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Asian American History

Carole Schroeder, Adjunct Faculty, Asian & Eurpean History

Courses

Required Texts:

  1. Ronald Takaki: Strangers from a Different Shore, A History of Asian Americans, (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1989);
  2. Chang-rae Lee: Native Speaker, (New York: Riverhead Books, 1995);
  3. Henry (Yoshitaka) Kiyama: The Four Immigrants Manga, (Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press, 1998)

This class will explore the American experience of the Chinese, the Japanese, the Korean, the Filipino, the South/Southeast Asian and the South Pacific islanders. Through an examination of the history of Asian-American immigration to the U.S., we will review the historical identity and experiences of this diverse group of Americans.

Over the course of the semester, students will read the assigned texts plus readings on reserve. Next students will write (and present in class) seven, two-page minimum, three page maximum reaction papers incorporating the assigned text and the reserve reading.

I will assign two grades to each reaction paper, one for “form” (accuracy in grammar, spelling, organization and punctuation) and one for “content” (how well you analyzed and reacted to the readings.) By definition, the reaction papers are your reaction to the readings. Several tips: avoid the word “interesting.” Use phrases like, “In my opinion,” “I particularly enjoyed/didn’t enjoy…”, “I believe…”, “I saw the common theme of ___ in these readings,” “My reaction was…”, “Historically I think…” Notice that the word “I” is prominent in a reaction paper. This also helps to ensure that you use the active voice instead of the passive voice in your writing; the active voice is much more effective.

I will divide the class into three sections, and each section will have different reserve readings. On the day assigned for paper presentations, we will go around the room and have each student summarize the high points of his or her reaction paper. Students will have the option of which reaction paper to expand into a 7 – 9 page research paper (minimum 3 additional books and 3 additional journal articles to be incorporated as sources in the paper.) The final research paper is due on Friday, December 12.

Newspaper cartoon

Cartoon Caption: Columbia.–“Hands off, gentlemen! America means fair play for all men.” This 1871 Harper’s Weekly cartoon by Thomas Nast defends Chinese immigrants against the fierce prejudice and discrimination which they faced in late-nineteenth-century America.

Grade Breakdown: 7 reaction papers 50%; final research paper 40%; attendance 10%.
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schr 497

The Harper’s Weekly article dismissed the purported “Chinese invasion” as “altogether mythical,” and argued that most Americans “still adhere to the old Revolutionary doctrine that all men are free and equal before the law, and possess certain inalienable rights …” That sentiment is reflected in Nast’s cartoon, where Columbia, the feminine symbol of the United States, shields the dejected Chinese man against a gang of thugs, whom she emphatically reminds that “America means fair play for all men.”

Schedule of Classes and Readings, Hist. 497

Week #1

  1. Review syllabus and course objectives
  2. Begin reading Chapter 4, Strangers from a Different Shore and the following reserve reading:
  3. Group A: Pau Hana Chap. 2 (p. 22-56) Group B: Asian American Opposing Viewpoints Chaps 5 & 6 (p. 109-130) Group C: China Men (p. 86-118)
  4. (No paper due on Week #1)

Week #2

  1. Finish reading & complete reaction paper (paper #1) on Strangers from a Different Shore and reserve reading
  2. (no paper due on Week #2)

Week #3

  1. Paper presentations, paper #1 due
  2. Begin reading Chapters 3 & 6, Strangers from a Different Shore and the following reserve reading:
  3. Group A: China Men p. 41-73 Group B: Ethnic America Chap. 6 (p. 133-154); Group C: At America’s Gates Chap. 1 (p. 19-46)

Week #4

  1. Finish reading & complete reaction paper (paper #2) on Chapter 6, Strangers from a Different Shore and reserve reading
  2. (no paper due on Week #4)

Week #5

  1. 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #2 due Monday
  2. Second 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #2 due Wednesday
  3. Begin reading Chapter 5 Strangers from a Different Shore and The Four Immigrants Manga (especially beginning pages and end notes) (no reserve reading)

Week #6

  1. Finish reading & complete reaction paper (paper #3) on Chapter 5 Strangers from a Different Shore and The Four Immigrants Manga
  2. (no paper due on Week #6)

Week #7

  1. 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #3 due Monday
  2. Second 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #3 due Wednesday
  3. Begin reading Chapter 9, Strangers from a Different Shore Group A: Social Process in Hawaii p. 91-111, “Sakada Dreams” & “From American Filipino to Filipino American” Group B: Virtual Lotus p. 221-254 Group C: Everything You Need to Know About Asian-American History, Chap. 3, p. 154-185

Week #8

  1. Finish reading Chapter 9, Strangers from a Different Shore and reserve reading
  2. (no paper due Week #8)

Week #9

  1. 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #4 due Monday
  2. Second 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #4 due Wednesday
  3. Begin reading Chapter 7, Strangers From a Different Shore and Native Speaker (either entire novel or minimum p. 47-155) (no reserve reading)

Week #10

  1. Finish reading Chapter 7, Strangers from a Different Shore and Native Speaker
  2. (no paper due Week #10)

Week #11

  1. 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #5 due Monday
  2. Second 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #5 due Wednesday
  3. Begin reading Chapter 10, Strangers From a Different Shore and the following reserve reading: Group A: Growing Up Asian American, p. 145-160 Group B: Chapter 10, Turning Points, p. 141-158 Group C: Chapter 1, Comfort Woman, p. 1-20

Week #12

  1. Finish reading Chapter 10, Strangers from a Different Shore and reserve reading 2. (no paper due Week #12)

Week #13

  1. 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #6 due Monday
  2. Second 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #6 due Wednesday
  3. Begin reading Chapter 11, Strangers From a Different Shore and the following reserve reading: Group A: Bamboo & Butterflies, p. 15-52 Group B: bamboo Among the Oaks, p. 3-42 Group C: From the Ganges to the Hudson, p. xi-26

Week #14

  1. Continue reading Chapter 11, Strangers from a Different Shore and reserve reading

Week #15

  1. 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #7 due Monday
  2. Second 1/2 of class paper presentations, paper #7 due Wednesday
  3. Decide on which reaction paper to expand into a 7-9 page research paper (minimum 3 additional books and 3 additional journal articles to be incorporated as sources in the paper.)

Week #16

  1. Finish final research paper; two copies due Friday, December 12, beginning of class, in final form
men cutting down stalks

*** Complete citations, reserve readings: Ronald Takaki: Pau Hana, Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii, (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1983) Bruno Leone, Executive Editor: Asian Americans, Opposing Viewpoints, (San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1997) Thomas Sowell: Ethnic America, (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1981) Erika Lee: At America’s Gates, (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2003) Jonathan Y. Okamura, Ed.: Social Process in Hawai’i, (Manoa: University of Hawaii, 1996) Teri Shaffer Yamada, Ed.: Virtual Lotus, Modern Fiction of Southeast Asia, (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2002) Lao Cao and Himilee Novas: Everything You Need to Know About Asian-American History, (New York: Penguin Books, 1996) Maria Hong, Ed.: Growing Up Asian American, (New York: Avon Books, 1993) David Burner and Anthony Marcus, Editors: Turning Points, Making Decisions in American History, Vol. II, (St. James, New York: Brandywine Press, 1999) Nora Okja Keller: Comfort Woman, (New York: Penguin Books, 1997) Joan D. Criddle: Bamboo & Butterflies, From Refugee to Citizen, (Dixon, California: East/West Bridge Publishing House, 1992)

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