21H.153
Race and Gender in Asian America
Spring 2006
In this seminar we will examine various issues related to the intersection of race and gender in Asian America, starting with the nineteenth century, but focusing on contemporary issues. Topics to be covered may include racial and gender discourse, the stereotyping of Asian American women and men in the media, Asian American masculinity, Asian American feminisms and their relation to mainstream American feminism, the debate between feminism and ethnic nationalism, gay and lesbian identity, class and labor issues, domestic violence, interracial dating and marriage, and multiracial identity.
Readings
- Wu, Frank H. Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White . Reprint ed. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2003. ISBN: 9780465006403.
- Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts . Vintage International ed. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1989. ISBN: 9780679721888.
- Williams-León, Teresa, and Cynthia L. Nakashima, eds. The Sum of Our Parts: Mixed Heritage Asian Americans . Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9781566398466.
- Vo, Linda Trinh, and Marian Sciachitano, eds. Asian American Women: The Frontiers Reader . Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780803296275.
- Hune, Shirley, and Gail M. Nomura, eds. Asian/Pacific Islander American Women: A Historical Anthology . New York, NY: New York University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780814736333.
- Park, Kyeyoung. Korean American Dream: Immigrants and Small Business in New York City . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780801433436.
- Maira, Sunaina. Desis in the House: Indian American Youth Culture in New York City . Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9781566399265.
- Shah, Sonia, ed. Dragon Ladies: Asian American Feminists Breathe Fire . Boston, MA: South End Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780896085763.
- Eng, David L., and Alice Y. Hom, eds. Q & A: Queer in Asian America . Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9781566396394.
- Chasing Daybreak . Directed by Justin Leroy, 2005.
- Sa-I-Gu: From Korean Women’s Perspectives . Directed by Christine Choy, Elaine Kim, and Dai Sil Kim-Gibson, 1993.
- Film: Slaying the Dragon
- In-class film clips: Broken Blossoms The Cheat The Mask of Fu Manchu Shadows
- Marchetti, Gina. “Introduction.” In Romance and the Yellow Peril: Race, Sex, and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780520084957.
- Norris, Frank. “The Third Circle.” The Wave, August 28, 1897.
- Burke, Thomas. “The Chink and the Child” In Limehouse Nights . New York, NY: Robert M. McBride & Co., 1919.
- Murray. “The Mandarin’s Birthday Gift.” Overland Monthly, 1910.
- Borden, Helen. “First Loves: Hers.” The Wave, December 23, 1899.
- Irwin, Will. “Old Chinatown: A Book of Pictures by Arnold Genthe.” New York, NY: Mitchell Kennerley, 1913, excerpt.
- Recommended Yung, Judy. “‘A Bowlful of Tears’: Chinese women immigrants on Angel Island.” In Asian American Women: The Frontiers Reader , pp. 1-7.
- Mazumdar, Sucheta. “What Happened to the Women?: Chinese and Indian Male Migration to the United States in Global Perspective” In Asian/Pacific Islander American Women: A Historical Anthology .
- WEEK #: 3 · TOPICS: Early Asian American Cultural Criticism: Cultural Nationalism vs. Feminism · READINGS and films: (no readings)
- Chin, Frank. “The Confessions of a Chinatown Cowboy.” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 4, no. 3 (Fall 1972): 58-70.
- Chin, Frank, and Jeffrey Paul Chan. “Racist Love.” In Seeing Through Shuck . Edited by Richard Kostelanetz. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1972. ISBN: 9780345026767.
- Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior , chapter 1, pp. 45-53 and chapter 5.
- Chin, Frank. “Afterword.” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 4, no. 3 (Fall 1972): 58-70.
- Cheung, King-Kok. “The Woman Warrior versus The Chinaman Pacific: Must a Chinese American Critic Choose between Feminism and Heroism?” In Conflicts in Feminism . Edited by Marianne Hirsch and Evelyn Fox Keller. New York, NY: Routledge, 1990, pp. 234-251. ISBN: 9780415901772.
- Wong, Sau-ling. “‘Sugar Sisterhood’: Situating the Amy Tan Phenomenon.” In The Ethnic Canon: Histories, Institutions, and Interventions . Edited by David Palumbo-Liu. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1995, pp. 174-210. ISBN: 9780816625567.
- WEEK #: 5 · TOPICS: Between Black and White? · READINGS and films: Wu, Frank H. “Introduction,” “The Model Minority” and “Affirmative Action.” In Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White , chapters 1, 2 and 4.
- Chang, Grace. “The Global Trade in Filipina Workers.” In Dragon Ladies: Asian American Feminists Breathe Fire . Edited by Sonia Shah. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1997, pp. 132-152. ISBN: 9780896085763.
- Hune, Shirley, and Gail M. Nomura, eds. Asian/Pacific Islander American Women: A Historical Anthology, part VI: - Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar. “Asian Immigrant Women and Global Restructuring, 1970s-1990s,” pp. 271-285. - Bao, Xiaolan. “Politicizing Motherhood: Chinese Garment Workers’ Campaign for Daycare Centers in New York City, 1977-1982,” pp. 286-300. - Tung, Charlene. “Caring across Borders: Motherhood, Marriage, and Filipina Domestic Workers in California,” pp. 301-318.
