Fall 2012 ASIAN_AM 392-0 Seminar in Asian American Studies- Race Wars in American Culture

"Race Wars in American Culture" - Seminar in Asian American Studies

This seminar is taught by Simeon Man. Simeon Man is an Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in American Studies and Asian American Studies. His research and teaching interests are in Asian American and U.S. transnational history, with an emphasis on the politics of race and the U.S. empire in the twentieth century.

This course will take up "race war" as an analytical concept for thinking about the question of empire in U.S. culture. From the conquest of native peoples across the American continent to the Spanish American War, from World War II to the U.S. War in Vietnam, from the Cold War to the "war on terror"wars have been waged not only in the name of territorial acquisition and diplomacy, but have also profoundly shaped ideas about race and nation in U.S. society. We therefore approach the study of race beyond U.S. borders, using interdisciplinary methods to interrogate its formation in transnational and imperial contexts. How have racial ideologies worked to rationalize U.S. conquest, "pacification," and occupation overseas? In turn, how have these processes reinforced and reified racial concepts, representations, and practices in the United States? In examining these questions, we will pay attention to how historically marginalized subjects have responded to wars, from proclaiming their loyalty and patriotism to engaging in more critical acts of protests, within and beyond the United States.

The primary objectives of this course are to foster a critical lens for thinking about U.S. history in a global context, and to broaden students' skills in critical reading, research, writing, and discussion.

- W.E.B. Du Bois, Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil (Dover) ISBN 0-486-40890-6
- Matthew Frye Jacobson, Barbarian Virtues: The United States Encounters Foreign Peoples at Home and Abroad, 1876-1917 (Hill and Wang) ISBN 0-8090-1628-1
- Kimberley L. Phillips, War! What is it Good For? Black Freedom Struggles & the U.S. Military from World War II to Iraq (University of North Carolina Press) ISBN: 978-0-8078-3502-9
- Naoko Shibusawa, America's Geisha Ally: Reimagining the Japanese Enemy (Harvard University Press) ISBN-13: 978-0-674-02348-2
- Course Pack

Attendance at first class is mandatory.

Simeon Man is an Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in American Studies and Asian American Studies. His research and teaching interests are in Asian American and U.S. transnational history, with an emphasis on the politics of race and the U.S. empire in the twentieth century.

Current as of 05/06/13 02:04:03 PM