Madeline Y. Hsu

Description:  Widely considered a wellspring for U.S. greatness, immigration has also been an abiding site of our deepest conflicts.  The republican foundations of the United States with its promises of democracy and equality for all seem to strain against ever increasing numbers of immigrants from parts of the world barely conceived of by the Founding Fathers, much less as sources of new citizens.  What is the breaking point for the assimilating powers of U.S. democracy and how much does national vitality rely upon continued influxes of a diversity of immigrants with their strenuous ambitions and resourcefulness?  Today we remain embattled by such competing beliefs about how immigration shapes our nation’s well-being and to what ends we should constrain whom we admit and in what numbers. 

This seminar emphasizes the following themes:  the changing population of the United States from colonial times; ethnic cultures, communities, and cuisines; ideologies concerning eligibility for citizenship and for restricting immigration; the development of immigration law as an aspect of sovereign authority; the entwining of immigration policy with international relations; and the evolution of institutions for immigration enforcement.  

This course may be used to fulfill three hours of the U.S. history component of the university core curriculum and addresses the following four core objectives established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: communication skills, critical thinking skills, personal responsibility, and social responsibility. 

This course also carries the flag for Cultural Diversity in the United States. Cultural Diversity courses are designed to increase your familiarity with the variety and richness of American cultural experiences. A substantial portion of your grade stems from assignments concerning the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one U.S. cultural group that has experienced persistent marginalization. 

Texts/Readings: *main texts are on 2-hour reserve at PCL

*Roger Daniels, Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life (Harper Perennial, 2002 edition)

Supplemental readings are available on Canvas

Grade Distribution: Final grades will be allocated as follows: A 93-100; A- 90-92; B+ 88-89; B 83-87; B- 80-82; C+ 78-79; C 73-77; C- 70-72 and so forth 

            Family Immigration Narrative:  10%; 2-page essay

            Midterm: 20% bluebook exam; short essay IDs

Final: 30% bluebook exam; short essay IDs and long essay

            Attendance and class participation: 15%

            Primary document analysis: 25% research and 4-5 page essay

This course introduces students to the histories of people of Asian descent in the United States, from the late sixteenth century to the present. Through historical works, literature, films, primary sources, and popular culture, students will explore the making of Asian America as a dynamic site of identity construction, political protest, community formation, social movement building, and a vibrant field of intellectual and historical inquiry. The course will focus on four broad themes: 1) the causes and effects of migration and settlement in the development of Asian American communities; 2) the role that Asian Americans have played in shaping U.S. social, political, and cultural institutions; 3) the diverse individuals and groups which make up this broad category of people we designate as Asian Americans, and their unique and sometimes shared experiences of oppression, marginalization, racism, and political empowerment; and 4) the ways in which the experiences of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class have intersected with other marginalized groups in U.S. society. Throughout the course, we will explore these themes within global and transnational contexts to identify shared connections across borders—physical, imagined, and otherwise.

Required course materials:

Erika Lee, The Making of Asian America: A History

Additional reading assignments will be available for download on Canvas.

Grading breakdown:

20% Exam 1

20% Exam 2

20% Exam 3

20% Group project

20% Attendance and participation

This class examines U.S. history from the perspective of Chinese who were the first targets of racially defined immigration restrictions. As such, Chinese have played key roles in the evolution of U.S. immigration restrictions, their enforcement, limits regarding citizenship; permanent residency, and the underlying racial ideologies and conceptions of national belonging.

This course offers an overview of the history of Chinese in America with an emphasis on Chinese American identity and community formations under the shadow of the Yellow Peril. Using primary documents and secondary literature, we will examine structures of work, family, immigration law, racism, class, and gender in order to understand the changing roles and perceptions of Chinese Americans in the United States from 1847 to the present.

Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history.

Texts:

Chang, The Chinese in America: A Narrative History (2004); Yung et al Chinese American Voices (2006); excerpts of other readings posted on Canvas.

Grading:

Midterms on lectures and assigned texts. Research paper on Chinese American history.

Contemporary Taiwan’s claims of an ethnic identity distinct from the Chinese mainland reference a history of multiple colonizations and migrations to and from the island.  This course will explore questions of ethnicity, empire, and modernization in East Asia from the sixteenth century to the present through encounters between aborigines, Han Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, the imperial Qing, Fujianese, Japanese, mainlander KMT, and the United States on Taiwan.

Shih-Shan Henry Tsai, Maritime Taiwan: Historical Encounters with the East and the West (M.E. Sharpe, 2009)

Texts:

Denny Roy, Taiwan: A Political History (2003);
Shih-shan Henry Tsai, Maritime Taiwan (2009)
Additional readings available on CANVAS

Grading:

Map quiz:  5%

Exam: 30% Short IDs and essay

Class participation and attendance: 15%

Writing assignments: 50% Three 5-6 page essays, with one rewrite required.

Description:  Widely considered a wellspring for U.S. greatness, immigration has also been an abiding site of our deepest conflicts.  The republican foundations of the United States with its promises of democracy and equality for all seem to strain against ever increasing numbers of immigrants from parts of the world barely conceived of by the Founding Fathers, much less as sources of new citizens.  What is the breaking point for the assimilating powers of U.S. democracy and how much does national vitality rely upon continued influxes of a diversity of immigrants with their strenuous ambitions and resourcefulness?  Today we remain embattled by such competing beliefs about how immigration shapes our nation’s well-being and to what ends we should constrain whom we admit and in what numbers.  

