SOCY 42

A SOCIOLOGICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE

ASIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

Fall 2016
Dartmouth College

Professor: Yvonne Y. Kwan, PhD

Place:




Office: Society of Fellows Office - White Church
Time:




Office Phone: 646-1091
X-Hour:




e-mail: Yvonne.Y.Kwan@Dartmouth.edu
Office Hours:

Course Description
In 2012, there were an estimated 18.9 million U.S. residents
who identified as Asian (either one race or in combination
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with one or more additional races). Although there was a
Paint your face red, white, and blue
46% growth in the Asian population between the 2000 and
Decorate your eyes with stars and
2010more than another other major race group in the
Stripes
United StatesAsian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Insert color contacts until it gives you
(AAPIs) only make up approximately 5.6% of the overall
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U.S. population. In this course, the minority status of
Bleach your black hair blonde
AAPIs will be examined via investigations of key historical,
Dont forget the roots
legal, and socio-cultural topics.
Youll never wash your skin white
Consider yourself a Twinkie
This course first considers how the migration histories and
Yellow on the outside
racial/ethnic experiences of AAPI groups differ
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significantly from other minority groups (e.g., Blacks and
In between
Latinos). By highlighting the contexts of global and
White fluff.
transnational migration, this course identifies the many


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ways in which AAPI groups have been both excluded and


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differentially included in American politics and racial
discoursewhether as colonial subjects, exploited labor,
transnational immigrants, or diasporic groups. We will trace
the multiple and heterogeneous histories, experiences, and cultural productions of AAPI groups so that we
can better understand how race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, citizenship, class, age, and ability/disability have
played pivotal roles in shaping the lives of AAPIs. We will engage in legal, theoretical, empirical, and cultural
texts to examine how AAPI has developed both as a racial category and identity, especially in relation to
other racial and ethnic groups.

In Unit 1, we will read theoretical texts about race and race relations that will help ground our later
discussions about the Asian American Studies/Ethnic Studies Movement and the legal and political history
of AAPI living in the United States.

In Unit 2, we will focus on how AAPIs have been contradictorily portrayed as both the Model Minority
and the Yellow Peril. This unit uses historical events to help explain why certain discourses were employed
at different periods of time to justify exclusion and/or inclusion. We will also explore the development of
ethnic and racial consciousnesswhat it means to identify as AAPI and who qualifies as AAPI. Even more
importantly, we must consider how AAPI groups and individuals have challenged and confronted stereotypes
and narratives that have been imposed upon their bodies and communities.

SOCY 42 - A Sociological Introduction to the Asian American Experience (Kwan) - 1"

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, including all readings, lectures, discussions, and assignments,
students will be able to
1. Recognize and identify sociological contributions to Asian American Studies and the Comparative
Ethnic Studies Movement;
2. Describe how socio-historical and political processes, both global and domestic, shape the migration
patterns of AAPI groups;
3. Identify the immense heterogeneity and richness of AAPI intergroup and intragroup differences
particularly in relation to migration, education, health, language, and class experiencesand how
such experiences may or may not affect individuals cultural identity development;
4. Describe how racial discourses on AAPI are informative and co-constitutive of other racial
narratives created to discipline both AAPI and non-AAPI individuals.

We will have readings, writing assignments, and discussions that encourage students to develop a sociological
imagination, as introduced by C. Wright Mills. This approach will be based on personal experience
(biographies) and social history. We will also draw on the critical and contextualizing tools of sociology and
social theory.

Course Format, Grading, Requirements, And Assignments

The course will include a combination of some lecture material, discussion sessions, film and other media
analysis, and local community involvement. I reserve the right to adjust the syllabus as needed to reflect the
needs of the students and the coursegiven that I will always give you fair notice if these changes arise.

Required Texts
1) Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou. 2015. The Asian American Achievement Paradox. Russell Sage Foundation.
2) Yen Le Espiritu. 2014. Body Counts: The Vietnam War and Militarized Refuge(es). University of California
Press.

