Advanced Topics in History (320-0-1)

Topic

An Asian American Midwest: Race, Place, and Memory

Instructors

Ji-Yeon Yuh
847/467-6538
Harris Hall - Room 306 (Winter 2021 - Remote)

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-425: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

Although the Midwest is imagined as the white heartland of America, Asian Americans and other racialized minorities have a long history in the region. This upper-level undergraduate seminar course posits an Asian American Midwest through memoirs, documentaries, oral histories, and primary sources documenting the experiences of Asian Americans in the region. The course will ask students to consider what differentiates Asian American histories and experiences in the Midwest from other regions and how an Asian American Midwest might be defined.

Learning Objectives

1. How to consider ideas of regional identity and distinction.

2. How to analyze different types of evidence (memoirs, newspaper clippings, secondary literature).

3. How to study Asian American history and questions of race, migration, refugees, community, and belonging.

4. How to consider together the histories and experiences of various ethnic, cultural, and racially-categorized people and communities.

5. How to make and support claims about an Asian American Midwest.

Class Materials (Required)

Abdurraqib, Hanif. There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension ebook $7.99, paperback $14.
Chin, Curtis. Everything I learned, I learned in a Chinese Restaurant Ebook $4, paperback $15
Nguyen, Bich Minh. Stealing Buddha's Dinner. No ebook available. Paperback or hardover, used, $9-$24.

Readings on hold at the University Library:
Trenka, Jane Jeong. The Language of Blood : A Memoir. St. Paul, Minn: Borealis Books, 2003.
Wilkinson, Sook, and Victor Jew, eds. Asian Americans in Michigan : Voices from the Midwest. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2015.

Class Notes

We will have at least one and possibly two field trips into Chicago:

1. Visit to AFIRE and HANA Center

2. Possibly a visit to either Chinatown or Argyle.

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area