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Asian American Literature

This document outlines an elective course on Asian American literature. The course objectives are to introduce students to the field, examine narratives of immigration and identity, and demonstrate the relationship between literature and Asian American history. Students will analyze works by authors like Kingston, Tan, Mukherjee, and Lahiri. They will explore how literature addresses challenges of racial categorization and transitioning identities, and how it functions as political and racial commentary. The course consists of introductory lectures on immigration history and close readings of featured texts across 7 weeks.

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Manvendra Shah (B18EE026)
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143 views2 pages

Asian American Literature

This document outlines an elective course on Asian American literature. The course objectives are to introduce students to the field, examine narratives of immigration and identity, and demonstrate the relationship between literature and Asian American history. Students will analyze works by authors like Kingston, Tan, Mukherjee, and Lahiri. They will explore how literature addresses challenges of racial categorization and transitioning identities, and how it functions as political and racial commentary. The course consists of introductory lectures on immigration history and close readings of featured texts across 7 weeks.

Uploaded by

Manvendra Shah (B18EE026)
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Title Asian American Literature Number HSL7XXX

Departmen Humanities & Social Sciences L-T-P [C] 3-0-0[3]


t
Offered for PG Type Elective
Prerequisite Nil

Objectives:
The Instructor will:
1. Introduce students to the literary field of Asian American literature.
2. Look into three kinds of prose narratives, namely, immigration narratives, narratives of
second-generation identity construction, and narratives emphasizing global or
postcolonial perspectives.
3. Demonstrate the dynamic relationship between Asian American literature and the
histories of Asians in the US.
4. Provide insights into settlement histories of the ethnic communities, legal discourses of
immigration, multiracial hierarchy, multiculturalism, and neocolonialism in the US.

Learning Outcomes:
The students are expected to have the ability to:
1. Understand how the standard racial categorization of Asian Americans belies their
vastly different languages, histories and traditions in the US.
2. Identify the challenges that Asian Americans encounter while undergoing the
transition from “Asian” to “Asian American.”
3. Explore how Asian American literature can function as a political and racial agency in
critiquing America-centrism and racial inequality in the US.
Contents:
Introducing the genre: Emergence of the category “Asian American”, Arrival of early
immigrants specifically from East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan) and the Philippines, The
later addition of groups from Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia, Asian Americans
disowning immigrants from other parts of Asia, Immigration policy of the US, Exclusion and
deportation, Naturalization of Asians. (7 lectures)
Close Textual Readings and Conversations: Maxine Hong Kingston (5 Lectures), Amy Tan
(5 Lectures), Bharati Mukherjee (5 Lectures), Jhumpa Lahiri (5 Lectures), John Okada (5
Lectures), Chang-Rae Lee (5 Lectures), Le Thi Diem Thuy (5 Lectures)
 
Textbooks
1. Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior
2. Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club/ The Kitchen God’s Wife/ The Hundred Secret Senses
3. Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine/ Wife/ The Middleman and Other Stories/ Holder of the
World
4. Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake/ Unaccustomed Earth/ Interpreter of Maladies
5. John Okada’s No-No Boy
6. Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker
7. Le Thi Diem Thuy’s The Gangster We Are All Looking For

Reference Books
1. Agnew, Vijay. Diaspora, Memory and Identity: A Search for Home, University of
Toronto Press, 2005.
2. Bhabha, Homi K. Nation and Narration. Routledge, 1990.
3. Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994.
4. Brah, Avtar. Cartographies of Diaspora: Contested Identities. Routledge, 1996.
5. Braziel, Jana E, and Anita Mannur. (Eds.) Theorizing Diaspora. Blackwell, 2003.
6. Chan, J. P., et al. editors. The Big aiiieeeee! An Anthology of Chinese American and
Japanese American Literature. Meridan, 1991.
7. Cheung, King-kok. (Ed.) An Interethnic Companion to Asian American Literature,
Cambridge University Press, 1997.
7. Clifford, James. Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century. Harvard
UP, 1997.
8. Cohen, Robin and Carolin Fischer. (Eds.) Routledge Handbook of Diaspora Studies.
Routledge, 2019.
9. Kim, Elaine H. Asian American Literature: An Introduction to the Writings and their
Social Context. Temple University Press, 1982.
10.Lal, Brij V., et al. editors. The Encyclopaedia of the Indian Diaspora. Editions Didier
Millet, 2006.
11.Leiwei Li, David. Imaging the Nation: Asian American Literature and Cultural Consent.
Stanford University Press, 1998.
12.Ling, Amy. Between Worlds: Women Writers of Chinese Ancestry. Pergamon, 1990.
13.Radhakrishnan, R. Diasporic Mediations: Between Home and Location. University of
Minnesota Press, 1996.
14.Wong, Sau-Ling Cynthia. Reading Asian American Literature: From Necessity to
Extravagance. Princeton University Press, 1993.

Online Course Material


Dr. Aysha Iqbal Viswamohan, Contemporary Literature, Department of Humanities and
Social Sciences, IIT Madras, Lectures 35 to 38. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1y4NekgqulA&list=PLE61D1F6F620DDE0F&index=35

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