Advanced Theories in Asian American / Pacific Islander Feminisms
WGS 415/515 , Fall 2004
Professor Lynn FujiwaraOffice Hours: Wednesdays 10-12:00pm
Hendricks Hall
Through this course we will examine leading works that interrogate issues and forces of race, colonization, patriarchy, global capitalism, and sexuality that shape the lives of Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. and within a transnational context.A specific focus will be placed on women’s positionality, gendered formations, and the forces of nation that shapecitizenshipin the context of increasing globalization.Broad themes include patriarchal racialized imperialism and colonization; feminization of migration, displacement and war; constructs of social and legal citizenship; cultural and identity politics and representation; sexuality and queer politics; Asian women’s labor in the global economy; and sites for social change and collective activism.Fundamentally we will consistently engage in several primary questions that will guide our inquiry:is there an Asian American / Pacific Islander feminist theory? What are the tensions, absences, and possibilities?
As a four hundred/five hundred “advanced” theory course, students will be expected to engage in the material analytically and theoretically. This course provides an opportune moment to concentrate on contemporary works by contemporary theoretical scholars concerned with issues that shape Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, politics, identities, and representations.This course is purposely interdisciplinary, thus we will be drawing from theoretical works from multiple disciplines and methodological approaches.Considerable attention will be placed on theoretical perspectives that grapple with feminist frameworks that work to re-position a gendered analysis that is intersectional with race, class and citizenship.Students will be expected to participate actively as the ideas put forth will elicit multiple interpretations and responses that will require an active dialogue amongst all participants.
Course Readings
Required Text:
Buddha is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, The New America, by AihwaOng
From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai’i, by Haunani-Kay Trask (revised edition).
Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics, by Lisa Lowe
Q&A: Queer in Asian America,edited by David L. Eng and Alice Y. Hom
Servants of Globalization: Women, Migration, and Domestic Work,by Rhacel Salazar Parreñas
Recommended Text:
A Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America, edited by Shamita Das Dasgupta
Passing it On: A Memoir,by Yuri Kochiyama
Articles and Selected Chapters:
In addition to the required text their will also be required articles and chapters made available through electronic reserve, regular course reserves, and at the Copy Shop on 13thAvenue.Readings that are articles or chapters not found in the required books will be indicated within the Course Schedule (below) with an *.
Course Requirements
Attendance and Participation– (10%) Attendance is mandatory.If you are ill or are experiencing a family emergency and have to miss class, please make sure to communicate this with me via email or phone message.Given the nature of the two hour and fifty minute seminar it is imperative that you come to class prepared having completed the assigned reading for that day.Active participation is essential for a dynamic and engaged discussion, be prepared to participate and contribute to the discussions.
Weekly 2 page critical response papers– due in class (no late response papers will be accepted) – (35%).These weekly papers are not summaries of the readings.Rather they are a space for you to articulate an immediate and thoughtful reflection about the compilation of readings that conveys your comprehension of the material.For example, how well do the primary arguments inform an Asian American/Pacific Islander feminist framework, what issues do they raise, how do they speak to each other (or not), what questions do they raise?
Question facilitation– (15%) Each week 2-3 students will be in charge of providing guiding discussion questions.They will also be in charge of facilitating their discussion generated from their questions.The group of students should work collectively to orchestrate a coherence between their questions, avoid duplication, and orchestrate the facilitated dialogue.Type written copies of your questions should be made available for all the participants in the course including the Professor.
Final comprehensive essay– (40%) (Approximately 2 7-8 page essays) This assignment will be due on Thursday December 9 by 4:00pm, Hendricks 311.This essay assignment will be handed out in class on November 18.Graduate students will be given a slightly different assignment with different expectations.
***Alternative final writing assignment:
1.If you are engaged in a thesis project or other major writing project, you maypropose an alternative final writing project.This writing project must incorporatea substantial usage of the course materials.Proposals must be given to me byNovember 11 for approval.I will also want to see the larger project that you areworking on and the nature of the project (in other words you can’t simply use apaper that you are writing for another class, it has to be a larger thesis orComprehensive exam (for graduate students).
