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Asian American Women's Literature
Professor Karen Chow, University of Connecticut
English 278W-02
Spring 1998
Class meetings: MWF 10-10:50 AM, DRM 1
Office: JHA 302, phone: 486-2751
Office hours: Monday 1-4 and by appointment
Email: karen.chow@uconn.edu
Who are Asian American women? How have they been constructed in literature and culture? What are their responses to those constructions? Asian women in America are no longer as culturally invisible as they were even only a few decades ago and Asian American womens voices are beginning to be heard. We are in an exciting moment when literature and other writings by Asian American women are widely published and acknowledged as new, significant voices that explore intersections of language, cultural and national identities, race, gender, and class in American discourse. This course will introduce you to some of the most recognized works by Asian American women writers. In particular, we will look at novels, short stories, poetry, drama, and film as significant forms of Asian American writing. Through these writings, we will see various forms of creative expression, and we will also examine the histories, cultures, languages, and identities of Asian American women. We will also trace points of commonality among Asian American women from different ethnic backgrounds in their representations of immigration, family, work, community, and sexuality.
Required texts:
Various Readings, on reserve at Babbidge Reserve Resources (see schedule)
Seventeen Syllables, Hisaye Yamamoto.
Bone, Fay Myenne Ng
Arranged Marriages, Chitra Divakaruni
Comfort Woman, Nora Okja Keller
Dogeaters, Jessica Hagedorn
Among the White Moon Faces, Shirley Geok-lin Lim
Course Requirements:
1. All students will be required to set up email accounts and to check them prior to every class for announcements and discussions.
2. PARTICIPATION is expected in class discussions, listening attentively, working cooperatively with other class members in large and small groups, and communicating through email. You should have read all assigned reading prior to class and be ready to discuss it in class. Roll will be taken, and missing classes more than several times will prevent you from actively participating, thus negatively affect your grade.
**Please note, attending the talk by Lucy Wang on Thursday, March 12 is mandatory.
**Filmmaker Loni Ding will be speaking to our class on Friday, April 10. You must attend one of the four showings of her films prior to her talk on Thursday, April 9, 7 PM at the Asian American Cultural Center.
**Professor Gita Grajans class on Asian Diasporic Writing, at Fairfield University in New York state, is also reading and studying many of our texts this semester. We may have the opportunity to travel to Fairfield to participate in a joint class discussion. Details to follow.
3. There will be three (3) formal paper assignments. The first two are expected to be 5-6 pages, and the third will be a 9-10 page research paper. The first two papers will be literary analysis papers requiring no research, and the third will be an analysis paper requiring use of a minimum of two references outside the class reading. An annotated bibliography (that is, a list of your references with a short description of each entry) will be due two weeks prior to the due date of the third paper. In all papers you will be making a sustained argument of a thesis. Specific paper guidelines/suggested topics will be given two weeks prior to each due date.
4. Beginning in Week Two, each student will be expected to maintain a notebook journal, in which a minimum of a paragraph response to readings, and/or issues raised in or related to class should be written before each class meeting. In the journal, you should raise TWO (2) questions about the reading for that days class. These will be periodically collected, checked, and awarded points. I will occasionally request the class to write on certain topics.
5. FORMAL PAPERS: Each of the three required papers will be analytical papers dealing with the texts we have read. You will be expected to demonstrate critical reading and writing skills. The goals for each paper are that it should have a clear thesis, an organized sustained argument of that thesis, supported by numerous textual references and quotes from the readings.
