Introduces students to the salient psychological issues of Asian Americans. Taking into account the social, cultural, and historical context of the Asian American experience, this course addresses values and cultural conflict development, acculturation, marriage and gender roles, vocational development, psychopathology, and delivery of mental health services.

SOC 095. Contemporary Central Asia.
A. Junisbai, PZ, W 2:45-5:30 p.m.
In this course, students will learn about the five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. The “Stans” are majority Muslim, were part of the Soviet Union until 1991, and are ruled by authoritarian leaders today. The course will start out with a brief overview of the region’s history before, during, and after the USSR. Topics will include social and economic stratification, gender, interethnic relations, political inequality, and religion.

*SOC 150AA. Contemporary Asian American Issues.
Staff, PO, M 7:00-9:50 p.m.
Survey of contemporary empirical studies focusing on Asian American experiences in the U.S. and globally; major themes include race, class, gender, sexuality, marriage/family, education, consumption, childhoods, aging, demography, and the rise of transmigration. Readings and other course materials will primarily focus on the period since 1965.

THEA 130. Introduction to Directing.
J. Chang, PO, MW 1:15-3:45 p.m.
This is an introduction to the art and craft of directing for the stage, and related forms that will allow the artist to enhance their vision and eventually formulate their concept into fruition. There will be an emphasis on play selection, detailed script analysis, the director’s concept, collaboration with designers, auditions and casting, actor coaching, rehearsal strategies, and production methods. We will workshop several scenes as well as projects that the students will create. In addition, our student directors will have the opportunity to work with students from a local elementary school to produce a short adaptation of a fairy tale or a fable being taught in their curriculum.