English 387 - S:ASIAN AM AUTOBIOGR: ANTI-MEM

: Like many ethnic American groups, Asian Americans first entered the U.S. publishing marketplace by offering works in the genre of autoethnography, or self-culture-writing.While many writers have valued this genre as a gateway, others have viewed it as a prison. While some see it as an opportunity to express themselves, others feel constrained by mainstream expectations. Hence, a few Asian American writers have played with the genre, sometimes in radical ways, in order to do new kinds of aesthetic and cultural work. Memoirs and anti-memoirs for consideration include those by Maxine Hong Kingston, Agha Shahid Ali, Paisley Rekdal, Amanda Ngoho Reavey, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Thi Bui, Bao Phi, and Lynda Barry. Permission of the instructor required. Enrollment limited to 12.

Instructor Permission. Not open to first-years, sophomores