- Tung, Charlene. “The Cost of Caring: the Social Reproductive Labor of Filipino Live-in Home Health Caregivers.” In Asian American Women: The Frontiers Reader , pp. 178-200.
- Shah, Sonia. “Presenting the Blue Goddess: Toward a National Pan-Asian Feminist Agenda.” In Women Transforming Politics . Edited by C. J. Cohen, K. B. Jones, and J. C. Tronto. New York, NY: New York University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780814715581.
- Yamada, Mitsuye. “Asian Pacific American Women and Feminism.” In This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color . 2nd ed. Edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua. New York, NY: Kitchen Table Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780913175033.
- Zia, Helen. “Violence in Our Communities: Where are the Asian Women?” In Making More Waves: New Writing by Asian American Women . Edited by Elaine Kim and Lilia V. Villanueva. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1997, pp. 207-214. ISBN: 9780807059135.
- Khandelwal, Madhulika. “Opening Spaces: South Asian American Women Leaders in the Late 20th Century.” In Asian/Pacific Islander American Women: A Historical Anthology , pp. 350-364.
- Eng, David, ed. “Introduction.” In Q & A: Queer in Asian America .
- Manalansan, Martin. “In the Shadows of Stonewall: Examining Gay Transnational Politics and the Diasporic Dilemma.” In Theorizing Diaspora: A Reader . Edited by Jana Evans Braziel and Anita Manntur. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, Inc., 2003, pp. 207-227. ISBN: 9780631233923.
- Shah, Sonia. Dragon Ladies: Asian American Feminists Breathe Fire.
- Kim, Elaine, and Lilia V. Villanueva, eds. Making More Waves: New Writing by Asian American Women . Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780807059135.
- Eng, David, ed. Q & A: Queer in Asian America.
- Lim-Hing, Sharon, ed. The Very Inside: An Anthology of Writings by Asia and Pacific Islander Lesbians and Bisexual Women . Toronto, ON, Canada: Sister Vision Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780920813973.
- Film: My Son the Fanatic
- Maira, Sunaina. Desis in the House . Introduction and gender chapter.
- Park, Kyeyoung. Korean American Dream, chapters 4-6.
- Lieu, Nhi T. “Remembering ’the Nation’ Through Pageantry: Femininity and the Politics of Vietnamese Womanhood in the Hoa Hao Ao Dai Contest.” In Asian American Women: The Frontiers Reader , pp. 312-336.
- Gajjala, Radhika. “Consuming/producing/inhabiting South-Asian digital diasporas.” Editorial in New Media & Society 8, no. 2 (April 2006): 179-185.
- WEEK #: 10 · TOPICS: Interracial Marriage - Historical Perspectives · READINGS and films: Parrenas, Rhacel Salazar. “‘White Trash’ Meets the ‘Little Brown Monkeys’: The Taxi Dance Hall as a Site of Interracial and Gender Alliances between White Working Class Women and Filipino Immigrant Men.” Amerasia Journal 24, no. 2 (1998): 115-34.
- Film: Chasing Daybreak
- Wu, Frank. “The Changing Face of America: Intermarriage and the Mixed Race Movement.” Chapter 7 in Yellow , pp. 261-300.
- Chow, Claire S. “Choosing a Partner.” Chapter 6 in Leaving Deep Water: Asian American Women at the Crossroads of Two Cultures . New York, NY: Plume, 1999, pp. 94-114. ISBN: 9780452280496.
- Liu, Eric. “Blood Vows.” In The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker . New York, NY: Random House, 1998. ISBN: 9780679448624.
- Shinagawa, Larry Hajime, and Gin Yong Pang. “Asian American Panethnicity and Intermarriage.” Amerasia 22, no. 2 (1996): 127-152.
- Williams-León, Teresa, and Cynthia L. Nakashima, eds. Introduction and selections from The Sum of Our Parts: Mixed Heritage Asian Americans: - Spickard, Paul. “Who Is an Asian? Who Is a Pacific Islander? Monoracialism, Multiracial People, and Asian American Communities,” chapter 1. - Espiritu, Yen Le. “Possibilities of a Multiracial Asian America,” chapter 2. - Weisman, Jan R. “The Tiger and His Stripes: Thai and American Reaction to Tiger Woods’ (Multi-) ‘Racial Self’,” chapter 19.
- Ropp, Steven. “Do Multiracial Subjects Really Challenge Race? Mixed-race Asians in United States and the Caribbean.” Amerasia 23, no. 1 (1997).
- Root, Maria. “Multiracial Asians: Models of Ethnic Identity.” Amerasia 23, no. 1 (1997).
- Yoshimi, Jeff. “Hapas At a Los Angeles High School.” Amerasia 23, no. 1 (1997).
- Spickard, Paul. “What Must I Be? Asian-Americans and the Question of Multiethnic Identity.” Amerasia 23, no. 1 (1997).
- WEEK #: 13-14 · TOPICS: Student Presentations · READINGS and films: (no readings)
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗Historical OpenCourseWare
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.