History
525: Topics in Women’s History
Asian American Women’s History
Winter Quarter 2001 Professor J. Wu
Townshend Hall 247 Office: 261 Dulles
Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:30-4:18 Phone: 292-9331
Office Hours: T, Th 1:20-2:20 and by appointment Email: wu.287@osu.edu
Course Description and Objective
This course explores the experiences, consciousness and representations of Asian American Women from the mid-19th century through the present. The term Asian American refers to immigrants as well as those born in the United States of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Pilipino, South Asian and Southeast Asian ancestry. The readings and discussions will examine the intersections of gender, race, class, and nationality in the lives of Asian American women.
Course materials represent a variety of disciplines (Anthropology, Sociology, Literature) and sources (oral histories, primary documents, films) that contribute to the field of Asian American Women’s History. I encourage you to engage each assignment critically. What does the source tell us about the experiences of Asian American women? What is the purpose of the author or filmmaker and what are her/his underlying assumptions in creating this work? What types of evidence are used to support an argument or perspective? You will be asked to share your insights through discussions and paper assignments. In other words, this course encourages you to develop critical reading, thinking, and writing skills.
Enrollment:
All students must be officially enrolled in the course by the end of the second full week of the quarter. No requests to add the course will be approved by the department chair after that time. Enrolling officially and on time is solely the responsibility of each student.
Readings: The books are available for sale at SBX. They are also on reserve at the Main Library. Additional readings are available as a course packet at COP-EZ at Tuttle Park Garage.
Soo-Young Chin, Doing what had to be done : the life narrative of Dora Yum Kim
Shamita Das Dasgupta, ed., A Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America
Nancy D. Donnelly, Changing Lives of Refugee Hmong Women
Yen Le Espiritu, Filipino American Lives
Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Issei, Nisei, War Bride: Three Generations of Japanese American Women in Domestic Service
Judy Yung, Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco
Course Assignments and Expectations:
As an advanced undergraduate/graduate course, the success of this class depends upon your active participation. All reading and writing assignments must be completed by the appointed date and time. Incomplete assignments and lack of participation will not only adversely affect your grade but will also lessen the overall learning experience for everyone in the course.
1. Six Reading Responses (30%). These responses (1-2 pages) are graded +/check/-. This is your opportunity to reflect upon the main themes for the readings, to articulate your reactions, and raise questions for discussion. These responses are intended to help you conceptualize the readings in a succinct and coherent manner. I recommend writing one paragraph summarizing the main argument or arguments from the readings and an additional one or two paragraphs offering your critiques. These responses are due by noon in my office, 261 Dulles, on the day indicated in the syllabus.
2. Class participation and co-leading discussions (30%). You will be expected to actively participate in class discussion and also to co-lead at least one discussion. To prepare for discussion, you should meet with your fellow co-facilitators to generate a list of questions. You also might experiment with more creative forms of discussion, such as debates, role-playing, etc. If you have any questions, feel free to meet with me beforehand.
3. A research paper, visual exhibit, and presentation that examines the experiences of Asian American women (40%). The length of the paper will be 7-9 pages for undergraduate students and 13-15 pages for graduate students. You may wish to use this assignment to conduct more research about a particular Asian American group, or to examine the differences or similarities between Asian American groups by focusing on a particular subject, such as immigration, family, sexuality, feminism, etc. You might consider conducting oral histories, i.e. interviews with Asian American women, to explore how their life experiences reflect the broader historical trends that we explore in our class. The exhibit will be displayed at the Exposures Gallery in the Ohio Union, Room 236. The presentations will be scheduled during the last week of class, so you will have an opportunity to receive feedback on your projects before the final paper is due.
Absences: If you will be unable to attend class, please inform me beforehand. If an emergency arises and you are unable to reach me before the class, contact me as soon as possible to explain your absence. You will not be able to pass the course if you have too many absences.
Late Assignments: No late assignments will be accepted.
Plagiarism: All work presented in class or turned in must be a student's own. Plagiarism or any other form of academic misconduct will be dealt with in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the University’s Committee on Academic Misconduct and will seriously affect a student’s grade.