Course Requirements and Grading

1) Participation

12%
2) Critical Reading Responses 18%
3) Midterm


20%
4) Creative Narrative

25%
5) Final Exam

25%

Letter grades will be assigned as follows. Note: I do not round grades (e.g., 77.9% is a C+ not B-).
A
500-465 points
100-93%
A-
464.5-450 points
92.9-90%
B+ 449.5-435 points
89.9-87%
B
434.5-415 points
86.9-83%
B-
414.5-400 points
82.9-80%
C+ 399.5-385 points
79.9.-77%
C
384.5-365 points
76.9-73%
C-
364.5-350 points
72.9-70%
D
349.5-300 points
69.9-60%
F
<300 points
<60%

SOCY 42 - A Sociological Introduction to the Asian American Experience (Kwan) - 2"

Participation (60 points): Lectures and discussions complement and supplement the required
readings, rather than summarize them. Be sure to complete readings before class so that we all share an
informed context when partaking in lectures and discussions in class. Lectures are based on the
assumption that you have done all the readings assigned for that day. Your participation will be
calculated based on your regular involvement in class, including but not limited to in-class engagement and
active listening.

I understand that not all students feel comfortable speaking up on a regular basis, but your weekly critical
reading responses and questions should help you collect your thoughts and give you ideas to actively
contribute to class discussion. You could also come up to speak to me after class or during office hours so
that I can evaluate your engagement with the course. Note: It may also be possible to speak too much.
Please be respectful of your peers. Remember to step up and step back.

Critical Reading Responses (90 points): These critical reflections will serve as writing exercises to help develop
your abilities to think and write critically about the texts you read. Generally, for each day of assigned
readings, you should respond to the following elements:
1. One sentence summary of the main idea for each assigned reading
2. At least two discussion questions related to the theme of that particular class and the assigned
readings.
This means that you are expected to argue a point rather than simply summarize information. You may reference
previous course readings and discussions if relevant, but you must focus on the assignments for that day.
These responses should be no more than 300 words and will be submitted via Canvas on the morning
(9am) before each class meeting.

Midterm Exam (100 points): This will be a 1.5-hour, closed book, in-class exam. It consists of short responses
and an essay. Study guide will be provided beforehand.

Creative Narrative (125 points): This creative narrative project allows you to use any medium of your choice
(e.g., analytical essay; empirical research; mock periodical; a collection of short stories, poems, paintings, and
photographs; childrens book; performance; video; etc.) to apply what you have learned in this class and
create a creative and analytical narrative about something you think is currently relevant to AAPIs. Your topic
may include your family or community (however you define it), but it must reference current or historical
events. Your project must include a written contextual analysis that applies a critical sociological lens to
investigating and documenting the multiple and heterogenous AAPI experience. This means that you cannot
simply turn in an overly individualized and decontextualized story or project. When in doubt, consider the
sociological imagination and how personal biographies are shaped by social histories. This project requires
that you apply your personal lives and interests to the larger narratives, experiences, and theories about
AAPIs. A more detailed prompt will be provided Week 2.

Final Exam (125 points): This will be a 3-hour, essay-based, take-home exam. Exam questions will require
you to synthesize and analyze the course readings, discussion and lecture material. You will be graded on how
well you incorporate all elements of course material into your essay answers. Exams will be submitted via
Canvas.

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Guidelines and Policies

Honor Principle
All academic work is to be conducted in accordance with Dartmouths principles of academic honor (http://
www.dartmouth.edu/~uja/honor/). It may also be helpful for students to read Dartmouths statement on
sources and citations: https://writing-speech.dartmouth.edu/learning/materials/sources-and-citationsdartmouth

Religious Observances
Some students may wish to take part in religious observances that occur during this academic term. If you
have a religious observance that conflicts with your participation in the course, please meet with me before
the end of the second week of the term to discuss appropriate accommodations.

Student Accessibility Services

Students with disabilities enrolled in this course and who may need disability-related classroom
accommodations are encouraged to make an appointment to see me as soon as possible. All discussions will
remain confidential, although the Student Accessibility Services office may be consulted to discuss
appropriate implementation of any accommodation requested.

Classroom Etiquette
By all means, treat me and your fellow students with respect. Be on time, be engaged, avoid using your
handheld electronic gadgets, and do your part to help make a great learning experience. You may use tablets
and laptops during class for note-taking or to access your readings.