This seminar emphasizes the following themes:  the changing population of the United States from colonial times; ethnic cultures, communities, and cuisines; ideologies concerning eligibility for citizenship and for restricting immigration; the development of immigration law as an aspect of sovereign authority; the entwining of immigration policy with international relations; and the evolution of institutions for immigration enforcement.   

This course may be used to fulfill three hours of the U.S. history component of the university core curriculum and addresses the following four core objectives established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: communication skills, critical thinking skills, personal responsibility, and social responsibility.  

This course also carries the flag for Cultural Diversity in the United States. Cultural Diversity courses are designed to increase your familiarity with the variety and richness of American cultural experiences. A substantial portion of your grade stems from assignments concerning the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one U.S. cultural group that has experienced persistent marginalization.  

Texts/Readings: *main texts are on 2-hour reserve at PCL
*Roger Daniels, Coming to America: A History of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life (Harper Perennial, 2002 edition)
Supplemental readings are available on Canvas

Grade Distribution: Final grades will be allocated as follows: A 93-100; A- 90-92; B+ 88-89; B 83-87; B- 80-82; C+ 78-79; C 73-77; C- 70-72 and so forth

    Family Immigration Narrative:  10%; 2-page essay
    Midterm: 20% bluebook exam; short essay IDs
Final: 30% bluebook exam; short essay IDs and long essay
    Attendance and class participation: 15%
    Primary document analysis: 25% research and 4-5 page essay

In a self-proclaimed “nation of immigrants” such as the United States, our narratives of migration, race, and ethnicity emphasize themes of acculturation and assimilation symbolized by the metaphor of the “melting pot.”  In this class, we will explore experiences of migration, adaptation, and settlement from the perspective of an emigrant society--China--which has one of the longest and most diverse histories of sending merchants, workers, artisans, diplomats, missionaries, and so forth, overseas.  Over the last millennia, Chinese have migrated around the world and made homes under a great range of adversity and opportunity, producing many fascinating stories of encounters with difference and the building of common ground. Drawing upon this rich set of narratives, we will consider some of the following topics:  As ethnic Chinese have moved and settled in so many places among such diverse societies, what is Chinese about the Chinese diaspora? What kinds of skills and attributes have helped Chinese to become arguably one of the most successful migrant groups? What do Chinese share in common with other migrant groups? How do Chinese adapt their identities and cultures under different circumstances?  What can Chinese experiences of migration contribute to contemporary debates and perceptions of migrants and different kinds of migration?
Texts:
Chirot, Daniel and Anthony Reid, ed. Essential Outsiders: Chinese and Jews in the Modern Transformation of Southeast Asia and Central Europe. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1997.

Kuhn, Philip A. Chinese Among Others: Emigration in Modern Times. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.

Chan, Shelly. Diaspora’s Homeland: Modern China in the Age of Global Migration (Duke 2018)
 
Hsu, Madeline. Dreaming of Gold, Dreaming of Home: Transnationalism and Migration between the United States and Southern China, 1882-1943 (Stanford 2000)

Roberts, J.A.G., China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West. London: Reaktion, 2002.

Wang Gungwu. The Chinese Overseas: From Earthbound China to the Quest for Autonomy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000.


Grading:
25 % Class participation and attendance

24 % Two 2-3 page book reviews

36 % 9-10 page research paper

10 % In-class presentation of research

5% peer review

Focusing on the migration and settlement of Asians in North America, this course explores major themes concerning the histories of immigration, race, gender, ethnicity, class, labor, and international relations.  We will trace the trajectory of American racialization of Asians from exclusion as inassimilable aliens to post-World War II celebrations as the model minority through changing conceptions of racial difference, evolving laws and government institutions, and shifting representations of ethnic identities and communities. Working with primary sources by and about Asians, we will explore how Asians have influenced understandings of national belonging and citizenship, ethnic identity and community, assimilation and acculturation, multiculturalism, labor and economic development, political participation, and transnationalism in influencing the emergence of the United States as a nation of immigrants.

Texts:

Shelley Lee, A New History of Asian America (Routledge, 2014).
Cathy Schlund-Vials et al ed., Asian American: A Primary Source Reader (Yale University Press, 2016).
Additional required readings will be posted to Canvas.

Grading:

15% Class attendance and participation
20% Midterm (Oct. 25)
30% Final Exam (Dec. 16, 9:00-12:00 noon)
10% Family Immigration Narrative (Sept. 8)
25% Timeline project (rolling deadlines): presentations on Fridays starting Week 3

Migration is one of the most widespread of human experiences yet generates tremendous conflicts and contradictions in constructions of identities, communities, and inequalities of power.  Perhaps the chief systems of differentiation troubled by migration are those of racial categorizations and nation-state formations. This reading seminar guides graduate students to develop a vocabulary and conceptual understanding for migration studies and its interventions into nation-based conceptual frameworks through transnational, diasporic, critical race, and ethnic studies projects.
 
This course fulfills the core course requirement for the portfolio in Asian American Studies with completion of the syllabus assignment.

Natalia Molina, How Race is Made in America (UC 2014)
Madeline Hsu, The Good Immigrants (Princeton 2015)
Eiichiro Azuma, Between Two Empires (Oxford 2001)
Vivek Bald, Bengali Harlem (Harvard 2013)
Lisa Lowe, Intimacies of Four Continents (Duke 2015)
Sunil Amrith, Crossing the Bay of Bengal (Harvard 2013)
David FitzGerald, A Nation of Emigrants (UC 2008)

25 % Class participation and attendance
10 % Conducting class discussion
30 % Two 750-word book reviews
35 % Annotated bibliography or syllabus for “Introduction to Asian American History” course

Contemporary Taiwan’s claims of an ethnic identity distinct from the Chinese mainland reference a history of multiple colonizations and migrations to and from the island.  This course will explore questions of ethnicity, empire, and modernization in East Asia from the sixteenth century to the present through encounters between aborigines, Han Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, the imperial Qing, Fujianese, Japanese, mainlander KMT, and the United States on Taiwan.

