Asian American Studies Courses
The Asian American Studies minor requires six courses.
Course offerings for AY 2025-26
Fall 2025 Courses:
Introduction to Asian American Studies - AAST 3000 (AHC, PLUR, ASHS, FCLC)
Campus: Lincoln Center
Instructor: TBA
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
Days: Mondays and Wednesdays
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course surveys major touchstones in the interdisciplinary field of Asian American studies, including perspectives from history, literature, sociology, gender and sexuality studies, and other disciplines. Moving beyond the Black-white binary, it examines the specificities of Asian racialization in a variety of contexts: U.S. war and empire in Asia and the Pacific Islands, settler colonialism, global capitalism, migration and diaspora, and popular culture. What does it mean to be Asian American? How has “Asian America” as a political construction changed overtime? How can various academic disciplines add to our understanding of Asian American identity as a historical process, a social relation, an analytical method, and a political project?
Representing Asians in Journalism and Media - AAST/COMC 3280 (PLUR, CELP, CMST, COMC, DTEM, FCLC, JETH, JOUR, JPLH)
Campus: Lincoln Center
Instructor: Qun Wang
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Days: Tuesday and Friday
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
From traditional to social media, from the "yellow peril" stereotype in the 19th century and the model minority discourse in the 20th century to #StopAsianHate during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 21st century, the media have played and continue to play an important role in the history of Asian Americans. Media activities, whether in the processes of media production, representation, or consumption, have largely shaped how the Asian American identity is perceived and how the Asian American community is evolving. At the same time, many Asian Americans are media producers themselves, telling their stories across media platforms. Through class materials, discussions, and projects, this course provides an opportunity for students to study the roles and practices of various mediums, such as news media, popular media, and digital media, as well as their implications for Asian Americans and beyond. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Asian Diasporic Literatures - AAST/ ENGL 3359 (EP3, PLUR, ACUP, ADVD, ALC, AMST, ASHS, ASLT, COLI, ENRJ, FCRH, INST, ISAS, ISIN, PJRC, PJST)
Campus: Rose Hill
Instructor: James Kim
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Days: Tuesday and Friday
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
“To be rooted,” Simone Weil once wrote, “is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.” If so, what does uprootedness do to the human soul? How does diaspora, the often violent loss of a native land, challenge the arts of poetry, drama, and storytelling? What geo-historical forces go into creating such violent dislocations? With what ethical and political dilemmas do they confront the diasporic subject? How does diasporic trauma manifest itself across generations? What role can literature play in healing the wounds of the uprooted? This course addresses these questions by examining Asian diasporic literatures of roughly the last half century. Previous writers have included Maxine Hong Kingston, lê thi diem thúy, Jessica Hagedorn, Jhumpa Lahiri, Min Jin Lee, Li-Young Lee, and Ocean Vuong.
Seeing Stories: Reading Race and Graphic Narratives - AAST/ENGL 3647 (EP3, PLUR, ACUP, ADVD, ALC, AMST, ASLT, ENRJ, FCRH, LAHA, LALS, PJRC, PJST)
Campus: Rose Hill
Instructor: Stephen Sohn
Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Days: Tuesday and Friday
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course reveals how American writers of color (Asian American, Native American, African American, Latinx, etc.) have transformed the genre of the graphic narrative to speak to issues of racial difference and social inequality. How do these authors both entertain us and push us to engage in rigorous, critical interpretations of their wildly fanciful texts? Some potential course selections include: Thi Bui’s "The Best We Could Do," Kyle Baker’s "Nat Turner," Mira Jacob’s "Good Talk," Lila Quintero Weaver’s "Darkroom," and Jonathan Nelson’s "The Wool of Jonesy."
