AMST 305(S) Cities of the Anglophone Chinese Imagination (Same as Asian Studies 305, Comparative Literature 303 and English 374)*
The recent fascination with all things "diasporic," "global," "transnational," and "cosmopolitan" has shifted the emphasis away from conceiving of ethnic literatures solely, or primarily, as sub-categories of national literatures. A focus on "horizontal" rather than "vertical" ties re-frames our thinking about minority literature while also raising new issues. For example, what exactly is shared by subjects in a given diaspora? Does the term "diaspora" necessarily invoke the specter of racial essentialism? What happens to the category of race when one moves away from local politics? Is the idea of a diasporic subject much less vexing than the idea of, say, a racially minoritized person? How important a role does the shared English language play in these diasporas? In this course, we will look at the works of a specific diasporic literary group-English-language Chinese writers (in this case, Chiang Yee, Louis Chu, Chuang Hua , Evelyn Lau, Shirley G. Lim, Pamela Lu, Alvin Lu, Timothy Mo, Fred Wah, Ouyang Yu)-as a means to think about the nature of the "diasporic" and the "global." We will focus on two types of sites: 1) geographic-mostly cities and urban areas: San Francisco, NYC, Taipei, Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, London, Vancouver, etc.-which function as material spaces and places of the imagination, and 2) linguistic-i.e., the space of the English language.
Format: discussion seminar. Evaluation will be based on one 5- to 7-page paper, one 8- to 10-page paper, short response papers, participation.
Prerequisites: those taking this as an English class must have previously taken a 100-level English course. Enrollment limit: 17 (expected: 10). Preference given to American Studies majors.
Hour: WANG