Class Schedule:
Week 1 History and Historiography
January 2 Introduction to Course
Film: Slaying
the Dragon
January 4 Recentering History
Shirley Hune, “Doing Gender with a Feminist Gaze: Toward a Historical Reconstruction of Asian America,” Contemporary Asian America: A Multidisciplinary Reader, ed. By Min Zhou and James V. Gatewood (New York: New York University Press, 2000), pp. 413-430.
Nancy Hewitt, “Beyond the Search for Sisterhood: American Women’s History in the 1990s,” in Unequal Sisters: a Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women’s History, ed. by Ellen Carol DuBois and Vicki L. Ruiz (New York: Routledge, Chapman & Hall, inc., 1990), pp. 1-14.
Sylvia Yanagisako, “Transforming Orientalism: Gender, Nationality and Class in Asian American Studies,” in Naturalizing Power, ed. by Sylvia Yanagisako and Carol Delaney (New York: Routledge, 1995), pp. 275-298.
Week 2 Chinese American Women
January 9: write-ups due at noon in 261 Dulles
Judy Yung, Unbound Feet: A Social History of Chinese Women in San Francisco.
January 11: Film:
A Thousand Pieces of Gold
Week 3 Japanese American Women
January 16: write-ups due at noon in 261 Dulles
Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Issei, Nisei, War Bride: Three Generations of Japanese American Women in Domestic Service.
January 18: Film: Picture Bride
Week 4 Korean American Women
January 23: write-ups due at noon in 261 Dulles
Soo-Young Chin, Doing what had to be done : the life narrative of Dora Yum Kim
January 25: Film:
Sa-I-Gu
Week 5 Filipino American Women
January 30 library workshop with Marti Alt, location TBA
February 1 write-ups due at noon in 261 Dulles
Yen Le Espiritu, Filipino American Lives (Philadelphia: Temple University press, 1995).
Week 6 South Asian American Women
February 6 write-ups due at noon in 261 Dulles
Shamita Das Dasgupta, ed., A Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America
February 8 View Miss India Georgia
Week 7 Southeast Asian Women
February 13 write-ups due at noon in 261 Dulles
Nancy D. Donnelly, Changing Lives of Refugee Hmong Women
February 15 View Kelly Loves Tony
Week 8 Love, Work, and Activism
February 20 Miya Iwataki, “The Asian Women’s Movement: A Retrospective,” East Wind (Spring/Summer 1983): 35-41.
Sayantani DasGupta & Shamita Das DasGupta, “Journeys: Reclaiming South Asian Feminism,” in Our Feet Walk the Sky: Women of the South Asian Diaspora, ed. by The Women of South Asian Descent Collective (San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1993), pp. 123-130.
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, “‘Loveliest Daughter of Our Ancient Cathay!’: Representations of Ethnic and Gender Identity in the Miss Chinatown U.S.A. Beauty Pageant,” Journal of Social History 31:1 (September 1997): 5-31.
Chizu Iiyama and Lisa S. Hirai Tsuchitani, “Speaking Out: Memories of a Nisei Activist,” in Making More Waves, pp. 229-239.
Miriam Ching Louie, “After Sewing, Laundry, Cleaning and Cooking, I Have No Breath left to Sing,” Amerasia Journal 18:1 (1992): 1-26.
Helen Zia, “Violence in Our Communities: ‘Where are the Asian Women?’” in Making More Waves, pp. 207-214.
February 22 Presentation by staff of Counseling and Psychological Services
Week 9 Asian American Women and Culture
February 27 Dance Presentation
MFA candidate Tamara Welch is a Korean-born American who will be choreographing and performing in a group dance, to be performed in Sullivant Theater from April 20 to 22, 2001. Starting with her own complex identity as an Asian American female performer, Tamara's work will investigate the interplay of femininity and contemporary ethnic identities. The starting point for this work was an octet Tamara created last year for four dancers and four silver kitchen bowls-each spinning, sliding, and supporting each other. Our class will have an opportunity to preview her new work.
March 1 Q & A with dancers Danah Bella, Mira Kim, Mei-Chen Lu, and dancer/choreographer Tamara Welch
Read interviews with Bella, Kim, and Lu and paper by Welch
Week 10 Research Presentations (March 6 and 8) at Exposures Gallery, Ohio Union, Room 236
Final paper due on Thursday, March 15, at 1:30 in Exposures Gallery
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