Fall 2024 Courses

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(World Cultures)

Michael Jin

MW 1:00-1:50 LEC | CRN 40132 | Lecture Center F4

F 10:00am – 10:50am DIS | CRN 40118 | B10 Burnham Hall

F 11:00am – 11:50am DIS | CRN 40119 | B10 Burnham Hall

F 12:00pm – 12:50pm DIS | CRN 40120 | B10 Burnham Hall

F 1:00pm – 1:50pm DIS | CRN 40121 | B10 Burnham Hall

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This course examines various historical, cultural and political representations of Asia, Asian America, and Asians in the world. Students will explore how peoples and ideas from Asia and across transoceanic and transnational diasporas have influenced a globalized world and continue to inform our contemporary understanding of Asia and Asian America. The course also examines how historical issues such as colonialism, war, gobal capitalism, and migration have shaped the experiences and representations of Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and peoples in Asian diasporas.

(Instructor Approval Required)

Julian Rey Ignacio

R  12:30pm –1:20pm | CRN 40128 | ETMSW 2233

F  10:00am – 10:50am | CRN 40130 | BSB 311

F  11:00am – 11:50am | CRN 40127 | SH 207

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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.

Viraj Patel

F  12:00pm – 12:50pm | CRN 40131 | 302 Addams Hall

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Taught by staff at the Asian American
Student Academic Program, the class will focus on life skills that can be useful now and
after college with a foundation rooted in
Asian American and Pacific Islander and
intersecting PC experiences.

(Individual and Society and Understanding US Society)

Karen Su

MWF 2:00pm – 2:50pm | 207 Taft Hall

GLAS CRN 40123 (LEC) & 40124 (DIS)
SOC CRN 40269 (LEC) & 40270 (DIS)

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This course is a legacy of the hard-fought struggles by students, staff and faculty for Asian American studies at UIC since 1991. It serves as a space for students of all backgrounds to gain an introduction to the histories, community institutions and contemporary issues of Asian Americans and Asian diasporics across the globe.

This course makes use of critical thinking, critical creativity, and analytical writing as ways of knowing Asian America.

(Creative Arts, and US Society)

Mark Chiang

TR 9:30am – 10:45am | Taft Hall 208

GLAS CRN 40025 (LEC), 40026 (DIS)
ENGL CRN  19879 (LEC), 32405 (DIS)

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The course will situate the literature in the chronology of Asian American history, from early immigration in the 19th century through the exclusion era to the watershed years of WWII and the civil rights movements, ending with the major shifts in Asian American demographics following immigration reform in the 1960s. We will also discuss such issues as assimilation, generational conflicts, family, gender, sexuality, and class.

Catherine Becker

TR 2:00 – 3:15pm | Burnham Hall 209

GLAS CRN 41026
AH CRN 41012

This course introduces students to some of the major artistic methods, monuments, and themes associated with Asian art and architecture.

Duosi Meng and Xuehua Xiang

MWF 1:00pm – 1:50pm | Burnham Hall 316

GLAS CRN 40023
CHIN CRN 37488

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 3:00pm – 4:15pm | Taft Hall 117

GLAS CRN 40905
HIST CRN 43799

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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.

(Individual and Society, and US Society)

Clare Kim

MW 9:30am – 10:45am | Taft Hall 208

GLAS CRN 49095
HIST CRN 49096

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From aliens, coolies, and yellow peril to model minority, techies, and sub-human quants, representations of Asians and Asian Americans have become tethered to the scientific and technological. This course examines the entanglements of race, politics, science, and technology in the Pacific world from the late nineteenth century to the present. Through the lens of techno-Orientalism—an expansion and inversion of Edward Said’s formulation—we consider the historical conditions that have recast the
East, from an imagined Orient suspended in an eternal state of stagnation, to a technoscientific Orient fetishized as the exotic future. Topics covered include colonialism and imperialism; cyborgs and computing;
digital labor and embodiment; biosecurity and intellectual property; migration and the information economy.

(World Cultures)

Justin Phan

TR 12:30pm – 1:45pm | Taft Hall 207

GLAS CRN 42048
ENGL CRN 43803
MOVI CRN 43802

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This class will introduce students to some of the landmark films of Asian and Asian American cinematic history. While we will attend to the technical elements of film as an artform, the class will mostly explore the social and historical contexts of these films in order to develop a sense of the trajectory of Asia and the Asian diaspora over the course of the 20th century. Coursework will include essays and short writing assignments, as well as a final project. Students will be expected to view the films outside of class—access will be provided. Films for the class will include work by directors such as Wayne Wang, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-wai, Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou, Akira Kurosawa, Lino Brocka, John Woo, Satyajit Ray, Asghar Farhadi, and others.

(World Cultures)

Yue Zhang

TR 11:00am – 12:15pm | BSB 311

GLAS CRN 40034
POLS CRN 39407

Main issues of contemporary Chinese politics and social change; the decline of the last imperial dynasty; the republican era; the rise of communism and China under the rule of Mao Zedong; and the reform period (post-1978).

(World Cultures)

Seung Whan Choi

TR 2:00pm – 3:15pm | Taft Hall 215

GLAS CRN 43548
POLS CRN 43547

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This course is designed to introduce Korean politics to undergraduate students. Relying on a textbook on Korean politics, journal articles and Korean films.

(US Society and World Cultures)

Zaina Zaatari

MW 8:00am – 9:15am | Taft Hall 207

GLAS CRN 48375
ANTH CRN 48377

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Addresses key themes in Arab American Studies: immigration and racism; family, gender, and sexuality; socio-economic class; religious affiliation; arts and cultures; and politics and political activism.

