AAS 497 Senior Seminar in Asian American Studies (3)
Prerequisite: Senior standing or instructor’s consent. An integrative seminar serving as a capstone to the degree major in Asian American Studies. Provides a general review of the theories, methods and substantive conclusions covered in Asian American Studies courses.
Asian American Comics!
The Queen of Cinders; your uncontrollable body; white supremacists; racial state incarceration; Huntsville, Alabama; your Lola; the United States; Donald Trump – Asian Americans deal with a lot in their comics. In this course devoted entirely to Asian American graphic narratives, we will survey the exciting current state of the field to absorb both the problem-solving optimism of the superhero works and the emotional intelligence of the indie selections. Most of the work involves writing and collaborating with your peers but we will also draw and assemble our own graphic images and narratives. No visual artistic expertise will be required to succeed fully in this course. The organizing intellectual goal of the course is to explore and inhabit life-affirming pan-Asian cultural imaginaries (Asianscapes) as a way to process in real time the radical opportunities of our world-historical moment.
Comics Reading List
G. Willow Wilson, Ms. Marvel #1, Marvel Comics, 2014.
Gene Luen Yang, Gurihiru, Janice Chiang, Superman Smashes the Klan, DC Comics, 2020.
Robin Han, Almost American Girl, HarperCollins, 2020.
Kate Gavino, Sanpaku, Archaia, 2018.
Thi Bui, The Best We Could Do, Abrams, 2017.
Mira Jacob, Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations, Ballantine, 2020.
Key Details of AAS 497 Asian American Comics!
- All required texts except two are available free online on the Hoopla app with an electronic membership at the Los Angeles Public Library (also free).
- The two remaining texts are available digitally for a total cost of $26 plus tax.
- We will meet on Zoom for an hour and fifteen minutes every Thursday afternoon from 4:00 to 5:15.