2.You may choose to take up a topic covered in the course and write a researchpaper that further explores the topic and draws from outside material in additionto the relevant text provided in class.Research paper proposals must be given tome by November 11 for approval.
Course Schedule
Week 1, September 30:Introduction: The Emergence of an Asian American Feminist Consciousness
Read:
*”The Asian American Movement” by Yuri Kochiyam fromPassing It On: A Memoir
*”Growing Up Fast: Childhood, War, and Camp” by Yuri Kochiyama fromPassing It On: A Memoir.
Chapter 3 of Immigrant Acts by Lisa Lowe (Move to week 4)
Week 2, October 7: Colonialism, Indigeneity, and the struggle for Sovereignty for Pacific Islanders
Read:
From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai’i, Introduction, Parts I,II, III
Film: Act of War
Week 3, October 14:Politics in the Pacific Islands: Colonization, Militarization, and Tourism
Read:
*“bikinis and other s/pacific n/oceans,” by Teresia K. Teaiwa
*”Fire in the Water – Marshall Islands –“ by ZohlDé Ishtar pp. 17-40
*”Behind a Curtain of Flowers – Tahiti-Polynesia –“ by ZohlDéIshtarpp. 187-203
*”A Scar on the Memory of the People,” by ZohlDé Ishtar pp. 206-216
*”The Spirit of Resistance” by ZohlDé Ishtar pp. 218-232
*”Take Up the Challenge” by ZohlDé Ishtar pp. 234-251
*“Feminism and Hawaiian Nationalism,”byHuanani-Kay Trask
*”Three Icons in the Movement: Lolita Lebron, Assata Shakur, and Leonard Peltier” by Yuri Kochiyama fromPassing It On: A Memoir.
Week 4, October 21: Racialization, Citizenship, and “Asian American Cultural Politics”
Read:
Immigrant Acts, by Lisa Lowe. Chapters 1, 4, and 5
*“Historical Reconfigurations: Delineating Asian Women as/not American Citizens” fromCompositional Subjects: Enfiguring Asian/American Women” by Laura Hyun Yi Kang.
*”Being “Amreekan,” Fried Chicken versus Chicken Tikka,” by NaheedHasnat fromA Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America
Week 5, October 28: Multiplicities: Race, Gender, and Sexuality and Asian American Queer Politics
Read:
Q&A: Queer in Asian America, Introduction, Chs. 1-4, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 22, 26
*”Naming Desire, Shaping Identity: Tracing the Experiences of Indian Lesbians in the United States,” by Naheed Islam fromA Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America
Week 6: War, Trauma, and Displacement – Refugee Politics
November 4
Read:
*“After the Cease-Fire What?”Yuri Kochiyam, fromPassing it On.
Buddha Is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, The New America, by AihwaOng, Introduction,
Part I and II.
Week 7, November 11:Resettlement, Community Politics, and Refugee Politics within Asian American Studies.
Read:
Buddha Is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, The New America, by AihwaOng, Part III, IV and afterword.
*“Asian Immigrant Communities and the Racial Politics of Welfare Reform” by Lynn Fujiwara, fromWhose Welfare
Film: Eating Welfare
Week 8, November 18:Transnational Migrations and Immigrants in the Global Economy
Read:
Immigrant Acts, by Lisa Lowe, Chapter 7
*”Disciplined Embodiments: Si(gh)ting Asian/American Women as Transnational Labor” by Laura Hyun Yi Kang fromCompositional Subjects: Enfiguring Asian/American Women.
*”Three Hot Meals and a Full Day at Work: South Asian Women’s Labor in the United States,” by Sonia Shah fromA Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America.
*”The Habit of Ex-Nomination: Nation, Woman, and the Indian Immigrant Bourgeoisie,” by AnannyaBhattacharjee fromA Patchwork Shawl: Chronicles of South Asian Women in America
Film: Behind the Labels
Week 9, November 25: No Class
Work on your final papers
Week 10, December 2: International Sexual Division of Labor, and Transnational Motherhood
Read:
Servants of Globalization: Women, Migration, and Domestic Work, by Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, Introduction - Conclusion