Fall 2022 Courses

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(World Cultures)

Mark Chiang
MW 1:00pm – 1:50pm LEC | CRN 40132 | LC D5

F 10:00am – 10:50am DISC | CRN 40118 | LC A3

F 11:00am – 11:50am DISC | CRN 40119 | BSB 389

F 12:00pm – 12:50pm DISC | CRN 40120 | LC A4

F 1:00pm – 1:50pm DISC | CRN 40121 | LC A4

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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)

Mark Martell
R  12:30pm – 1:20pm | CRN 40128 | ETM&SW 2417
F  10:00am – 10:50am | CRN 40130 | Taft Hall 204
F  11:00am –11:50am | CRN 40127 | Lecture Center A2

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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
MWF 2:00pm – 2:50pm
CRN 40123 (LEC) & 40124 (DISC) (GLAS)
CRN 40269 (LEC) & 40270 (DISC) (SOC)

Taft Hall 204 (MW) | BSB 281 (F)

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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.

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

Lincoln Hall 205

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
TR 2:00pm – 3:15pm
CRN 40905 (GLAS)
CRN 43799 (HIST)

BSB 219

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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.

(World Cultures)

Mark Chiang
MW 9:30am – 10:45am
CRN 42048 (GLAS)
CRN 43803 (ENGL)
CRN 43802 (MOVI)

Taft Hall 207

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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)

Seung Whan Choi
TR 12:30pm – 1:45pm
CRN 43548 (GLAS)
CRN 43547 (POLS)

BSB 367

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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, this course examines important political phenomena such as Korean culture and values, the Korean War, the division of Korea, military dictatorships, democratization, North Koreans living in South Korea, social and legal justice in South Korea, and the future of the Korean peninsula.

Nadine Naber
MW 3:00pm – 4:15pm
CRN 47032  (GLAS)
CRN 47033 (ANTH)

Taft Hall 216

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

Stevenson Hall

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.

Michael Jin
TR 9:30am – 10:45am
CRN 43969 (GLAS)

Stevenson Hall 220

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Explore how history, memory, and contemporary politics in a variety of post-World War II societies in Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific world have shaped the meaning of contentious issues related to the Pacific War. The course will examine a wide range of sources like films, literature, art, monuments, exhibits, personal testimonies, scholarly debates, and more and how they represent issues such as:

-War origins and responsibility
-Atrocities
-Racism
-Reparations
-Textbook controversies
-Nuclear proliferation and peace activism
-Presentations of war in popular culture

A. Naomi Paik
TR 12:30pm – 1:45pm
CRN 47034 (GLAS)

Taft Hall 216

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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?

Anna Guevarra
T 3:30pm – 6:00pm
CRN 44941 (UG), 44942 (G) (GLAS)
CRN 34643 (UG), 34644 (G) (GWS)

Stevenson Hall 220

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This interdisciplinary course explores the frameworks and radical possibilities emergent at the nexus of transnational feminisms, gendered activisms, and the geopolitics of ‘Asian America.’ Drawing on a range of theories and social movements, including critical race theory, transnational feminisms, and decolonizing frameworks and methodologies, this course destabilizes structures of power, locates practices of gendered resistance, and interrogates geographies of development. It uses interdisciplinary texts, ethnographies, popular articles, documentaries, public histories, and visual art to intentionally analyze geographic categories of knowledge formation (such as ‘Asian America), as well as the gendered and racialized processes of labor, migration, and development that get established in the wake of imperial histories and neoliberal globalization.

Fredy González
MW 4:30pm – 5:45pm
CRN 47037 (U), CRN 47038 (G) (GLAS)
CRN 47041 (U), CRN 47042 (G) (LALS)
CRN 47039 (U), CRN 47040 (G) (HIST)

Taft Hall 204

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This course examines the arrival and settlement of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Syrian-Lebanese migrants in Latin America between the mid-nineteenth century and the present. The last few weeks would focus on the onward migration of Asian migrants from Latin America to the United States and the construction of an “Asian Latino” identity in this country.

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

Henry Hall 106

How has the history of South Asia been envisioned through a range of art forms—sculpture, prints, films, performances, and spectacles? Might such modes of visual expression be understood to impart affective historical knowledge or are they largely in service of the ideological agendas of their makers? Can we overcome text-bound assumptions about the construction of history to unpack the role of visual and material culture in shaping, archiving, and obscuring the past? Although not dedicated solely to film, this course will include close readings of a selection of “historical” films from South Asia and a consideration of broader film studies scholarship on the historical film as a genre. Prior knowledge of South Asian art history is desirable but not required; all highly motivated students are welcome!

Celeste Aguire
CRN 48227

Mark Chiang
CRN 40141

Anna Guevarra
CRN 40142

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