1
English 449 Asian American Literature: Spring 2001
Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen
Website: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~vnguyen/index.htm
Asian American Literature poses a single question: “how do we tell stories about America?” In the case of
Asian Americans, we find that in many cases American stories—fictional and historical—exclude Asian
Americans. Asian American literature exists to a great extent because writers wanted to fill in the gaps of “the”
American story. In this course, students will not only read and write about Asian American literature but also
attempt to answer the question of “how do we tell stories about America?” for themselves through multimedia
projects that center on the literature and experiences of Asian Americans. They will be trained in multimedia
technology and will integrate their classroom learning and/or personal experiences into these projects that will tell
their own American stories. Training will occur in a separate discussion section with your teaching assistant,
Raqi Syed.
Required Texts
Theresa Cha, Dictée
Carlos Bulosan, America Is In the Heart
Le Ly Hayslip, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places
David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
Joy Kogawa, Obasan
Bharati Mukherjee, Jasmine
Course reader, availability TBA
Course Requirements
Participation
Discussion Section
Midterm Paper
Midterm Multimedia Project
Final Paper/ Project
Team Multimedia Project
10%
10%
20%
10%
20%
30%
details below
a 5-7 page paper
multimedia version of midterm paper
multimedia paper
to be determined by team
Quizzes
Quizzes are unannounced, and cannot be made up if missed, except for very serious reasons. They will consist
five questions, all fact-based, and are designed only to test whether you have read the text.
Attendance/Participation
Attendance in both class and discussion section is mandatory. Failure to attend regularly means the forfeiture of
the entire 10% of this grade. Participation is expected of everyone, both orally and through the electronic
discussion group, Blackboard.
Week 1
1/8
Mon
1/10 Wed
1/12 Fri
Course Methods and Goals
What is “Asian American”?
The Woman Warrior (read 1st chapter)
Chinese Americans and Writing the Self
Week 2
1/17 Wed The Woman Warrior (read 2nd chapter)
1/19 Fri
The Woman Warrior (read 3rd chapter)
Week 3
2
1/22
1/23
Mon
Tues
1/24
1/26
Wed
Fri
The Woman Warrior (read 4th chapter)
Multimedia Literacy Project, Presentation of Previous Student Projects
5-7PM, Location TBA; Attendance is mandatory
The Woman Warrior (read 5th chapter)
Kingston essay and Tan’s “Mother Tongue” from the reader
Filipino Americans and Writing the Nation
Week 4
1/29 Mon America Is in the Heart (read part one)
1/31 Wed America Is in the Heart (read part two)
2/2
Fri
America Is in the Heart (read part three)
Week 5
2/5
Mon
2/7
Wed
2/9
Fri
America Is in the Heart (read part four)
America Is in the Heart
America Is in the Heart
Orientalism and the Making of Asian America
Week 6
2/12 Mon Frank Chin’s essay from the reader First paper due cart not available
2/14 Wed M. Butterfly (read whole play)
2/16 Fri
M. Butterfly
cart available
Week 7
2/21 Wed
2/23 Fri
M. Butterfly
Eric Liu essay from the reader
First paper returned
Japanese Americans and Writing History
Week 8
2/26 Mon Obasan (read 1st fifth)
2/28 Wed Obasan (read 2nd fifth) cart available
3/2
Fri
Obasan (read 3rd fifth)
cart available
Week 9
3/5
Mon
3/7
Wed
3/9
Fri
Obasan (read 4th fifth)
Obasan (read 5th fifth)
Obasan VIDEO cart available
Midterm Project Due
Vietnamese Americans and American Imperialism
Week 10
3/19 Mon When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (read 1st fifth) video cart not available
3/21 Wed When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (read 2nd fifth) cart available
3/23 Fri
When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (read 3rd fifth) cart available
Week 11
3/26 Mon
3/28 Wed
3/30
Fri
When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (read 4th fifth) cart available
When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (read 5th fifth)/ Le Ly
Hayslip interview from the reader
When Heaven and Earth Changed Places
Korean Americans and the Experience of Exile
3
Week 12
4/2
Mon
4/4
Wed
4/6
Fri
Dictee (read 1-21)
Dictee (read 23-59)
Dictee (read 61-89)
Week 13
4/9
Mon
4/11 Wed
4/13 Fri
Dictee (read 91-151)
Dictee (read remainder)
Jasmine (read 1st quarter) video cart available
Week 14
4/16 Mon
Jasmine (read 2nd quarter)
South Asians and Diasporic Communities
4/18
4/20
Wed
Fri
Week 15
4/23 Mon
4/25 Wed
4/27 Fri
Project Presentations
Project Presentations
Jasmine (read 3rd quarter)
Jasmine (read 4th quarter)
Jasmine
Monday April 30 Group projects due
Monday May 7 Final paper/project due
Midterm Paper and Project
The midterm paper will be 5-7 pages, and will address one or both of the following books: The Woman Warrior
and America Is In the Heart. Other materials we have read in class may be used, but only as supplementary texts.
