Department of English

This course serves as a broad introduction to Asian American literature and culture in a national and global context. We will read novels, short stories, and essays from a wide range of Asian American authors and critics. In addition, we will screen a number of films and documentaries about contemporary topics in the field, such as affirmative action, transnational adoption, and parachute kids. Throughout the semester we will pay particular attention to the ways in which gender, sexuality, and class underpin processes of Asian American immigration and racial formation. In order to provide a more engaged political framework for analyzing both the material experiences and the psychic lives of Asian Americans, we will read a number of legal documents and theoretical texts from psychoanalytic, postcolonial, critical race, and environmental studies. Please see below for Teaching Assistant contact per recitation: ENGL 072.402 Arianna James (aqjames@sas.upenn.edu) ENGL 072.403 Andrew Smyth (ajsmyth@sas.upenn.edu) ENGL 072.404 Bethany Swann (bswann@sas.upenn.edu) ENGL 072.405 Joseph Earl Thomas (jthoma27@sas.upenn.edu) ENGL 072.406 Molly Young (mryoung@sas.upenn.edu)