Asian American Studies course catalog
All 28 recorded UW–Madison courses in this department, including courses not offered this term. Open a course for prerequisites, historical grades and instructors.
AFROAMER/AMERIND/ASIANAM/CHICLA 102: Introduction to Comparative US Ethnic, American Indian, and Indigenous Studies
3 credits
Introduction to comparative ethnic studies, examining race, ethnicity, and indigeneity within the United States. Includes perspectives from African American, American Indian and Indigenous, Asian American, and Chicanx/e and Latinx/e studies.
AFROAMER/ASIANAM/DANCE/FOLKLORE 319: Afro Asian Improv: From Hip Hop to Martial Arts Fusion
3 credits
An Afro Asian perspective provides a lens through which intersections between Asian American and African American dance and martial arts are studied and practiced. Asian American and African American movement genres provide tools to explore dance fusion, choreography, and improvisation, to create dances informed by African American and Asian American legacies of struggle, innovation and transformation, while cognizant of historical forces of oppression and racism. Building connections through respectful communication with others are learned through dance practice, discussion and writing about concepts learned through readings, videos, and guest artist visits. Engagement with dance as a cultural vehicle for creative problem-solving and risk-taking occurs through guided class or smaller group activities.
ASIAN/ASIANAM/HISTORY 246: Southeast Asian Refugees of the "cold" War
Credits unavailable
In-depth study of the peoples, conflicts, and wars in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, with emphasis on the Cold War era (1945-1990) and on the resulting migration and resettlement of over one million Hmong, Khmer, Lao, and Vietnamese in the United States. Not open to students with credit for LCA 246 prior to Fall 2019.
ASIANAM 101: Introduction to Asian American Studies
3 credits
Introduction to the historical, sociological, anthropological, political, and cultural study of Americans of Asian ancestry.
ASIANAM 152: Asian American Literary and Popular Culture: Race, Fantasy, Futures
3 credits
Explores fantasy as a conduit of political meaning in Asian American fiction, graphic novels, anime, and art. Analyzes race as it circulates in visual mediums and literary texts. Engages issues such as stereotyping, caricature, and microaggressions; whitewashing, yellowface, and passing; race fetishism; cultural appropriation; multiracialism; kawaii or cute style; techno- orientalism and virtual Asians. Foregrounding fantasies of bodilessness, examine race as it is grafted onto nonhuman forms-objects, digital avatars, robots-at the borders of science and fiction. Examines how projections of the future reflect cultural anxieties about race, immigration, and Asian Americans.
ASIANAM 170: Hmong American Experiences in the United States
3 credits
Explores how Hmong's participation in the Secret War that the U.S. waged in Laos shaped their experiences in the U.S., heightening the importance of Hmong Americans' social, cultural, and political self-definition and in making known their contributions to the advancement of U.S. society.
ASIANAM 240: Topics in Asian American Studies
3 credits
An examination of specific themes in Asian American life and culture. Topics may include comparative analyses of Asian American communities, Asian American experience and history, and the specific concerns and histories of Asian groups in the U.S., such as Korean, Hmong, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Chinese, and Japanese.
ASIANAM 250: Eating Asian America
3 credits
Examines the diverse food cultures of Asian America as an entryway to questions about Asian American politics, identities, and histories. Considers Asian American food consumption, labor, and discourses in relation to challenging racism and fighting for belonging in the U.S.
ASIANAM 251: Contemporary Asian American Identities
Credits unavailable
Focuses on recently arrived Asian immigrant groups and historically excluded groups to highlight their exclusion from mainstream Asian America. Covers how Asian American-based identity politics has reduced the experiences of these groups to categorical understandings of race, citizenship, nationality, class, immigration, and others. Uses intersectional lens to analyze their experiences with the goal of expanding what it means to be "Asian American." Lastly, examines how Asian American-based identity politics has influenced conversations around higher education, politics, and race relations.
ASIANAM 253: Critical Refugee Studies
Credits unavailable
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defines refugee "as someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence." This definition represents the refugee as a victim, whose statelessness compels the need for resettlement within the nation-state. In the context of Asian America, this narrow construct of the refugee has overlapped with how Asians/Asian Americans have been racialized, gendered, and sexualized in the United States. Consider how newly arrive Asian refugee groups and their experiences have challenged their perceived victimization to challenge how the United States has positioned itself as a benevolent, humanitarian force.
ASIANAM 260: Asian American Activism
Credits unavailable
Explores Asian American activism from the 19th century to the present with a focus on the different leaders, organizations, events, and political approaches that have shaped Asian American struggles for change. Examination of resistance to racist laws, racial profiling, gender inequality, immigration, employment and labor issues, education and curriculum, as well as discussion of contemporary issues and the relationship of Asian American activism to other racial groups. Engage with theoretical frameworks on race, ethnicity, and social movements to understand the unique challenges and contributions of Asian American activists.