The paper is due in your student dropbox of Blackboard by MIDNIGHT, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11 (not on
Monday February 12 as in the syllabus). You will also send a 100-200 word summary of your paper to Raqi.
The paper must cite at least two of your peers’ comments from the discussion board, and must use at least two
other sources of research, either from the internet or from “real” books/articles. A few selected historical and
literary critical texts dealing with Asian Americans have been placed on reserve at Leavey. See the appended list.
All research cited must address the argument and content of the paper. If, for example, you use a research source
only to mention the author’s birthdate and birthplace, and that information does not have a direct bearing on your
argument, that does not constitute a legitimate use of a research source.
Consult the academic links I have mentioned in order to see proper examples of source citation. Also see the
example I have attached. Avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is intellectual theft, and it includes: using the actual
words of another person without citing them; paraphrasing those words without citing them (putting them into
your own words); or using another person’s ideas without citing them. It is permissible to use the actual words,
paraphrase them, and borrow someone else’s ideas as long as you give them credit. Also, please avoid any
circumstance where someone else writes your paper for you.
As soon as you have turned in your paper, you will commence work on the midterm project.
The midterm project is a translation of your midterm paper into an internet document. This means that you do
not simply take the text of your paper and paste it into a web page. You must translate a linear 5-7 page paper
4
into a visual document and take into account the new medium with its different end user. For the purposes of the
midterm project, you should worry mostly about integrating text with photos and still images. Audio and video
will come later for the group project.
Such a translation can involve various things. You can: have a visual interface as an introduction to your paper;
break up your 5-7 paper into different sections; put hyperlinks into your text that will lead to more information;
integrate visual images, either as illustrations of your argument or as components of a visual argument in and of
itself; streamline your text by having core ideas and peripheral ideas, so that the user can pick and choose his/her
way through the paper; and, using the structure of core and peripheral ideas, you can edit your text into fewer
words and more condensed ideas to make it more user friendly, allowing the user to go quickly through the
mainstream of the paper, and jump to the peripheral ideas at their leisure.
Raqi will work with you at the initial stage in developing your ideas for this translation. You should have some
ideas about the final shape of the midterm project by WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 21 when you will receive your
paper back from me with comments. You must then also incorporate revisions of your text into your midterm
project. I will review the outline of your project during individual meetings in Week 8 and approve the final stage
where you will finish work on the project in Week 9. The project is due on FRIDAY MARCH 9.
Grading
Papers will be graded using the following four criteria: originality, argument, evidence, and style. Originality
means that the ideas are your own. That does not mean no one else in the world has to have thought of them. It
only means that in the context of the class, you have come up with these ideas by yourself, and that they are not
recycled from the class. One way to be original, for example, is to discuss two texts rather than just one, allowing
you to come up with new combinations and contrasts not possible with just one text. The argument is both the
thesis of your paper and how it is presented structurally. Is the paper logical? Does one idea lead to the next? Are
there contradictions? Do you account for possible objections? The evidence is the quality and quantity of support
you pull together to support your argument, and comes from both the text in question and, possibly, the context
(for example, historical evidence). Style is hard to define but easy to recognize. It includes your grasp of the
basic mechanics of grammar and syntax, but also your ability to write well-constructed, fluid sentences. I will
provide examples later.
Projects will be graded with the following three criteria, each one of equal weight: technical proficiency, content
and design. Technically, the document should be visually pleasing (colors, graphics, fonts, arrangement of
elements) and browser-friendly (all the elements load up, the file sizes aren’t too large). Content is everything
that already exists in the paper, but in the case of the project, should include revisions based upon my comments,
and any revisions you deem necessary to make the translation from text-based to visual-based document. Content
also includes hypertext links and choice of images. Design includes originality of the visual layout and the clarity
of the navigational logic.
Two questions that bridge content and design are the following: Are there elements of the project that cannot be
accomplished with a text-based paper? Is the end user clearly identified? This issue of the end user is an implicit
question; you do not have to state who the end user is, but in your own mind as you design the project, you should
know your audience, whose expectations shall shape the form and content of your project.
Team Multimedia Projects and Presentations
It’s time to start thinking about your final projects and presentations, which will be group-based tasks. The
relevant dates you have to keep in mind are:
Friday, 3/9 (week 9): brainstorming notes and project abstracts are due (the same day midterm projects are
due, so plan your time)
Friday, 4/13, and Monday, 4/16 (weeks 13 and 14): project presentations
Monday, 4/30 (week 16): projects due
5
Multimedia
The projects have to be multimedia-based. For the purposes of this course, multimedia is broadly defined to
include computer-based projects (websites and CD-Roms), real-time (theater, performance and installation art), or
video (films and animation). If you can think of anything else, please feel free to suggest it. You are constrained
only by time and expertise (very important considerations—balance ambition and vision with practicality). If you
choose to use media that are not immediately web-accessible, you must also figure out how to document the
project so that results can be posted on the web (for example, if you construct installation art, you may make a
video documentary on the evolution of the project and how people react to it, and then make that video available
on the web). All projects will be posted on the Multimedia Literacy Project’s website and, hopefully, on our
course website where they will be part of an ongoing archive of projects that come out of this and future classes
on Asian American literature.
