English 305 - Queering Asian America

This course situates Asian American studies in conversation with feminist and queer of color critiques. For years, Asian American literary formation was shaped by a heteromasculinist ideology, but this course asks: What happens when we place queerness at the heart of Asian American cultural production? The course will teach students queer methods of reading against the grain, but it will also immerse them in queer alternatives to that canon. Throughout, the course will chart the literary, artistic, and scholarly genealogies of queer Asian American writers and artists. Students will also learn to use library databases to research primary and secondary sources and explore methods of queer theorizing. As a class, students will also contribute to a blog that constitutes our own queer archive of objects, performances, oral histories, and keywords that show the breadth and vitality of Asian American queer knowledge production. Writers, filmmakers, and scholars may include Ocean Vuong, Jean Chen Ho, Willyce Kim, Alice Wu, Neema Avashia, Alexander Chee, and more. 

Limited to 25 students. Fall semester. Professor Saito.

How to handle overenrollment: Preference given to English majors and students intending to conduct research on Asian American studies and/or queer theory.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: emphasis on written work, readings, independent research, oral presentations, group work, artistic work, visual analysis.