Shih-Shan Henry Tsai, Maritime Taiwan: Historical Encounters with the East and the West (M.E. Sharpe, 2009)

Texts:

Denny Roy, Taiwan: A Political History (Cornell University Press, 2003)
Vivian S. Louie, Compelled to Excel: Immigration, Education, and Opportunity among Chinese Americans (Stanford University Press, 2004)
Additionalreadings available on CANVAS

Grading:

Map quiz:  5%

Exam: 30% Short IDs and essay

Class participation and attendance: 15%

Writing assignments: 50% Three 5-6 page essays, with one rewrite required.

This course introduces students to the histories of people of Asian descent in the United States, from the late sixteenth century to the present. Through historical works, literature, films, primary sources, and popular culture, students will explore the making of Asian America as a dynamic site of identity construction, political protest, community formation, social movement building, and a vibrant field of intellectual and historical inquiry. The course will focus on four broad themes: 1) the causes and effects of migration and settlement in the development of Asian American communities; 2) the role that Asian Americans have played in shaping U.S. social, political, and cultural institutions; 3) the diverse individuals and groups which make up this broad category of people we designate as Asian Americans, and their unique and sometimes shared experiences of oppression, marginalization, racism, and political empowerment; and 4) the ways in which the experiences of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class have intersected with other marginalized groups in U.S. society. Throughout the course, we will explore these themes within global and transnational contexts to identify shared connections across borders—physical, imagined, and otherwise.

Required course materials:

    Shelley Sang-Hee Lee, A New History of Asian America (Routledge, 2013);

    Additional reading assignments will be available for download on Canvas.

Grading breakdown:

30%   Exam 1

30%   Exam 2

30%   Exam 3

10%   Attendance and participation

This class examines U.S. history from the perspective of Chinese who were the first targets of racially defined immigration restrictions. As such, Chinese have played key roles in the evolution of U.S. immigration restrictions, their enforcement, limits regarding citizenship, permanent residency, and the underlying racial ideologies and conceptions of national belonging.

This course offers an overview of the history of Chinese in America with an emphasis on Chinese American identity and community formations under the shadow of the Yellow Peril. Using primary documents and secondary literature, we will examine structures of work, family, immigration law, racism, class, and gender in order to understand the changing roles and perceptions of Chinese Americans in the United States from 1847 to the present.

Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history.

Iris Chang, The Chinese in America; excerpts from _Island_, _Chinese American Voices_, The Coming Man

Midterms on lectures and assigned texts. Research paper on Chinese American history.

In a self-proclaimed “nation of immigrants” such as the United States, our narratives of migration, race, and ethnicity emphasize themes of acculturation and assimilation symbolized by the metaphor of the “melting pot.”  In this class, we will explore experiences of migration, adaptation, and settlement from the perspective of an emigrant society--China--which has one of the longest and most diverse histories of sending merchants, workers, artisans, diplomats, missionaries, and so forth, overseas.  Over the last millennia, Chinese have migrated around the world and made homes under a great range of adversity and opportunity, producing many fascinating stories of encounters with difference and the building of common ground. Drawing upon this rich set of narratives, we will consider some of the following topics:  As ethnic Chinese have moved and settled in so many places among such diverse societies, what is Chinese about the Chinese diaspora? What kinds of skills and attributes have helped Chinese to become arguably one of the most successful migrant groups? What do Chinese share in common with other migrant groups? How do Chinese adapt their identities and cultures under different circumstances?  What can Chinese experiences of migration contribute to contemporary debates and perceptions of migrants and different kinds of migration?

Chirot, Daniel and Anthony Reid, ed. Essential Outsiders: Chinese and Jews in the Modern Transformation of Southeast Asia and Central Europe. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1997.

Kuhn, Philip A. Chinese Among Others: Emigration in Modern Times. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.

Louie, Vivian. Compelled to Excel: Immigration, Education, and Opportunity among Chinese Americans. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004

Lui, Mary. The Chinatown Trunk Mystery: Murder, Miscegenation, and Other Dangerous Encounters in Turn-of-the-Century New York City. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2005.

Roberts, J.A.G., China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West. London: Reaktion, 2002.

Wang Gungwu. The Chinese Overseas: From Earthbound China to the Quest for Autonomy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000. 

25 % Class participation and attendance

24 % Two 2-3 page book reviews

36 % 9-10 page research paper

10 % In-class presentation of research

5% peer review

Migration is one of the most widespread of human experiences yet generates tremendous conflicts and contradictions in constructions of identities, communities, and inequalities of power.  Perhaps the chief systems of differentiation troubled by migration are those of racial categorizations and nation-state formations. This reading seminar guides graduate students to develop a vocabulary and conceptual understanding for migration studies and its interventions into nation-based conceptual frameworks through transnational, diasporic, critical race, and ethnic studies projects.

This course fulfills the core course requirement for the portfolio in Asian American Studies with completion of the syllabus assignment.

Texts:

Excerpts from Aihwa Ong, Melissa Brown, Mae Ngai, Adam McKeown, Philip Kuhn, Wang Gungwu, Renato Rosaldo, Glick-Schiller et al, Arjun Appadurai, Roger Rouse.