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Course Schedule
NOTE: Bring all texts to class. Readings are to be completed by class time on the day noted below.

Unit 1. Situating Asian America

Week 1, Day 1 Theorizing Assimilation, Race, and Intersectionality
Mills, C. Wright. 2001. The Promise. Pp. 3-4 in The Sociological Imagination.
Espiritu, Yen. 2000. Labors, Laws, and Love. Pp. 1-15 in Asian American Women and Men: Labor, Laws,
and Love.
Takaki, Ron. 1998. Confronting Cultural Literacy: The Redefining of America. Pp. xi-xv in
Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans.
Okihiro, Gary. When and Where I Enter. Pp. 3-20 in AAS Now Reader.
Ancheta, Angela. Neither Black nor White. Pp. 21-34 in AAS Now Reader.

Week 1, Day 2 Theorizing Assimilation, Race, and Intersectionality, continued

Espiritu, Yen. 2000. Beyond Dualisms: Constructing an Imagined Community. Pp. 108-119 in
Asian American Women and Men: Labor, Laws, and Love.
Eng, David and Han, Shinhee. A Dialogue on Racial Melancholia. Pp. 55-79 in AAS Now Reader.
Lowe, Lisa. 2004. Heterogeneity, Hybridity, Multiplicity. Pp. 60-83 in Immigrant Acts.

Week 2, Day 1 The Durability of Inequality: Immigration and Empire

Takaki, Ron. 1998. Overblown with Hope. Pp. 21-75 in Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of
Asian Americans.

Week 2, X-Hour
In-class Film: Who Killed Vincent Chin or Vincent Who?

Week 2, Day 2 The Durability of Inequality: Immigration and Empire, continued

SOCY 42 - A Sociological Introduction to the Asian American Experience (Kwan) - 4"

Park, Edward and Park, John. 2005. Governing Admission to the United States: Basic Themes. Pp.
9-26 in Probationary Americans: Contemporary Immigration Policies and the Shaping of Asian American
Communities.
Chou, Rosalind and Feagin, Joe. 2008. The Reality of Asian American Oppression. Pp. 1-27 in The
Myth of the Model Minority.
Lee, Robert G. The Cold War Origins of the Model Minority Myth. Pp. 256-271 in AAS Now
Reader.

Week 3, Day 1 Interrogating the AAPI Experience

Omatsu, Glenn. The Four Prisons and the Movements of Liberation: Asian American Activism
From the 1960s to the 1990s. Pp. 298-330 in AAS Now Reader.
Dong, Harvey. Transforming Student Elites into Community Activists: A Legacy of Asian American
Activism. Pp. 187-205 in Louie, Steve and Omatsu, Glenn (Eds.) 2006. Asian Americans: The
Movement and the Moment. UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press.

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Unit 2. Interrogating Difference through Empire and War

Week 3, Day 2 War Time: Struggling to Define Citizenship
Pimentel, Kevin. 1999. To Yick Wo, Thanks for Nothing!: Citizenship for Filipino Veterans.
Michigan Journal of Race and Law 4(2):459-493.
Weglyn, Michi Nishiura. The Secret Munson Report. Pp. 193-212 in AAS Now Reader.
Nagata, Donna, Jackie Kim, and Teresa Nguyen. 2015. Processing Cultural Trauma:
Intergenerational Effects of the Japanese American Incarceration. Journal of Social Issues 71(2):
356370.

Week 4, Day 1 War Time: Shadows of the Cold War

Junghyo, Ahn. 1998. A Double Exposure of the War. Pp. 161-171 in Americas Wars in Asia: A Cultural
Approach to History and Memory, edited by Philip West, Steven Levine, and Jackie Hiltz. M. E. Sharp
Inc.
Yuh, Ji-Yeon. Out of the Shadows: Camptown Women, Military Brides, and Korean (American)
Communities. Pp. 239-255 in AAS Now Reader.
Hein, Jeremy. American Communist Containment in Southeast Asia. Pp. 11-25 in From Vietnam,
Laos, and Cambodia: A Refugee Experience in the United States. Twayne Publishers.