Buddhism in America - THEO 3725 (AAST ATTRIBUTE) (AAST, ADVD, AMST, ASHS, ASRP, FCLC, PLUR, RSCS, RSTE, STSN, STXT, THHC)
Campus: Lincoln Center
Instructor: Joshua Schapiro
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Days: Tuesday and Friday
Campus: Rose Hill
Instructor: Joshua Schapiro
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Days: Monday and Thursday
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course traces the history of Buddhism in the United States from the nineteenth century to the present. It asks whether Buddhism in America is a single object of study, and whether we should understand it as a “religion.” It further explores different techniques and media at our disposal for considering the primary concerns of American Buddhists (using films, podcasts,etc.)
Language and Race - LING 4020 (AASR ATTRIBUTE) (ICC, AASR, PLUR, ANTH, COLI, FCRH, LAHA, LALS)
Campus: Rose Hill
Instructor: Britta Ingebretson
Time: 2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Days: Monday and Thursday
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This class explores the role of language in the social construction of race and racism, from the use of linguistic difference to construct racial categories, “English only” policies, and the stigmatization of race-based accents and dialects. We will also look at power and performativity in speech. How do people perform racial identity through language? How are racial hierarchies maintained or subverted through speech? How do ways of speaking associated with racial minorities become stigmatized and how is this stigma institutionalized? This course draws on readings from sociolinguistics, anthropology, and sociology to look at race and language in a variety of different contexts such as the classroom, courtroom, and mass media. We will look at language and race in US and global contexts tailored to student interest.
Comparative Studies in Empire - ENGL 4207 (AASR ATTRIBUTE) (ICC, AASR, ACUP, AMST, APPI, ASLT, COLI, ENRJ, FCRH, IRST)
Campus: Rose Hill
Instructor: Christopher GoGwilt
Time: 2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Days: Monday and Thursday
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This interdisciplinary capstone (ICC) seminar will study the interrelation between different imperial formations throughout history and across the globe (in Europe, Africa, the Americas, China, and Southeast Asia). Reading Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior (1976), Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead (1992), and Toni Morrison’s A Mercy (2008) as framing points of reference, the seminar will investigate the various linguistic, literary, and cultural traditions that give imaginative and historical shape to a broad historical and geographical range of interrelated imperial formations. Close attention will be paid to the importance of literary form and historical representation as well as the relation between the two. Juxtaposing historical and fictional texts from different cultural and historical moments, the seminar will explore how these texts foreground problems of historical documentation and textual authority. The seminar will study how these foundational problems, shared by the disciplines of history and literary criticism, are embodied in other media, such as music and film. Special attention will be given to theoretical interventions made by Asian American studies (notably through the work of Rey Chow, Lisa Lowe, and Anne Anlin Cheng).
Spring 2026 Courses:
Introduction to Asian American Studies- AAST 3000 (AAST, PLUR, AHC, AMST, ASHS, FCRH)
Campus: Rose Hill
Instructor: Grace Shen
Time: 11:30 p.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Days: Monday and Wednesday
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This section of AAST 3000 will emphasize the historical development of the evolving Asian American experience as a socio-political and cultural process at the intersection of individual lives, local contexts, national dynamics, and global linkages. This history makes little sense without insights and challenges from other disciplines, and the course will draw heavily upon the social sciences, literature, art, gender and sexuality studies, media and cultural studies, and many other fields. Though history will provide the backbone of the course, you are invited to bring your own interests and expertise to broaden the discussion and unsettle our perspectives as we tackle core questions, such as: What does it mean to be Asian American? How has “Asian America” as a political and racial construct changed over time? And who or what determines the answers? Together we will use scholarly and popular materials to explore key developments and themes and interrogate the complexities of Asian American identity as a historical process, a social relation, a political project, and an analytical method.
Asian American Theater - AAST/THEA 3500 (PLUR)
Campus: Lincoln Center
Instructor: May Adrales
Time: TBA
Days: TBA
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course examines Asian American experience through the lens of theater and performance. Theater is the living document where artists from the Asian diaspora preserve cultural legacies and interrogate and engage with American racial politics. By discussing representative works by Asian American playwrights, performance artists, and directors, we will cover the following topics: key events in Asian American history; immigration and citizenship; identity and community formation; intersectionality of race, gender, and sexuality; colonialism and U.S. imperialism; and generational distinctions of Asian American theater from 1970 to the present. The class will take advantage of our New York City location by hosting several Asian and Asian American theater artists to discuss their process, productions, and engagement in the sociopolitical movements of Asian American theater.