Natalia Molina, How Race is Made in America (UC 2014)

Madeline Hsu, The Good Immigrants (Princeton 2015)

Eiichiro Azuma, Between Two Empires (Oxford 2001)

Vivek Bald, Bengali Harlem (Harvard 2013)

Lisa Lowe, Intimacies of Four Continents (Duke 2015)

Sunil Amrith, Crossing the Bay of Bengal (Harvard 2013)

David FitzGerald, A Nation of Emigrants (UC 2008)

Grading:

25 % Class participation and attendance

10 % Conducting class discussion

30 % Two 750-word book reviews

35 % Annotated bibliography or syllabus for “Introduction to Asian American History” course

This class introduces key themes in Asian American history by exploring the crucial roles Asian have played in framing American ideas and institutions regarding citizenship, national belonging, border control, and multiracial democracy.  Seen as inassimilable aliens and essentially foreign, Asians were the first targets of legal immigration restrictions and enforcement.  Asian Americans persevered in continuing migration to establish communities and forge ethnic identities and cultures by claiming the promise  of equality in America.  We will consider variations on Asian American history and culture through memoirs, legal documents, cultural productions, media representations, and reinterpretations of mainstream tropes of American identity.

Texts:

Erika Lee, The Making of Asian America: A History (Simon and Schuster, 2015)??Gary Okihiro, Margins and Mainstreams (UW Press, 1994)??Eric Liu, The Accidental Asian (Vintage, 1999)

Taiwan: Colonization, Migration, and Identity

Contemporary Taiwan’s claims of an ethnic identity distinct from the Chinese mainland reference a history of multiple colonizations and migrations to and from the island.  This course will explore questions of ethnicity, empire, and modernization in East Asia from the sixteenth century to the present through encounters between aborigines, Han Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, the imperial Qing, Fujianese, Japanese, mainlander KMT, and the United States on Taiwan. 

Texts:

Shih-Shan Henry Tsai, Maritime Taiwan: Historical Encounters with the East and the West (M.E. Sharpe, 2009)

Denny Roy, Taiwan: A Political History (Cornell University Press, 2003)?Vivian S. Louie, Compelled to Excel: Immigration, Education, and Opportunity among Chinese Americans (Stanford University Press, 2004)?Course Reader prepared by the instructor, available on Blackboard

Grading:

Map quiz:  5%

Exam: 30% Short IDs and essay

Class participation and attendance: 15%

Writing assignments: 50% Three 5-6 page essays, with one rewrite required.

FLAG: CD

Description

Considering U.S. history through the lens of Chinese experiences emphasizes the national development of ideas and practices concerning immigration controls, rights to citizenship, multiracial societies, forms of multicultural integration and assimilation, and the relationship of the Constitution to varying conceptions of equality. Chinese as a race were the first targets of enforced immigration restrictions. As such, they have played key roles as the United States determined its powers and priorities in enacting immigration controls and its visions for democracy, along with the underlying racial ideologies and conceptions of national belonging.??

This course offers an overview of the history of Chinese in America with an emphasis on Chinese American identity and community formations under the shadow of the Yellow Peril. Using primary documents and secondary literature, we will examine structures of work, family, immigration law, racism, class, and gender in order to understand the changing roles and perceptions of Chinese Americans in the United States from 1847 to the present.??

Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history.??

Texts:?Iris Chang, The Chinese in America; excerpts Yung et al, Chinese American Voices; excerpts, Lai et al, Island; excerpts, Choy et al, The Coming Man; ?

Grading:? Midterms on lectures and assigned texts. Research paper on Chinese American history.??

Flags: Cultural Diversity in the U.S., Global Cultures, and Writing

In a self-proclaimed “nation of immigrants” such as the United States, our narratives of migration, race, and ethnicity emphasize themes of acculturation and assimilation symbolized by the metaphor of the “melting pot.”  In this class, we will explore experiences of migration, adaptation, and settlement from the perspective of a sending society--China--which possesses one of the longest and most diverse histories of sending merchants, workers, artisans, diplomats, missionaries, and so forth, overseas.  Over the last millennia, Chinese have migrated around the world and made homes under a great range of adversity and opportunity, producing many fascinating stories of encounters with difference and the building of common ground. Drawing upon this rich set of narratives, some questions that we will consider include the following.  As ethnic Chinese have moved and settled in so many places among such diverse societies, what is Chinese about the Chinese diaspora? What kinds of skills and attributes have helped Chinese to become arguably one of the most successful migrant groups? What do Chinese share in common with other migrant groups? How do Chinese adapt their identities and cultures to different circumstances?  What can Chinese experiences of migration contribute to contemporary debates and conceptions of migration?

Texts:

Chirot, Daniel and Anthony Reid, ed. Essential Outsiders: Chinese and Jews in the Modern Transformation of Southeast Asia and Central Europe. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1997.

Kuhn, Philip A. Chinese Among Others: Emigration in Modern Times. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.

Louie, Vivian. Compelled to Excel: Immigration, Education, and Opportunity among Chinese Americans. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004

Lui, Mary. The Chinatown Trunk Mystery: Murder, Miscegenation, and Other Dangerous Encounters in Turn-of-the-Century New York City. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2005.

Roberts, J.A.G., China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West. London: Reaktion, 2002.

Wang Gungwu. The Chinese Overseas: From Earthbound China to the Quest for Autonomy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000.