Gayatri Reddy

MW 4:30pm – 5:45pm | LH 107

GLAS CRN 46497
GWS CRN 46498
ANTH CRN 46499

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A. Naomi Paik

MW 4:30pm – 5:45pm | Taft Hall 208

GLAS CRN 48694
BLST CRN 48695

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This interdisciplinary course examines histories and narratives of U.S. imperialism and racism. Its investigation begins from the following concepts: the United States has long held and continues to maintain imperial powers across the globe, and U.S. imperial power is inextricably tied to the workings of racial hierarchy. Drawing on critical ethnic and feminist studies, this course focuses on imperial and racist power not only in more obvious sites of government action (like military bases or warfare), but also in an extensive range of everyday practices in which ordinary people participate, like consuming products produced abroad or migrating from colonized countries.

(Individual and Society, and US Society)

Instructor TBD
*To enroll in this course, please contact Prof. Anna Guevarra at guevarra@uic.edu.

TR 3:30pm – 4:45pm |BSB 281

GLAS CRN: 48378
GWS CRN: 48379

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Learn about diverse perspectives and experiences of gender and sexuality in Asian American and global Asian contexts and communities, including Chicago, and  consider how gender and sexuality intersect with race, ethnicity, culture, and other categories of analysis.  Also, students will engage with a range of theoretical frameworks, scholarly readings, community publications, as well as representations in pop culture, narratives, visual art, and have a unique opportunity to work with the oral histories of the Queer Asian American Archive housed in the Daley Library.

Fredy Gonzalez

MW 9:30am – 10:45am | ARC 136

GLAS CRN 49129 (LEC), 49130 (DIS)
HIST CRN 35555 (LEC), 35610 (DIS)

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Since 1911 China has seen dramatic changes in forms of government, family life, women’s roles, economic systems, and areas of intellectual inquiry. In many ways,  1911- or indeed the whole twentieth century, marks a divide between “traditional” China and “modern” China. New technologies and ways of thinking introduced during the nineteenth and early twentieth cen­turies resulted in changes that made age-old philosophies and patterns of behavior no longer viable. What kinds of narratives did Chinese people create in order to understand the changes that they experienced? How would people in China decide what to retain from their history and what to reject? How would they explain these choices? How would China come to define itself both in relation to other nations, and in relation to the past? What kinds of conflict emerged in this transition and how did people deal with it? How does the history of twentieth-century China continue to impact the course of Chinese history, politics, and culture today?

Rama Mantena

Online with deadlines

GLAS CRN 48728 (LEC), 48729 (DIS)
HIST CRN 48726 (LEC), 48727 (DIS)

Examines anti-colonial resistance to British rule starting with the 1857 Revolt, Indian nationalism, and the formation of independent nation-states in South Asia.

Michelle Lee

TR 11:00am – 12:15pm | BSB 281

GLAS CRN 46373
GWS CRN 11911
COMM CRN 49513

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This class introduces students to the visual culture of, for, and by Asian Americans. We will use an interdisciplinary approach that combines visual theory and ethnic studies to examine visual culture as a medium through which Asian American histories, critique, and stories are told. This includes but is not limited to visual arts in museums, films, television, digital media, and fashion.

(Instructor Approval Required)

Fredy Gonzalez

R 3:30pm – 6:00pm | LH 104

CRN 49097

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This course will focus on the past and present of Chicago’s Chinatown while exploring the neighborhood’s global and local connections. Students will get to know Chinatown community organizations and learn from local residents.

Rama Mantena

TR 3:30pm – 4:45pm | LH 107

GLAS CRN: 47185 (U), 47185(G)
HIST CRN: 35567 (U), 35568 (G)
GWS CRN: 35624 (U), 35625 (G)

A study of the diversity of women’s experiences in South Asia in a range of social, cultural, and religious contexts from the ancient period to the present.

Michelle Lee

TR 2:00pm – 3:15pm | BSB 281

GLAS CRN: 44941 (U), 44942 (G)
GWS CRN: 34643 (U), 34644 (G)

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In this course, students will examine the history, theories, and practices of feminism with a specific focus on Asian America. While this course contextualizes the formation of Asian America and transnational feminisms alongside decolonization Third World Liberation struggles, and the Cold War, this course will mostly explore key concepts, theories, and analytics of feminisms through the writings of women of color, Asian American, and transnational feminists.

Justin Phan

T 3:30pm – 6:00pm | BSB 219

GLAS CRN: 43310 (U), 43311 (G)
GWS CRN: 43308 (U), 43309 (G)

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Advanced, cross-disciplinary, seminar-style exploration of issues related to gender and sexuality among Asian Americans with critical attention paid to feminist and queer perspectives on the politics of representation and identity construction.

Mark Chiang

TR 3:30pm – 4:45pm | BSB 215

GLAS CRN 40543 (U), 45134 (G)
ENGL CRN 49514 (U), 49515 (G)

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This course will trace discourses and representations of Asia in American culture from the colonial period to the 20th century, including art, material objects, cultural practices, literature, film, and music. We will examine the purposes, functions, contradictions, and consequences of Asia and Asians in the American racial imaginary, beginning with the commercial trade with Asia in the early history of the Americas, the arrival of Chinese in the US and the development of the anti-Chinese movement in the 19th century, the period of Asian exclusion, World War II, the postwar occupation of Japan and the Cold War, and ending with the rise of Japan and the “Asian economic miracle” of the 1970s and 1980s.

Mark Chiang
CRN 40141

Fredy González
CRN 45569

Anna Guevarra
CRN 40142

Julian Rey Ignacio
CRN 45570

Michael Jin
CRN 40143

Clare Kim
CRN 47152

Nadine Naber
CRN 40144

Karen Su
CRN 40146

Mark Martell
CRN 40907

A. Naomi Paik
CRN 47153

Justin Phan
CRN 40145

Gayatri Reddy
CRN 43730