Week 4, X-Hour
Film: First Person Plural

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Week 4, Day 2 Midterm Exam (in-class)

Week 5, Day 1 Southeast Asians and Critical Refuge(e) Studies
Tang, Eric. Collateral Damage: Southeast Asian Poverty in the United States. Pp. 454-476 in AAS
Now Reader.
Espiritu, Yen. 2014. Critical Refuge(e) Studies and Militarized Refuge(es). Pp. 1-23-48 in Body
Counts.

Week 5, Day 2 Critical Refuge(e) Studies, continued.

Espiritu, Yen. 2014. Refugee Camps and the Politics of Living and The Good Warrior and the
Good Refugee. Pp. 49-104 in Body Counts.

Week 6, Day 1 Critical Refuge(e) Studies, continued.

Espiritu, Yen. 2014. Refugee Rememberingand Remembrance and Refugee Postmemories:
The Generation After. Pp. 105-170 in Body Counts.
SOCY 42 - A Sociological Introduction to the Asian American Experience (Kwan) - 5"

Week 6, X-Hour
In-class Film: New Year Baby

Week 6, Day 2 Critical Refuge(e) Studies, continued.

Espiritu, Yen. 2014. The Endings That Are Not Over. Pp. 171-188 in Body Counts.
Schlund-Vials, Cathy. 2012. Lost Chapters and Invisible Wars: Hip Hop and Cambodian American
Critique. Pp. 149-180 in War, Genocide, and Justice.
In-class Listening: Prach Lys Dalama

Week 7, Day 1 The Durability of Inequality: Race, Space, and Health

Molina, Natalia. 2006 Caught between Discourses of Disease, Health, and Nation: Public
Health Attitudes toward Japanese and Mexican Laborers in Progressive-Era Los Angeles.
Pp. 46-74 in Fit to Be Citizens?: Public Health and Race in Los Angeles, 1879-1939. University of
California Press.
Chiu, Monica. Medical, Racist, and Colonial Constructions of Power in Anne Fadimans The
Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Pp. 370-392 in AAS Now Reader.

Week 7, Day 2 Contemporary Cultures, Politics, and Communities

Maira, Sunaina. Youth Culture, Citizenship, and Globalization: South Asian Muslim Youth in the
United States after September 11. Pp. 333-353 in AAS Now Reader.
Manalansan IV, Martin. Searching for Community: Filipino Gay Men in New York City. Pp.
393-404 in AAS Now Reader.
Leong, Andrew. The Struggle Over Parcel C: How Bostons Chinatown Won a Victory in the Fight
Against Institutional Expansionism and Environmental Racism. Pp. 565-580 in AAS Now
Reader.
*Due: Creative Narratives

Week 8, Day 1 A Sociological Inquiry: The Asian American Achievement Paradox

Lee, Jennifer and Min Zhou. 2015. What is Cultural About Asian American Achievement?
Immigration, Hyper-Selectivity, and Second-Generation Convergence, and The Success
Frame and the Asian F. Pp. 1-68 in The Asian American Achievement Paradox.

Week 8, X-Hour
Sharing of Creative Narratives, including performances, books, newspapers, scrapbooks, videos, etc.

Week 8, Day 2 A Sociological Inquiry: The Asian American Achievement Paradox, continued
Lee, Jennifer and Min Zhou. 2015. Reinforcing the Success Frame, Comparing Success Frames,
and Symbolic Capital and Stereotype Promise. Pp. 69-138 in The Asian American Achievement Paradox.

Week 9, Day 1 A Sociological Inquiry: The Asian American Achievement Paradox, continued
Lee, Jennifer and Min Zhou. 2015. Mind-Sets and the Achievement Paradox, Success at All
Costs, and The Asian American Achievement Paradox: Culture, Success, and Assimilation. Pp.
139-200 in The Asian American Achievement Paradox.

Week 9, Day 2 Futures and Possibilities

Prashad, Vijay. Crafting Solidarities. Pp. 540-557 in AAS Now Reader.
Espiritu, Yen Le. Home, Borders, and Possibilities. Pp. 603-622 in AAS Now Reader.

Week 10, Day 1 Overflow and/or Final Review. Receive Take-Home Final Exam.
Final Exams due during assigned final time and date via Canvas.
SOCY 42 - A Sociological Introduction to the Asian American Experience (Kwan) - 6"