Grading:

25 % Class participation and attendance

24 % Two 2-3 page book reviews

36 % 9-10 page research paper

10 % In-class presentation of research

5% peer review

Migration is one of the most widespread of human experiences yet generates tremendous conflicts and contradictions in constructions of identities, communities, and inequalities of power.  Perhaps the chief systems of differentiation troubled by migration are those of racial categorizations and nation-state formations. This reading seminar guides graduate students to develop a vocabulary and conceptual understanding for migration studies and its interventions into nation-based conceptual frameworks through transnational, diasporic, critical race, and ethnic studies projects.

This course fulfills the core course requirement for the portfolio in Asian American Studies with completion of the syllabus assignment.

Assignments and Grade Distribution:

25 % Class participation and attendance

10 % Conducting class discussion

30 % Two 750-word book reviews

35 % Annotated bibliography or syllabus for “Introduction to Asian American History” course

Readings:  Excerpts from Aihwa Ong, Melissa Brown, Mae Ngai, Adam McKeown, Philip Kuhn, Wang Gungwu, Renato Rosaldo, Glick-Schiller et al, Arjun Appadurai, Roger Rouse,

Natalia Molina, How Race is Made in America (UC 2014)

Erika Lee, At America’s Gates (UNC 2002)

Eiichiro Azuma, Between Two Empires (Oxford 2001)

Bald et al ed., The Sun Never Sets (NYU 2012)

Contemporary Taiwan’s claims of an ethnic identity distinct from the Chinese mainland reference a history of multiple colonizations and migrations to and from the island.  This course will explore questions of ethnicity, empire, and modernization in East Asia from the sixteenth century to the present through encounters between aborigines, Han Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, the imperial Qing, Fujianese, Japanese, mainlander KMT, and the United States on Taiwan.

 Texts/Readings:

Shih-Shan Henry Tsai, Maritime Taiwan: Historical Encounters with the East and the West (M.E. Sharpe, 2009)

Denny Roy, Taiwan: A Political History (Cornell University Press, 2003)

Vivian S. Louie, Compelled to Excel: Immigration, Education, and Opportunity among Chinese Americans (Stanford University Press, 2004)

Course Reader prepared by the instructor, available on Blackboard

 Grade Distribution:

 Map quiz:  5%

 Exam: 30% Short IDs and essay

 Class participation and attendance: 15%

 Writing assignments: 50% Three 5-6 page essays, with one rewrite required.

This class examines U.S. history from the perspective of Chinese who were the first targets of racially defined immigration restrictions. As such, Chinese have played key roles in the evolution of U.S. immigration restrictions, their enforcement, limits regarding citizenship; permanent residency, and the underlying racial ideologies and conceptions of national belonging.

This course offers an overview of the history of Chinese in America with an emphasis on Chinese American identity and community formations under the shadow of the Yellow Peril. Using primary documents and secondary literature, we will examine structures of work, family, immigration law, racism, class, and gender in order to understand the changing roles and perceptions of Chinese Americans in the United States from 1847 to the present.

Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history.

Texts:

Kwong and Miscevic, Chinese America; excerpts from _Island_, _Chinese American Voices_, _Longtime Californ'_,

Grading:

Midterms on lectures and assigned texts. Research paper on Chinese American history.

Course Description:

In a self-proclaimed “nation of immigrants” such as the United States, our narratives of migration, race, and ethnicity emphasize themes of acculturation and assimilation symbolized by the metaphor of the “melting pot.”  In this class, we will explore experiences of migration, adaptation, and settlement from the perspective of a sending society--China--which possesses one of the longest and most diverse histories of sending merchants, workers, artisans, diplomats, missionaries, and so forth, overseas.  Over the last millennia, Chinese have migrated around the world and made homes under a great range of adversity and opportunity, producing many fascinating stories of encounters with difference and the building of common ground. Drawing upon this rich set of narratives, some questions that we will consider include the following.  As ethnic Chinese have moved and settled in so many places among such diverse societies, what is Chinese about the Chinese diaspora? What kinds of skills and attributes have helped Chinese to become arguably one of the most successful migrant groups? What do Chinese share in common with other migrant groups? How do Chinese adapt their identities and cultures to different circumstances?  What can Chinese experiences of migration contribute to contemporary debates and conceptions of migration?

This class introduces key themes in Asian American history by exploring the crucial roles Asian have played in framing American ideas and institutions regarding citizenship, national belonging, border control, and multiracial democracy.  Seen as inassimilable aliens and essentially foreign, Asians were the first targets of legal immigration restrictions and enforcement.  Asian Americans persevered in continuing migration to establish communities and forge ethnic identities and cultures by claiming the promise  of equality in America.  We will consider variations on Asian American history and culture through memoirs, legal documents, cultural productions, media representations, and reinterpretations of mainstream tropes of American identity.

Textbooks:

Sucheng Chan, Asian Americans (Twayne Publishers, 1991)

Gary Okihiro, Margins and Mainstreams (UW Press, 1994)

Eric Liu, The Accidental Asian (Vintage, 1999)

Contemporary Taiwan’s claims of an ethnic identity distinct from the Chinese mainland refer to a history of multiple colonizations and migrations both to and from the island.  This course will explore questions of ethnicity, empire, and modernization in east Asia from the 16th century to the present through encounters between aborigines, Han Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, the imperial Qing, Japanese, mainlander KMT, and the United States on Taiwan.  

Texts

Shih-Shan Henry Tsai, Maritime Taiwan: Historical Encounters with the East and the West (M.E. Sharpe, 2009)

Denny Roy, Taiwan: A Political History (Cornell, 2003)

Course Reader prepared by the instructor, available on eReserves

Grading

Map Quiz (5%):  Geography of Taiwan, the Taiwan Strait, and the South China Sea. 