Grade Breakdown:
Journals Responses: 20%
Each of two formal 5-6 pg. papers: 20 % each (40% total)
Research paper: 20%
Final Exam: 20 %
Course Schedule of Readings/ Discussions:
Week One: Introduction to the Course and Strategies Of Constructing "Voice"
Wed, Jan 21: Introduction
Fri, Jan 23: From Reader: Kathleen Tyau: "How To Cook Rice"; Amy Uyematsu: "Rice Planting"
Week Two: Visualizing Stereotypes of Asian Women: Objectifications and Objections
Mon, Jan 26: From Reader: Jessica Hagedorn, "No Joy, No Luck"
Wed, Jan 28: From Reader: Mitsuye Yamada's "Invisibility is a Natural Disaster"
Fri, Jan 30: From Reader: Lisa Sees "Anna May Wong"
Week Three: Social confinement and Women's Resistance in Seventeen Syllables
Mon, Feb 2: "High-heeled Shoes"; "Wilshire Bus"
Wed, Feb 4: "Yonekos Earthquake"
Fri, Feb 6: "Life Among the Oil Fields"
Week Four: Social Confinement and Womens Resistance in Seventeen Syllables
Mon, Feb. 9: "The Legend of Miss Sasagawara"
Wed, Feb 11: Las Vegas Charley; Epithalamium
Fri, Feb 13: "The Eskimo Connection"; "A Day in Little Tokyo"
Week Five: Bonds of Family and Community In An Ethnic Enclave
Mon, Feb 16: Novel: Bone;
Wed, Feb 18: Bone
Fri, Feb 20: Paper One Due in Class; Bring 4 Copies ; Bone
Week Six: Paper Workshop #1 and Womens Roles in Family: Obligation and Duty
Mon, Feb 23: Paper Peer Editing/Commentary Workshop
Wed, Feb 25: Paper Workshop
Fri, Feb 27: Arranged Marriages
Week Seven: Women in White Collars: Views on Masculinized Work Spaces, Affirmative Action, and the American Dream
Mon, Mar 2: Arranged Marriages
Wed, Mar 4: Finish Arranged Marriages and From Reserve Readings: Article: "Progress at Work," by Tamina Dava
Fri, Mar 6 : Play: "Junk Bonds"
Week Eight: Asian American Woman Playwright: Lucy Wang
Mon, Mar 9: "Junk Bonds"
Wed, Mar 11: "Junk Bonds"
THURSDAY, May 12: Lucy Wang's talk
Fri, Mar 13: Discussion of Thursday's talk with Lucy Wang (Attendance to this talk is MANDATORY)
Spring Break Mar 14-22
Week Nine: Memory and Telling: Surviving Colonial Damage
Mon, Mar 23: Novel: Comfort Woman; PAPER TWO DUE IN CLASS
Wed, Mar 25: Comfort Woman
Fri, Mar 27 PAPER TWO DUE IN CLASS; Bring 4 copies
Week Ten: Paper Workshop #2 and Asian American Women In Film
Mon, Mar 30: From Reader: Essay: Marina Heung, "Representing Ourselves: Films and Videos by Asian American/Canadian Women"; Video showing, "Picture Bride"
Wed, Apr 1: Paper Workshop
Fri, Apr 3: Library Research Workshop with Richard Bleiler (focus on research for Asian American Studies); Meet in Homer Babbidge Library Computer Classroom, on Level Two.
Week Eleven: Postcolonial/Transnational Asian American Feminist Identities
Mon, Apr 6: Novel: Dogeaters
Wed, Apr 8: Dogeaters
Fri, Apr 10: Visit by Loni Ding, filmmaker in class
Week Twelve: Postcolonial/Transnational Asian American Feminist Identities
Mon, Apr 13: Dogeaters
Wed, Apr 15: Dogeaters
Fri, Apr 17: Among the White Moon Faces; ; DUE TO INSTRUCTOR: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR RESEARCH PAPER
Week Thirteen: Negotiating Sexual Terrains
Mon, Apr 20: Among the White Moon Faces
Wed, Apr 22: Among The White Moon Faces
Fri, Apr 24: From Reserve Reading: Short Story: Katharine Min, "Oriental Sex Kitten in a Nuclear-Free Zone"; Paper Three Due in Class; Bring 4 Copies
Week Fourteen: Paper Workshop #3
Mon, Apr 27: Paper Workshop
Wed, Apr 29: Paper Workshop
Fri, May 1: Film: TBA; (Film will be included on Final Exam)
FINAL EXAM: May 12, Tuesday