Syllabus and Reading list for ENGL260: Asian American Literature

Nieda, Takami

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114615 Copy

Description

Title

Syllabus and Reading list for ENGL260: Asian American Literature

Author(s)

Nieda, Takami

Issue Date

2022-08-05

Keyword(s)

• Asian American
• English
• Literature
• Higher Education
• Syllabus

Abstract

During the lab, I proposed to revise the Asian American Literature class (class cap.28) offered at Seattle Central College to include narratives—autobiography, poetry, fiction, graphic novels, and film—of Asians in the US and the diaspora. According to the current course description, the course “focuses on fiction and poetry of Asian Americans, covered in order of their immigration: Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Southeast Asian, and the recent groups from Asia and the Pacific Islands,” centering on those who identify as Asian American. The inclusion of diasporic narratives will provide a fuller picture of the diversity of the Asian experience in the US and opportunities to consider the emergence of transnational identities in the global age. The course revision addresses how power shapes which voices are amplified and to rebalance power by incorporating marginalized sources. In the case of Asian American Literature, the voices that are amplified are those writing in English, even as many immigrants and transnational writers often produce their work in Asian languages. For example, issei Japanese who were imprisoned in the WWII concentration camps produced haiku which have been excluded from larger conversations about American literature until they were translated into English. In her memoir, The Magical Language of Others, poet E.J. Koh writes of her parents going home to Korea, leaving her and her brother to live on their own in California, and through the process of translating her mother’s many letters to her written in Korean, Koh is able to come to terms with her abandonment and unearth her family history. With the inclusion of works such as these, students will be able to examine the literatures of America from a global lens and to call into question the practice of studying Asian American literature without considering the contributions of non-American writers of Asian descent. In 2021, Seattle Central College was awarded a grant and the designation of Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI). As part of this initiative, the college has committed to offering courses that address the needs and interests of this student population, and the proposed Asian American Literature course will be offered in Fall 2022. A majority of our Asian students are international students, recent immigrants to the US, and 1.5 generation students, so seeing themselves represented in the works covered in the course is critical to the mission of the grant and our college. Since many students come to us with proficiency of languages other than English, they may engage in their own translation of non-English works written by writers of Asian descent and help to globalize the curriculum.

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114615

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