Seeing Stories: Reading Race and Graphic Narratives - AAST/ENGL 3647 (AASR, PLUR, ACUP, ADVD, ALC, AMST, ASLT, ENRJ, LAHA, LALS, PJRC, PJST)
Campus: Lincoln Center
Instructor: Stephen Sohn
Time: 2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Days: Monday and Thursday
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course reveals how American writers of color (Asian American, Native American, African American, Latinx, etc.) have transformed the genre of the graphic narrative to speak to issues of racial difference and social inequality. How do these authors both entertain us and push us to engage in rigorous, critical interpretations of their wildly fanciful texts? Some potential course selections include: Thi Bui’s "The Best We Could Do," Kyle Baker’s "Nat Turner," Mira Jacob’s "Good Talk," Lila Quintero Weaver’s "Darkroom," and Jonathan Nelson’s "The Wool of Jonesy."
Asian American Critique - AAST/ENGL 4603 (ICC, PLUR, AAST, ACUP, ADVD, AMST, ASLT, COLI, ENRJ, INST, ISAS, PJRC, PJST)
Campus: Rose Hill
Instructor: James Kim
Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Days: Monday and Thursday
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This interdisciplinary capstone (ICC) course explores canonical and cutting-edge research in the interdisciplinary field of Asian American Studies. Examining the field’s interventions in disciplines such as history, sociology, media studies, and literary studies, we will discover how Asian Americanists have enunciated a distinct set of themes, methods, analyses, historical narratives, and ethico-political projects. Topics may include Asian American critiques of racial capitalism; neoliberalism; biopolitics; environmental devastation; human-animal relations; contemporary aesthetic categories; the Asian Century; and the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability. This course fulfills the ICC and pluralism requirements of the common core. Previous exposure to ENGL 3356, “Approaches to Asian American Studies,” or ENGL 3359, “Asian Diasporic Literature,” is encouraged but not required.
Contemporary Issues in Asian America - AAST/ANTH 4616 (AASR, ICC, PLUR, ANTH)
Campus: Lincoln Center
Instructor: Daisy Deomampo
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Days: Wednesday
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course examines historical and contemporary issues facing Asian Americans from the 1960s to the contemporary moment. By drawing on empirical and ethnographic studies, the course will illuminate Asian Pacific American experiences in the U.S. and globally. Major themes include race, class, gender, sexuality, marriage/family, health, aging, work, and transnationalism.
Ethics and Intelligence - ENGL 4420 (AASR ATTRIBUTE) (EP4, AASR, COLI, FCRH, VAL)
Campus: Rose Hill
Instructor: Christopher GoGwilt
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Days: Monday and Thursday
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This seminar will engage students in an intensive examination of the history, literature, and ethics of secret intelligence. Tracing the historical emergence of contemporary intelligence agencies from the early modern period up to the present, and with special attention to literary works from contrasting cultural traditions, the seminar will focus on three areas of expertise that have historically shaped the articulation and administration of both clandestine and public intelligence and information: the work of translators, the work of missionaries, and the work of government agencies.
Previous course offerings
SPRING 2024
AAST 3000: Introduction to Asian American Studies (Dr. Stephen Hong Sohn) - LC campus
This course surveys major touchstones in the interdisciplinary field of Asian American studies, including perspectives from history, literature, sociology, gender and sexuality studies, and other disciplines. Moving beyond the Black-white binary, it examines the specificities of Asian racialization in a variety of contexts: U.S. war and empire in Asia and the Pacific Islands, settler colonialism, global capitalism, migration and diaspora, and popular culture. What does it mean to be Asian American? How has "Asian America" as a political construction changed over time? How can various academic disciplines add to our understanding of Asian American identity as a historical process, a social relation, an analytical method, and a political project?