The Projects
The projects will explore the three basic themes of the course: the relationship between text and context, the
relationship between literature and history, and the way storytelling shapes (Asian) American culture.
You should regard your project itself as an act of storytelling. Now that you have read these stories about
America, what story do you want to tell about (Asian) America? The projects will be centered on one or more
book-length texts from the course (shorter readings and media supplements used in the course can also be
included, but as secondary materials only). You will situate the texts in a context(s) of your choice. Inevitably,
by bringing in the context, you will also be forced to deal with the history of that context. Finally, you will use
your story about America to frame your choices of text and context, literature and history.
Example: a hypothetical group can take America Is in the Heart and situate that text in the context of the real
stories of men and women who lived through that time and those experiences depicted in the text. The group can
interview these survivors on video or audio and situate these clips in relationship to the stories found in America
Is in the Heart, and in relationship to the history of the time that the group itself researches. The story that the
group wants to tell is about how that era of American history has permanently altered the lives of these survivors.
How their lives are altered, how America has become a part of them, or not, or how they have altered America, is
the investigation of the project.
The stories you can tell are endless. I leave them up to your imagination. The contexts are also endless, but I will
suggest a few possibilities:
Genres or literary traditions: novels, plays or autobiographies have particular features these texts adapt and alter;
the texts also respond to literary traditions such as American literature, postcolonial literature, women’s literature,
regional literature, proletarian literature.
Communities: these texts are all produced from and read by particular groupings of people, whether those be
families, ethnic minorities, nationalities, genders, classes, or others.
Places: foreign nations, American regions, the big city, the countryside, the midwest, small towns, houses.
Historical moments: the Depression, World War II, the Cold War, the Viet Nam War, the Korean War, the
Reagan era.
Political ideologies or political formations: marxism, conservatism, liberalism, nationalism, colonialism,
imperialism, feminism, sexism, racism.
Timeline
Weeks 6 and 7: Raqi and I will form you into groups of three, based upon your initial questionnaire for this
course, and upon your interests; your groups will be formed from your discussion section
Weeks 8 and 9: the groups will brainstorm and develop a project idea, and by the end of week 9, turn in both their
notes from the brainstorming session (as messy as they’d like) and an abstract of 300-600 words explaining their
idea (the content) and their presentation of that idea (the form). The abstract should also list the types of media
that will be used, and the responsibilities of each group member. This is a tentative plan, subject to revision. I
6
just want you to start thinking in concrete ways about what you are going to do. Raqi and I will look at both the
brainstorming session and the abstract. It is possible our suggestions will come from the raw ideas found in the
brainstorming session.
Week 10: groups will meet with Raqi and I to discuss their abstract and the project.
Weeks 11 through 13: the hard work of researching and designing the project.
Weeks 13 and 14: the projects are presented to the class. The class, as well as Raqi and I, will provide feedback
and suggestions on revising the projects.
Week 15: groups will revise the projects.
Week 16: projects are due.
Grading
Projects will be graded with the following three criteria, each one of equal weight: technical proficiency, content
and design. Technically, the document should be visually pleasing (colors, graphics, fonts, arrangement of
elements) and browser-friendly (all the elements load up, the file sizes aren’t too large). Design includes
originality of the visual layout and the clarity of the navigational logic. Content is everything else that goes into
the project. If you are using media that is not computer-based, that is the content that you will record and then
transfer to the web. Regardless of the media, what is absolutely important to note about content is that it will be
evaluated with the following subcriteria: originality, argument, and evidence—the same criteria used to evaluate
your papers. This means that glitz and flash are not the things you should worry about, but substance. Does the
project do something that other multimedia sites do not (originality)? Does the project have some point it’s trying
to make, and does it do so logically and consistently, within the confines of its media (argument)? Does the
project convince us about its point with an assortment of evidence?
Two questions that bridge content and design are the following: Are there elements of the project that cannot be
accomplished with a text-based paper? Is the end user clearly identified? This issue of the end user is an implicit
question; you do not have to state who the end user is, but in your own mind as you design the project, you should
know your audience, whose expectations shall shape the form and content of your project.
Finally, group work is very important. You are graded as a group, and while you are not graded on group work
per se, whether or not your group works well together or not will affect everything else. That is why we ask you
to define each person’s responsibilities in the abstract. Spell them out clearly so everyone knows what they have
to do. If there are revisions to these responsibilities, update us. If someone is not pulling their weight, sit down
and talk with them first, and if that does not work, inform us immediately. The mantra for group work is
communicate, communicate, communicate.