Class Participation (10%):  You are expected to attend each class and participate fully in class discussions by contributing questions and comments either in class or on blackboard.  Class discussions of lectures and assigned readings will be conducted at least once each week.  Reading assignments are to be completed by the first day of class each week.  

Blue Book Exam (25%):  Short IDs and essay.  

Writing assignments (42%):  Three 5-page essays 

Assignment #1 (17%): Of the three main groups to inhabit Taiwan before 1750--the aborigines, Dutch, and Chinese--discuss which one you think had the most legitimate claim to rule the island.  As you set out your argument, be clear about defining political legitimacy and select historical examples that support your position.  

Assignment #2 (20%):  In the library, locate a pro-Formosan and a pro-KMT account of the February 28th incident and compare.  How do these versions differ?  How do political goals shape what information is presented about the violence and how motives are interpreted?  For this assignment, you will be placed into peer review groups of 2-3 to assist in paper revisions.  Your grade will be based on the average for all papers submitted from your group.

Assignment #3 (17%)-- Many conceptions of identity are strongly linked to geographic place.  Taiwan and Taiwanese, however, are characterized by the comings and goings of many different peoples.  Even the aborigines originated from somewhere else.  Drawing upon our overview of Taiwanese history--which emphasizes the entangled histories of aborigines, Dutch, Fujianese settlers, American missionaries and technical experts, Japanese colonizers, and mainland Chinese--and their movements elsewhere, create an icon that captures what you consider to be key aspects of Taiwanese identity and explain its symbolism and historical significance.  

Your paper must present a clearly articulated argument, include a carefully chosen array of supporting evidence, conform to a standardized style manual, and include a title, precisely articulated statement of thesis, bibliography, and citations.   

Papers that are turned in late will be penalized with point deductions.  Papers turned in after the lecture begins will be considered late.  Each day 1 percentage point will be deducted--Saturday, Sunday, and holidays count as one day each.  No credit for the paper will be given if it is turned in after ten days.  

NOTE:  Slipping papers under the instructor's door does not guarantee they will be received on the same day.   

This class examines U.S. history from the perspective of Chinese who were the first targets of racially defined immigration restrictions. As such, Chinese have played key roles in the evolution of U.S. immigration restrictions, their enforcement, limits regarding citizenship; permanent residency, and the underlying racial ideologies and conceptions of national belonging.

This course offers an overview of the history of Chinese in America with an emphasis on Chinese American identity and community formations under the shadow of the Yellow Peril. Using primary documents and secondary literature, we will examine structures of work, family, immigration law, racism, class, and gender in order to understand the changing roles and perceptions of Chinese Americans in the United States from 1847 to the present.

Partially fulfills legislative requirement for American history.

Texts

Kwong and Miscevic, Chinese America; excerpts from _Island_, _Chinese American Voices_, _Longtime Californ'_,

Grading

Midterms on lectures and assigned texts. Research paper on Chinese American history.

HIS 364G/AAS 325/ANS 361 

Taiwan: Colonization, Migration, and Identity

Description:

Contemporary Taiwan’s claims of an ethnic identity distinct from the Chinese mainland refer to a history of multiple colonizations and migrations both to and from the island.  This course will explore questions of ethnicity, empire, and modernization in east Asia from the 16th century to the present through encounters between aborigines, Han Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, the imperial Qing, Japanese, mainlander KMT, and the United States on Taiwan. 

Texts/Readings:

Leslie Chang, Beyond the Narrow Gate: The Journey of Four Chinese Women from the Middle Kingdom to Middle America (Plume, 1999)
Hill Gates, Chinese Working-class Lives: Getting by in Taiwan (Cornell, 1987)
Denny Roy, Taiwan: A Political History (Cornell, 2003)
Course Reader prepared by the instructor, available on eReserves

Grade Distribution:

    Map quiz:  5 %
    Exam: 25% Short IDs and essay
    Class participation and attendance: 20 %
    Writing assignments:  50 % 3 5-6 page writing assignments; 1 to be rewritten

Description of course requirements:

Map Quiz (5%):  Geography of Taiwan, the Taiwan Strait, and the South China Sea. Jan. 23.
Class Participation (20%):  You are expected to attend each class and participate fully in class discussions by contributing questions and comments either in class or on blackboard.  Class discussions of lectures and assigned readings will be conducted at least once each week.  Reading assignments are to be completed by the first day of class each week. 

Exam (25%):  Bluebook exam with short IDs and essay.  Scheduled for Feb. 13 and 15.
Writing Assignments (50%):  3 5-6 page essays each worth 14% of your grade due Feb. 25 (revision due March 7), April 4, May 2.  The revision of your first paper is worth 8%.

Assignment #1: Of the three main groups to inhabit Taiwan before 1750--the aborigines, Dutch, and Chinese--discuss which one you think had the most legitimate claim to rule the island.  As you set out your argument, be clear about defining political legitimacy and select historical examples that support your position.  Revision due March 7.

Assignment #2:  In the library, locate a pro-Formosan account of the February 28th incident.  Compare this to the KMT version assigned in class.  How do these versions differ?  How do political goals inform each account?
May 2-- Many conceptions of identity are strongly linked to geographic place.  Taiwan and Taiwanese, however, are characterized by the comings and goings of many different peoples.  Even the aborigines originated from somewhere else.  Drawing upon our overview of Taiwanese history--which emphasizes the entangled histories of aborigines, Dutch, Fujianese settlers, American missionaries and technical experts, Japanese colonizers, and mainland Chinese--and their movements elsewhere, create an icon that captures what you consider to be key aspects of Taiwanese identity and explain its symbolism and historical significance. 
 
