Fall 2021 Courses

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(World Cultures)

Mark Chiang
MWF 1:00pm – 1:50pm
CRN 40132 | Hybrid

Academic & Residential Complex 136

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Introduction to the study of Asia as well as transoceanic and transnational Asian diasporas, emphasizing the study of Asian histories, languages, cultures, and politics, Asian American histories and cultures.

(Instructor Approval Required)

Jeffrey Alton
F  11:00am –11:50am | CRN 40127 | Behavioral Sciences Building 389
M  12:00pm – 12:50pm | CRN 40128 | Taft Hall 219
F  10:00am – 10:50am | CRN 40130 | Behavioral Sciences Building 389
W  12:00pm – 12:50pm | CRN 40131 | Taft Hall 219

Hybrid

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This seminar is part of the Asian American Mentor Program, a unique program designed to support new first-year or transfer students in their first semester at UIC. The weekly seminar focuses on Asian American identities, cultures, and communities. We will critically examine historical events, the media, popular culture, and personal narratives to study how social, academic, personal, and community issues impact Asian Americans, while paying attention to distinctions between Asian American and Pacific Islander identities and issues. In addition, students will be introduced to college life and campus resources to ease the transition to UIC.

(Individual and Society, and US Society)

Karen Su
TR 11:00am – 12:15pm
CRN 40123 & 40124 (GLAS)
CRN 40269 & 40270 (SOC)
Stevenson Hall 220

TR 2:00pm – 3:15pm
CRN 46847 & 46848 (GLAS)
CRN 46849 &  46850 (SOC)
Stevenson Hall 220

Hybrid

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This course provides students with a survey of major concepts, methods, and debates in the study of Asian American studies. Students will also gain an introduction to the histories, community institutions, and contemporary issues of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Individual and Society, and US Society course.

Duosi Meng/Xuehua Xiang
MWF 12:00pm – 12:50pm
CRN 40023 (GLAS)
CRN 37488 (CHIN)

Behavioral Sciences Building 161

Hybrid

Chinese culture as reflected in language, communication, daily life, and creative works. Intensive listening, speaking, reading and writing at the intermediate-advanced level.

(Individual and Society, and US Society)

Michael Jin
MW 9:30am – 10:45am
CRN 40905 (GLAS)
CRN 43799 (HIST)

Taft Hall 216

Hybrid

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Introduction to the main historical events that define the Asian experience in the United States, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.

Mitch Hendrickson
MWF 9:30am – 10:45am
CRN 41510 (GLAS)
CRN 41509 (ANTH)

Behavioral Sciences Building 2105

On Campus

Introduction to the archaeology of mainland Southeast Asia, ranging from the appearance of early peoples to the rise of states such as the Angkorian Khmer Empire.

(World Cultures)

Mark Chiang
MW 4:30pm – 5:45pm
CRN 42048 (GLAS)
CRN 43803 (ENGL)
CRN 43802 (MOVI)

Academic & Residential Complex 239

Hybrid

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A theoretical analysis of films by recognized masters of Asian cinema.

(Individual and Society, and US Society)

Anna Guevarra
T 3:30pm – 6:00pm
CRN 40125 | Hybrid

Lecture Center C1

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Using food as a storyteller to capture the heterogeneity and depth of Asian American’s lived experiences, this interdisciplinary course examines issues of Asian American identity and community formations as they are produced at the intersection of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality and are inextricably linked to global and transnational dynamics. The course turns to food to narrate stories about diaspora, home, empire, memory, and history, while grappling with the relations of power and structural forces that shape the social inequalities and inform Asian American lives.

(World Cultures)

Seung Whan Choi
MW 3:00pm – 4:15pm
CRN 43548 (GLAS)
CRN 43547 (POLS)

Lecture Center A7

On Campus

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Sources, dynamics, and patterns of politics in the two Koreas. Comparison of North and South Korea.

Gayatri Reddy
TR 11:00am – 12:15pm
CRN 46497  (GLAS)
CRN 46498 (GWS)
CRN 46499 (ANTH)

Grant Hall 204

Hybrid

An exploration of the radical possibilities of transnational alliances and the long history of cross-racial solidarities between Asia and Africa, Asians and Africans, both globally and in the U.S.

Nadine Naber
MW 9:30am – 10:45pm
CRN 46219  (GLAS)
CRN 46217 (GWS)
CRN 46220 (ANTH)

Academic & Residential Complex 239

Hybrid

An introduction to Middle East and Muslim feminisms that draws on the social sciences. Emphasizes intersections of family, religion, nation, colonialism, militarism, gender, and sexuality.

A. Naomi Paik
TR 12:30m – 1:45pm
CRN 43966 (GLAS)
CRN 46321 (LALS)

Taft Hall 207

Hybrid

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This interdisciplinary course explores the histories, cultures, and experiences of im/migration to the United States by examining legal discourses (legislation, federal court cases, legal scholarship) and historical analyses alongside cultural productions (literary and visual narratives). Informed by critical race theory, ethnic studies, and cultural studies scholarship, we will pay particular attention to the tensions between the legal discourses and practices that seek to regulate and manage im/migrants and the cultural productions that reveal the limits and contradictions of the law. While intersections of race and immigration (and racism and nationalism) have become increasingly salient in our political and social climate, part of our purpose in this course is to think through current debates in a longer historical frame, one that can provide us resources to understand and grapple with our condition in the present. Some questions we will consider through the semester include: What are defining encounters that have shaped im/migrant lives and cultures? How has the United States managed immigration in relation to its national and racial identities and to its labor needs? How have im/migrants challenged notions of U.S. nationhood and legal regimes?

Sanne Ravensbergen
TR 9:30am – 10:45am
CRN 40895 (GLAS)
CRN 40893 (ANTH)
CRN 40886 (HIST)

Online Synchronous

The movement of people, goods, religious movements and ideas, throughout the Indian Ocean region from earliest times to the colonial era.

Catherine Becker
T 6:30pm – 9:00pm
CRN 40019 & 40020 (GLAS)
CRN 27747 & 27841 (AH)

Lecture Center A3

Hybrid

A Haunted History of South Asian Art Ghosts, spirits, apparitions: how do these powerful figments of the imagination articulate a range of political, social and cultural concepts and contestations? How might spectral presences evoke unresolved pasts, marginalized communities that refuse to be erased, or the crisis of climate change? This seminar will investigate some the earliest images of spirit deities and ghosts in ancient South Asian art, cursed objects from colonial India, haunted havelis of royalty, and filmic images of the unruly dead.

Michael Jin
MW 3:00pm – 4:15pm
CRN 40134 (U), CRN 40542 (G) (GLAS)
CRN 20360 (U), CRN 20361 (G) (HIST)

Behavioral Sciences Building 281

Hybrid

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This course examines the connected histories of peoples, cultures, and societies across East Asia, North America, the Island world, and Latin America from the nineteenth century to the present. Students will explore how human migrations, colonialism, war, racism, and the circulation of ideas, cultures, and commodities have intimately shaped the experiences of various groups of people, such as indigenous peoples, migrants, sojourners, and refugees across national borders throughout the Pacific Rim world.

Mark Chiang
CRN 40141

Anna Guevarra
CRN 40142

Michael Jin
CRN 40143

Nadine Naber
CRN 40144

Karen Su
CRN 40146

Mark Martell
CRN 40907

Gayatri Reddy
CRN 43730