AAST 2528: Asian American Art (Dr. Caitlin Meehye Beach) - LC campus
What does it mean to study “Asian American art”? Although the term Asian American is itself relatively new, having emerged through activist movements in the 1960s, work by artists of Asian descent has long circulated in the Americas, from the 1565 opening of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade onward. This class explores the diverse histories of Asian American art in what is now known as the United States, across a range of topics and themes, including mercantile trade networks and “export art”; immigration, exclusion, and diaspora; Orientalism; World’s Fairs; modernism, abstraction, and postmodernism; and popular culture. Throughout, we will pay special attention to the work of Asian American artists in New York, both historical and contemporary, with visits to museums, galleries, and studios in the city.
AAST 4616 Contemporary Issues in Asian America (Dr. Daisy Deomampo) - RH campus
This course examines historical and contemporary issues facing Asian Americans from the 1960s to the contemporary moment. By drawing on empirical and ethnographic studies, the course will illuminate Asian Pacific American experiences in the U.S. and globally. Major themes include race, class, gender, sexuality, marriage/family, health, aging, work, and transnationalism.
FALL 2023
49879 COMC 3280-R01
Dr. Qun Wang
Representing Asians in Journalism and Media (4 credits)
Wednesdays, 11:30-2:15
From traditional media to social media, from the “yellow peril” stereotype in the 19th century and the model minority discourse in the 20th century to the Atlanta shootings and the #StopAsianHate during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 21st century, the media have played and continue to play an important role in the history of Asian Americans. Media activities, whether in the processes of media production, representation, or consumption, have largely shaped how the Asian American identity is perceived and how the Asian American community is evolving. At the same time, Asian Americans have become media producers themselves, using both traditional and digital media to tell their stories. Through class materials, discussions, and projects, this course provides an opportunity for students to study the roles and practices involving various media types, such as news media, popular media, and digital media, as well as their implications for Asian Americans. Students will learn topics related to journalism, media, and Asian Americans across such fields as journalism studies, media and communication, historical research, and cultural studies, and will have the opportunity to practice different research methods. (Core attributes: PLUR. Other attributes: AAST, CELP, CMST, COMC, DTEM, JETH, JOUR, JPLH.)
50135 ENGL 3647-R01
Dr. Stephen Hong Sohn
Seeing Stories: Reading Race and Graphic Narratives (4 credits)
TF, 2:30-3:45
This course reveals how American writers of color (Asian American, Native American, African American, Latinx, etc.) have transformed the genre of the graphic narrative to speak to issues of racial difference and social inequality. How do these authors both entertain us and push us to engage in rigorous, critical interpretations of their wildly fanciful texts? Some potential course selections include: Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do, Kyle Baker’s Nat Turner, Mira Jacob’s Good Talk, Lila Quintero Weaver’s Darkroom, and Jonathan Nelson’s The Wool of Jonesy. (Core attributes: ALC, EP3, PLUR. Other attributes: AAST, ACUP, ADVD, AMST, ASLT, ENRJ, LALS, LAHA, PJRC, PJST.)
49826 THEO 3130-R01
Dr. Ki-Eun Jang
Bible as Migration Literature: Then and Now (4 credits)
MR, 2:30-3:45
The migration experience—whether voluntary or forced—runs through biblical literature. This course approaches the Bible as migration literature, exploring its engagement with the themes of immigration, emigration, exile, multilingualism, diaspora, alien, lawful belonging and un-belonging, refugee, empire, return migration, generational conflict, and identity negotiation. In addition to pluralistic ancient Mediterranean contexts that produced the Bible and ancient Jewish and Christian experiences of migration, this course will explore modern responses to and engagements with the Bible by migrant communities across the globe in the formation and 2 reformation of global Christianity. Special attention will be given to topics in racial and ethnic minority migrant communities in America—such as receptions of the Bible in contesting immigration and building and maintaining contemporary migrant faith communities. (Core attributes: EP3, GLBL, STXT. Other attributes: AASR.)