Courses / Undergraduate

Fall 2020

  • Reading and Composition

    Instructor: Ramya Janandharan

    Through the study of the literary, political, social and psychological dimensions of representative works of Asian American literature, this course introduces students to close textual analysis, fosters critical judgment, and reinforces academic writing skills. Satisfies the first...

  • Asian American Communities and Race Relations

    Instructor: Harvey Dong

    This course will be a survey of contemporary issues affecting the Asian American community. We will look at the different theories that explain the current status of Asian Americans and the interrelationship between the Asian American community...

  • Filipino American History

    Instructor: Catherine Ceniza Choy

    Topics include consequences of the Spanish-American War on Filipino emigration; conditions in Hawaii and California and the need for Filipino labor; community development; changing relations between the U.S. and the Philippines; effects ofthe independence movement and World...

  • Contemporary Issues of Southeast Asian Refugees in the U.S

    Instructor: Khatharya Um

    “History, Memory and Citizenship: Key Issues in Southeast Asian Migration and Community Formation in the U.S.” Over four decades after their resettlement, the Southeast Asian (SEAn) refugee communities (defined here as populations that were resettled in the US...

  • Muslims in America

    Instructor: Hatem Bazian

    The course traces Islam’s journey in America. It will deal with the emergence of identifiable Muslim communities throughout the U.S. and focus on patterns of migration, the ethnic makeup of such communities, gender dynamics, political identity, and...

  • Topics in Asian Popular Culture – “Understanding Hallyu, Korean Pop Culture and Its’ Consumption”

    Instructor: Hannah Michell

    This course will examine the transnational popularity of Korean pop culture through the lens of globalization and capitalism. Using examples from Korean dramas, K-pop music videos and film, we will examine portrayals of Korean life and discuss...

  • Asian American Health

    Instructor: Winston Tseng

    This course examines the state of Asian American health, the historical, structural, and cultural contexts of diverse Asian American communities, and the role of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status in the production of unequal outcomes between Asian...

  • Politics, Public Policy, and Asian American Communities

    Instructor:

    An examination of the purpose, power, and function of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal government and their relationship to the Asian American community. The course presents a range of contemporary issues to illustrate...

  • Asian Americans and Education

    Instructor: Lisa Hirai Tsuchitani

    This course examines the historical and contemporary issues which shape the educational experiences of Asian Americans. Critical issues such as bilingual education, university admissions, and the education of Asian immigrants as well as theoretical models of Asian...

  • Gender and Generation in Asian American Families

    Instructor:

    The influence of cultural legacy, ethnic background, immigration history, community structure, class and economic status, and racism on gender and generational relations in the Asian American family. ...

  • Asian American Literature

    Instructor: Fae Myenne Ng

    Introduces students to representative works of Asian American literature by writers from the major ethnic subgroups; examines the works in their sociohistorical context; analyzes thematic and formal elements intertextually to form a coherent understanding of the Asian...

  • Seminar on Advanced Topics in Asian American Studies – “Cultural Politics of Food”

    Instructor: Lok Siu

    “We are what we eat,” so the saying goes. But clearly, the relationship between food and identity is much more complicated than that. Food touches all aspects of cultural, social, political, and economic life. This seminar focuses...

  • Mexican and Chicano Art History

    Instructor: Jesus Barraza, MA / MFA

    This course examines the body of contemporary Chicana/o artistic production, from mid-1960 to the 2000s, through an examination of the historical, aesthetic and philosophical foundations of Chicana/o art theory and practice. Tracing the inspirations of the Chicana/o...

  • Latino Narrative Film Since 1990

    Instructor: Ray Telles

    This course examines major narrative films produced since the 1980s that deal with the Latino/Chicano experience and the influences that shaped the views reflected in those cinematic works. Films produced in the U.S. and in Latin America...

  • Chicana Feminist Writers and Discourse

    Instructor: Laura E. Pérez

    A critical and theoretical analysis of contemporary Chicana Writers and Chicana Feminist Discourse. ...

  • Mexican Immigration

    Instructor: Dr. Pablo Gonzalez

    This course provides an overview of Mexican immigration to the United States. The relationship between immigration and Chicano community formation will be examined. Issues addressed include settlement patterns, socialization, educational aspiration, identity transformation, and historical changes. . ...

  • Central American Peoples and Cultures

    Instructor: Enrique Lima

    A comparative survey of the peoples and cultures of the countries of the Central American Isthmus from a historical and contemporary perspective. ...

  • Topics in Chicano Studies – “Chicana/o Ethnography: Mapping Ethnographic Writing From Greater Mexico to the Mexico/US Borderlands”

    Instructor: Dr. Pablo Gonzalez

    Ethnographic writing and data collection, the tools for describing the every day in order to understand a broader social and cultural phenomenon, has traditionally been used in such fields as anthropology to map “exotic” and “foreign” cultures. ...

  • Topics in Chicano Studies – “Spirituality and Resistance: Day of the Dead Art Practice and Culture”

    Instructor: Jesus Barraza, MA / MFA

    The colonial invasion of the Americas was responsible for fostering a close relationship between the role of spirituality and a culture of resistance in indigenous communities. In the 1970s Chicana/o communities used art as a strategy of...

  • Topics in Chicano Studies – “Latinx and the Environment”

    Instructor: Federico Castillo

    This course will review various theories that explore the relationship between environmental factors and socio-economic outcomes on the Latinx community.  In addition, the curse will use case studies to illustrate methodological approaches and topic specific impacts of environmental conditions on socioeconomic outcomes....

  • Introduction to Chicano History

    Instructor: Dr. Pablo Gonzalez

    A general overview of the Chicano historical experience in the U.S. ...