ASIANAM 441: Hmong American Social Movements in the 20th and 21st Centuries
Credits unavailable
Explores the history and circumstances whereby Hmong Americans came together as a political unit to address the domestic and international concerns of the Hmong American community.
ASIANAM 540: Special Topics
3 credits
Themes in Asian American Studies. Topics may include activism, public policy, history, poverty, family, law, immigration, diaspora, refugeeism, gender, sexuality.
ASIANAM 560: Humanities Topics
Credits unavailable
Topics in the arts and humanities that illuminate the Asian American experience.
ASIANAM 699: Independent Study: Directed Readings in Asian American Studies
Credits unavailable
Advanced directed study projects as arranged with a faculty member.
ASIANAM/COMARTS 420: Asian Americans and Media
3 credits
Examines representations of Asian American in American media using historical, analytical, and critical approaches. Issues of cultural production, identity, race, politics, and gender are linked to examinations of specific media forms.
ASIANAM/DANCE 121: Asian American Movement
3 credits
Techniques of exercises and movement forms derived from several Asian cultures as taught in the United States. Studied in the context of the construction and expression of ethnic and cultural identity.
ASIANAM/ENGL 150: Literature & Culture of Asian America
Credits unavailable
Since the 19th century, "America" has often been defined by its relationship with "Asia," through cultural influence, immigration, imperialism, and war. Traces the role of Asia and Asians in American literature and culture, from the Chinese and Japanese cultural influences that helped shape literary modernism to the rise of a distinctive culture produced by Asian immigrants to America and their descendants.
ASIANAM/ENGL 270: A Survey of Asian American Literature
Credits unavailable
Survey of Asian American literature from 1880 to present.
ASIANAM/ENGL 462: Topic in Asian American Literature
3 credits
Topics will vary. All topics will emphasize the following learning outcomes: awareness of history's impact on the present, ability to recognize and question assumptions, development of critical thinking skills, awareness of relations between self and others, and effective participation in a multicultural society.
ASIANAM/ENGL 465: Asian American Poetry
Credits unavailable
Throughout the history of Asian America, poetry has been a vehicle for the creation and exploration of an Asian American voice; in poetry we can see the continuing struggle over what form Asian American expression will take. Will it follow Asian or European models? Will it employ traditional forms, or experiment in search of new styles? Will it be individual or collective, introspective or political? We will explore these questions through a study of a wide range of Asian American poets from a variety of historical periods and ethnicities, including Janice Mirikitani, Lawson Fusao Inada, Li-Young Lee, John Yau, Myung Mi Kim, and Linh Dinh.
ASIANAM/ENGL/GEN&WS 463: Race and Sexuality in American Literature
Credits unavailable
Explores the intersection between race and sexuality in American literature with an emphasis on sex/gender difference, feminism, transgenderism, and nationalism. Focuses on the nature of literature as advocacy, with an emphasis on Asian-American issues.
ASIANAM/ENGL/GEN&WS 464: Asian American Women Writers
Credits unavailable
Major texts by Asian American women writers.
ASIANAM/GEN&WS 321: Asian American Feminist & Queer Cultural Productions
Credits unavailable
Examines the different ways feminist and queer Asian Americans have used cultural production to speak up about issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, identity, diaspora, nation, justice, art, and activism. Asian American feminist and queer critiques can bring to light the ways that structures of domination uphold and further perpetuate Asian American marginalization within the U.S. Examines Asian American racialized, gendered, and sexualized images and stereotypes, as well as the daily lives and experiences of Asian American women and queer folks. Engages with scholarly articles, novels, memoirs, documentaries, and narrative films authored by and/or focusing on feminist and queer Asian Americans. Explores how systemic ideologies are reflected, challenged, and deconstructed in Asian American feminist and queer cultural productions.
ASIANAM/HISTORY 160: Asian American History: Movement and Dislocation
3–4 credits
Examines the impact of colonialism, war, and capitalism on the movement of Asians to the U.S. Considers how racial, gendered, class, sexual, and national formations within the U.S. structured Asian immigration to North America.
ASIANAM/HISTORY 161: Asian American History: Settlement and National Belonging
Credits unavailable
Examines the social, cultural, and political citizenship of Asians in the U.S. with particular emphasis on diaspora, transnationality, and place.
ASIANAM/JOURN 662: Mass Media and Minorities
Credits unavailable
Representations of minority groups in U.S. news and entertainment mass media. Historical, social, political, economic, and other factors influencing the mass mediated depictions of minorities.
ASIANAM/SOC 220: Ethnic Movements in the United States
3–4 credits
Sociological analysis of historical and recent ethnic/racial conflict and movements in the U.S., including the relations between European Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans, with additional material on other groups and relations.