Your paper must present a clearly articulated argument, include a carefully chosen array of supporting evidence, conform to a standardized style manual, and include a title, precisely articulated statement of thesis, bibliography, and citations.  

Papers that are turned in late will be penalized with point deductions.  Papers turned in after the lecture begins will be considered late.  Each day 1 percentage point will be deducted--Saturday, Sunday, and holidays count as one day each.  No credit for the paper will be given if it is turned in after ten days.  NOTE:  Slipping papers under the instructor's door does not guarantee they will be received on the same day.  
ACADEMIC HONESTY: Academic honesty is very important. You are expected to complete your own work. If you have any questions about academic guidelines you may call my office, 232-9469, or email me at ANY time. You should follow University guidelines regarding plagiarism and student conduct.  For further information see: http://uwc.fac.utexas.edu/~virgil/essay/research/plagiarism.html

IMPORTANT NOTES:
1.        Respect the classroom environment. Turn off all cell-phones, beepers, and electronic games.  Do not read the newspaper, text message, or surf the web in class.
2.        Any handouts that you receive from the instructor or teaching assistants should be treated as required reading.
3.        My office is on the 3rd floor of Garrison. It is accessible by elevator. If, for some reason, my office is inaccessible to you, I will make arrangements to meet in a different location.
4.        The University of Texas provides, upon request, academic accommodations for students with disabilities. For more information contact the Office of the Dean of Students, 471-6259 or 471-4641.
5.        I will follow University standards and rules regarding academic dishonesty. You should familiarize yourself with these standards and consequences of violations university policy.
6.        Turning in assignments: I do not accept papers handed in by email.  Your papers are due at the beginning of class, in class.  Late papers may be handed in at the HIS office (GAR ) during regular office hours. 

Lecture and Reading Assignment Schedule (Subject to Change)

Week 1: Is Taiwan Chinese?
Jan. 14: Introduction
Jan. 18: Discussion of concepts of ethnicity and Taiwan aborigines

*Brown 1-34, Thompson “The Earliest Chinese Eyewitness Accounts of the Formosan Aborigines” in Monumenta Serica (1964): 163-204; Michael Stainton, “The Politics of Taiwan Aboriginal Origins” in Murray Rubenstein, Taiwan: A New History (M.E. Sharpe 1999): 27-44

Week 2: Ilha Formosa 
Jan. 21 MLK day--no class
Jan. 23 Map quiz

*Roy ix-75; Andrade “Chinese Under European Rule: The Case of Sino-Dutch Mediator He Bin” in Late Imperial China 28: 1 (June 2007): 1-32

Week 3: Island Frontier
Jan. 30: Discussion of maritime Europe and China
Feb. 1 Class cancelled

*Roy 76-151; excerpts from Emma Teng, Taiwan's Imagined Geography : Chinese Colonial Travel Writing and Pictures, 1683-1895 (Harvard University Asia Center, 2007) 81-100, 281-284; excerpts from Robert Berkhofer, The White Man’s Indian (Vintage, 1978): 115-134

Week 4: Qing Imperialism

*Roy 152-246; excerpts from Teng 101-148

Week 5: Examination
Feb. 13 and 15  Bluebook exam

*No readings

Week 6:  Japanese Imperialism

*Edward Chen, “Formosan Political Movements Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1914-1937” Journal of Asian Studies 31:3 (May 1972): 477-497; Wu Zhuoliu, Memories of a Chinese Patriot (1stBooks Library, 2002): 1-145

Week 7:  World War II and the February 28th Incident 
Feb. 27 Documentary “The History of Taiwan: Postwar Era and the 228 Incident, 1945-49”

*Excerpts from Lai Tse-han, Ramon Myers, Wei Wou, A Tragic Beginning: The Taiwan Uprising of February 28, 1947 (Stanford University Press, 1991), 1-12, 99-193

Week 8:  Engendering China for America
March 5:  “Mme. Chiang Kai-shek: A Legendary Life” Part I

*Gates 5-67; excerpts from Karen Leong, The China Mystique: Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong, Mayling Soong, and the Transformation of American Orientalism (UC Press 2005): 106-154.

SPRING BREAK: MARCH 8-16

Week 9: Taiwan under the KMT
March 17:  “Mme. Chiang Kai-shek: A Legendary Life” Part II

*Gates 68-144; excerpt from Ezra F. Vogel, The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (Harvard, 1991), 13-41.

Week 10: Uptown Chinese

*Gates 145-241; Iris Chang Chinese in America (Penguin 2003): 283-311

Week 11: The Brain Drain and Liuxuesheng Consciousness

*Chang 1-71; Chen Hsiang-shui, Chinatown No More: Taiwan Immigrants in Contemporary New York (Cornell 1992): 51-143; Charlotte Brooks, “Sing Sheng vs. Southwood: Residential Integration in Cold War California,” Pacific Historical Review 73 (August 2004): 463-89; excerpts by Chen Ruoxi in Nativism Overseas: Contemporary Chinese Women Writers edited by Hsin-sheng C. Kao (SUNY 1993): 9-51

Week 12: Taiwanese American Community

*Chang 73-211; excerpts from Timothy Fong, The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park, California (Temple University Press, 1994): 15-54

