Spring 2026 Courses

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Fredy Gonzalez

MW | 1:00PM – 1:50PM | GLAS CRN 46223 LEC | SES 230
F | 10:00AM – 10:50AM | GLAS CRN 46228 D1 | BSB 385
F | 11:00AM – 11:50AM | GLAS CRN 46229 D2 | BSB 385
F | 1:00PM – 1:50PM | GLAS CRN 46231 D4 | BSB 211

On Campus

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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, global capitalism, and migration have shaped the experiences and representations of Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and peoples in Asian diasporas.

Viraj Patel

F | 12:00PM – 12:50PM | GLAS CRN 39125

On Campus | SH 215

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A seminar on an area of current interest in the field of Asian and/or Asian American studies. Taught by staff at the Asian Student Academic Program, we 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 POC experiences.

Laura Hostetler

MW | 1:00PM – 1:50PM | GLAS CRN 39451 LCD | SES 238
F | 1:00PM – 1:50PM | GLAS CRN 39452 D4 | ETMSW 2233
F | 2:00PM – 2:50PM | GLAS CRN 39453 D4 | ETMSW 2217

HIST CRN 30078, 31999 & 30077

On Campus

(Individual and Society and Understanding U.S. Society)

Larry Lee

MWF | 2:00PM – 2:50PM

GLAS 39128 & 39129
SOC  39130 & 39131

On Campus | LCA A003

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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 Course)

Karen Su

MW | 9:30AM – 10:45AM

GLAS 38904 & 38905
ENGL 35443 & 35444

On Campus | CDRLC 1411

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What does it mean to be Asian American? What are the social and historical contexts that have shaped Asian American identities and communities? This course will offer a general introduction to Asian American history and culture through the literary works of Asian American writers. We will explore the ways in which these texts respond to the conditions confronting Asian Americans in American society, including racism and racialization, segregation and forced confinement, labor struggles, community and identity formation, and panethnicity, among other topics.

Anna Guevarra

TR | 12:30PM – 01:45PM

GLAS 48882
ANTH 48883

On Campus | SH 220

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What do Hello Kitty, Nike, Amazon, and McDonalds have in common? How are investment bankers connected to garment sweatshop workers? What is the relationship between global capital accumulation and individual debt? How i s Asia and Asian America implicated in these processes? This course is a critical analysis of multinationa/transnational corporations and explores the commodification of Asia and Asian American cultures and economies, capital accumulation, and everyday forms of resistance.

Michael Jin

MW | 3:00PM – 4:15PM

GLAS 39124
HIST 41221

On Campus | BSB 219

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The course examines critical social, cultural, and political issues that have shaped the diverse experiences and representations of Asian Americans from the nineteenth century to the present. Topics include race relations, social movement, migration, war, gender ideology, multiracial identity, diaspora, popular culture, and more in larger national, cross-racial, and global contexts.

Mark Martell

MW | 4:30PM – 5:45PM | CDRLC 1409

GLAS  47084
ENGL 47085
MOVI 47086

On Campus

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This class will introduce students to some landmark films in Asian and Asian diasporic cinema. 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 for how Asian filmmakers in a global perspective tell stories about the specific legacies of race, class, gender, sexuality, war, genocide, empire, ano borders that impact their own homes, communities, nations, and worlds. 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 works by directors such as Wayne Wang, Ang Lee, Wong-Kar Wai, Mira Nair, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Assia Boundaoui, Bong Joon-ho, Deepa Mehta, Isabel Sandoval, and

Gayatri Reddy

MW | 4:30PM – 5:45PM| GLAS CRN 48876 | LCD | BSB 219
Arranged | GLAS CRN 48878
Arranged | GLAS CRN 48879
ANTH CRN 48881 | GWS CRN 48880

On Campus

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This course is tracing the history of the “darker nations” through a feminist lens as a decolonial political, and utopian project this course explores the radical possibilities of transnational alliances and the long history of cross-racial solidarities between Asia and

Michelle Lee

TR | 9:30PM – 10:45PM | ARC 135

GLAS CRN 41748 | GWS CRN 33402

On Campus

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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
– Consider how gender and sexuality intersect with race, ethnicity, culture, and other categories of analysis
– Engage with a range of theoretical frameworks, scholarly readings, community publications, as well as representations in pop culture, narratives, visual art, and film
– Have a unique opportunity to work with the oral histories of the Queer Asian American Archive housed in the Daley Library

Online Asynchronous

Rama Mantena

TR | 11:00AM – 12:15PM

GLAS 46257 & 46254
HIST 46255 & 46250

On Campus | BH 308

Where did the philosophy of “nonviolence” originate from? Were there any empires in India before the British? You will find answers to these questions and more in this course on the history of South Asia before 1857. This course will introduce you to the diverse civilizations and overlapping histories of the modern nation states of South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.) We will explore the cultural, social, and political developments in the region from the Indus Valley period to the rise of the British Empire.

This course is an online asynchronous course with organized weekly lesson modules made up of short videos of lectures, reading assignments and writing exercises. When taught online or hybrid, students will be required to have reliable internet access and a means for accessing it (computer preferable).

Class Schedule Information: To be properly registered, students must enroll in one Lecture-Discussion and one Discussion. Past course, and World Cultures course.

Michelle Lee

TR | 2:00PM – 3:15PM

GLAS (290) 42781
COMM (294) 48291

On Campus | LH 315

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This course examines the representation of Asian in New Media with a particular focus on the genres of reality tv, documentary, podcasts, and social media. We will pay close attention to how narratives of American exceptionalism as well as notions of belonging are constructed through legal, cultural, and social practices. Alongside viewing sessions, coursework will include writing assignments in the form of short reflection papers, essays, and a final project.

Anna Guevarra

T | 3:30PM – 6:00PM | CRN 39136

On Campus | LH 207

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Have you noticed shops that are closing down in your neighborhood or high-rise condos and lofts that are displacing communities of color? Have you heard of a Chicago neighborhood that has been Labeled as “Asia on Argyle” and wonder what it represents or perhaps have seen this Uptown mural called “Vietnam” and wonder who this is about? Focusing on the study of Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, this course seeks to present an alternative story of Uptown, by examining its multiracial and multiethnic histories; gentrification/housing/neighborhood transformations; and resistance and the arts. In this interdisciplinary course, you will have a unique opportunity to engage with and learn from the Uptown community and contribute to the Dis/Placements:
A People’s History of Uptown public history project

Laura Hostetler

MW | 9:30AM -10:45AM | BSB 165
GLAS CRN 39463 (UG), 39464(G)
HIST CRN 31132 & 31133

On Campus

Mark Chiang

R 3:30PM – 6:00PM | BSB 163

GLAS CRN 42776 (UG)

On Campus

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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. The course will explore questions of race, gender, sexuality, labor, immigration, capitalism, imperialism, eugenics, and the family, among others. Texts for the class will include anti-Chinese plays, the various permutations of Madame Butterfly, writers such as Jack London, Lothrop Stoddard, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Sui Sin Far, and Don Delillo, and such films as Piccadilly, Sayonara, Flower Drum Song, Lawrence of Arabia, and Rising Sun.

(Instructor Consent and Department Approval Required)

Chiang, M (39137)
González, Fredy (40200)
Guevarra, A (39138)
Ignacio, J (47087)
Jin, M (39139)
Kim, C (44967)
Lee, M (46262)
Martell, M (39142)
Naber, N (39140)
Paik, A (44965)
Phan, J (39141)
Su, K (40201)

ARRANGED