  • Latino Politics

    Instructor: Diana Negrin da Silva

    A critical analysis of the Latino political experience in the United States. The course compares and contrasts the ideologies, political organizations, and political leadership in the Mexican American, Cuban American, Puerto Rican, and Central American communities. The...

  • Reading and Composition

    Instructor: Abraham Ramirez

    Course will acquaint students with methods of expository discourse through the reading of Chicano/a literature. An introduction to writing, beginning with sentence structure, with an emphasis on unity, coherence, and overall organization of a full composition. Satisfies...

  • Humanities Methods in Ethnic Studies

    Instructor: Greg Choy

    The course provides an introduction to basic theoretical approaches to the literary and other cultural productions of ethnic or “minority” communities in the United States. It also involves the study of important writings by Latina/o, Native American...

  • Proseminar: Issues in the Fields of Ethnic Studies: Ethnicity and the Narrative – “Theorizing Poetic Embodiment and Narrativity”

    Instructor: Alan Pelaez Lopez

    In this creative theory-writing workshop, we will be studying (with) contemporary poets who use their lived experiences and the life around them to craft theories about race, gender, Indigeneity, ethnicity, sexuality, sex, and sexual performances. We will...

  • Introduction to Ethnic Studies

    Instructor: Juana María Rodríguez, Keith P. Feldman

    This explores the work of key theorists of race, ethnicity, and de-colonization whose work and ideas have formed the basis of scholarly work in the broad, interdisciplinary field of comparative ethnic studies. It is intended both to...

  • People of Mixed Racial Descent

    Instructor: Greg Choy

    Deals with phenomenon of people of mixed-race descent, focusing on United States but with reference to other nations for comparative purposes. Includes historical perspective as well as exploring the psychology, sociology, literature, and cinema pertaining to topic. ...

  • Literature from Ethnic Movements

    Instructor: Greg Choy

    Comparative survey of literature and cultural production from, and reflective of Ethnic Movement eras, particularly, but not limited to, those of the sixties. Representative literatures include Asian American, Chicano, African American, and Native American. ...

  • Selected Topics in Comparative Ethnic Studies – “Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Change in the North American West”

    Instructor: John Dougherty

    This course explores the dynamic relationships between indigenous communities and the continuously changing environmental landscapes of the North American West from before European contact to the present, and how these communities have continually adapted traditional cultural practices...

  • Advanced Seminar in Comparative Ethnic Studies – “Cultural Politics of Food”

    Instructor: Lok Siu

    “We are what we eat,” so the saying goes. But clearly, the relationship between food and identity is much more complicated than that. Food touches all aspects of cultural, social, political, and economic life. This seminar focuses...

  • Advanced Seminar in Ethnic Studies – “Inside and Beyond Walls: Migra, Masses and the Carceral State”

    Instructor: Victoria Robinson

    The course has three main avenues of exploration. First, we seek to understand the political historical structural and social roots of racialized mass incarceration and racialized mass detention and deportation. Second, we examine the work of practitioners...

  • Native American Law

    Instructor:

    Historical background of the unique relationship between the United States government and Native American tribes, and examination of contemporary legislation, court cases, and federal, state, and local policies affecting Native American social, political, legal, and economic situations. ...

  • Critical Native American Legal and Policy Studies

    Instructor: Thomas Biolsi

    Key contemporary issues in the critical study of tribal and federal policy pertaining to American Indians and Alaska Natives in the U.S. Topics include political and cultural sovereignty; religious, gendered, sexual, racial, and other tribal minorities, and...

  • Photography and the American Indian: Manifest Destiny, American Frontier, and Images of American Indians

    Instructor:

    This course explores the development of photography, historical photographs of Indigenous peoples, Black Indians, and the push to win the American West. Central to the course are research methods that deconstruct stereotypical representations of Native Americans, African...

  • History of Native Americans in California

    Instructor: JoEllen Anderson

    History of the Native Americans of California with emphasis on the lifeways, mores, warfare, and relations with the United States government. Attention will be given to the background and evolution of acculturation up to the present. ...

  • Topics in Native American History – “Disease, Demography, and Politics in Native America”

    Instructor:

    This course examines the onslaught of European diseases and the subsequent demographic collapse of Native North America during 500 years of colonization. Faced with new diseases, new microbes, and various colonizing entities, Native Americans died in unparalleled...

  • Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Change in the North American West

    Instructor: John Dougherty

    This course explores the dynamic relationships between indigenous communities and the continuously changing environmental landscapes of the North American West from before European contact to the present, and how these communities have continually adapted traditional cultural practices...

  • “Indigenous Language Revitalization in Community Contexts”

    Instructor:

    The health and ongoing life of Indigenous languages is a central commitment of Indigenous peoples around the world. Focusing on Native North America, this course centers the perspectives, strategies, and challenges of language revitalization from within Indigenous...

  • Introduction to Native American Studies

    Instructor: Enrique Lima

    This course explores the interactions, from friendship treaties and land deals to contemporary American governmental policies, between America’s original inhabitants with Europeans and Euro-Americans. Emphasis will be placed on how tribal peoples continue to react to the...

  • Native Americans in North America to 1900

    Instructor: Enrique Lima

    An ethnohistorical analysis of America’s original inhabitants and their interactions with Europeans and Euro-Americans emphasizing an Indian perspective. ...

  • Freshman Seminar–Myth, Memory and History

    Instructor:

    The course will introduce students to different ways of understanding the history of American Indians and to basic resources and research methods for studying the history of Indian tribes. ...

  • Native American Studies Reading and Composition

    Instructor: Angela R. Aguilar

    This course introduces students to the genres of Native American literature (written and oral traditions), provides historical and cultural frameworks for understanding, appreciating, and interpreting Native American writings, and develops basic skills in expository and creative writing....