Week 13: Taiwan’s Independence Movement
April 18 “HHH”

*Chang 213-288; Sibyl Chen, Our Treasury (ITASCA 2002)

Week 14:  Contemporary Taiwanese Identities
April 21: Discussion of “HHH”

* Bonnie Adrian, excerpt from Framing the Bride: Globalizing Beauty and Romance in Taiwan’s Bridal Industry (UC Press, 2003): 76-107; Pei-Chia Lan “Legal Servitude and Free Illegality: Migrant ‘Guest’ Workers in Taiwan” in Siu and Parrenas Asian Diasporas (2007); Scott Simon, excerpt from Sour and Sweet: Life-Worlds of Taipei Women Entrepreneurs (Rowman and Littlefield 2003): 1-26

Week 15: Taiwanese Transnationalism

*Shenglin Chang, “Transcultural Home Identity Across the Pacific: A Case Study of High-Tech Taiwanese Transnational Communities in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and Silicon Valley, USA” in Urban Ethnic Encounters : The Spatial Consequences, edited by Aygen Erdentug and Freek Colombijn (Routledge 2002): 142-159; Pei-te Lien, “Ethnic Homeland and Chinese Americans: Conceiving a Transnational Political Network” in Chinese Transnational Networks edited by Tan Chee-beng (Routledge, 2007): 107-121; Carolyn Chen, “The Religious Varieties of Ethnic Presence: A Comparison between a Taiwanese Immigrant Buddhist Temple and an Evangelical Christian Church” in Sociology of Religion 63:2 (Summer 2002): 215-238

HIS350L/AAS325/ANS361                Instructor: Madeline Hsu                        Monday 3-6

Chinese in Diaspora

Course Schedule: (subject to change)
Week 2: Course Introduction and Main Themes: Migration and Race
Aug. 31 Come prepared to discuss your family's history of migration and answer the
question: When and how did your family become American?

Week 4: Conceptualizing Ethnicity and Migration: Chinese in Diaspora
Sept. 14 Read: Wang, Chinese Overseas

Week 5:  Chinese Preparation for Migration
Sept. 21 Read Kuhn, Chinese Among Others 1-152

Week 6:  Migration before and during the Age of Imperialism
Sept. 28 Read Kuhn, Chinese Among Others 153-282

Week 7: Migration in a Postcolonial World
Oct. 5 Read Kuhn, Chinese Among Others 283-385; Li Minghuan, "To Get Rich Quickly in
Europe!"--Reflections on Migration Motivation in Wenzhou. In Pieke and Malle, ed.,
Internal and International Migration: Chinese Perspectives (Curzon 1999).

Week 8: Food and Culture: Commonalities and Differences
Oct. 12 Read Roberts, China to Chinatown 9-131
*First book review due

Week 9: Food and Culture: Are We What We Eat?
Oct. 19 Read Roberts, China to Chinatown 135-228; Madeline Y. Hsu, "From Chop Suey to
Mandarin Cuisine: Fine Dining and the Refashioning of Chinese Ethnicity during the Cold
War Era" in Chan and Hsu, ed., Chinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture
(Temple University Press, 2008), 173-193.

Week 10:
Oct. 26 Read Lui, Chinatown Trunk Mystery 1-110

Week 11:
Nov. 2 Read Lui, Chinatown Trunk Mystery 111-226

Week 12: Questioning the Model Minority
Nov. 9 Read Louie, Compelled to Excel xiii-82; Keith Osajima, "Asian Americans as the
Model Minority: An Analysis of the Popular Press Image in the 1960s and 1980s" in Okihiro
et al ed., Reflections on Shattered Windows (Washington State University Press, 1988).
*Second book review due

Week 13: "Race" or Demography?
Nov. 16 Read Louie, Compelled to Excel 83-199

Week 14: Research Presentations
Nov. 23 In-class reports
*Research presentations

Week 15: Research presentations
Nov. 30 In-class reports
*Research presentations

*Dec. 11 Research papers due 5 pm at GRG 220

Some guidelines and suggestions:
Grading:  All final grades will be assigned on a plus/minus scale.
Writing Center: I strongly encourage you to use the Undergraduate Writing Center, FAC 211, 471-6222: http://uwc.utexas.edu/home). The Undergraduate Writing Center offers free, individualized, expert help with writing for any UT undergraduate, by appointment or on a drop-in basis. Any undergraduate enrolled in a course at UT can visit the UWC for assistance with any writing project. They work with students from every department on campus, for both academic and non-academic writing. Whether you are writing a lab report, a resume, a term paper, a statement for an application, or your own poetry, UWC consultants will be happy to work with you. Their services are not just for writing with 'problems.' Getting feedback from an informed audience is a normal part of a successful writing project. Consultants help students develop strategies to improve their writing. The assistance they provide is intended to foster independence. Each student determines how to use the consultant?s advice. The consultants are trained to help you work on your writing in ways that preserve the integrity of your work. Academic Honesty: Academic honesty is critical to your education. You are expected to complete your own work. If you have any questions about academic guidelines you may call my office, 232-9469, or email me at ANY time. You should follow University guidelines regarding plagiarism and student conduct.  For further information see: http://projects.uwc.utexas.edu/virgil/?q=node/206 OR http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/history/about/academic-integrity.php

Important Notes:
1.        Respect the classroom environment. Turn off all cell-phones, beepers, and
electronic games.  Do not read the newspaper, text message, or surf the web in class.
2.        Any handouts that you receive from the instructor or teaching assistants should
be treated as required reading.
3.        My office is on the 3rd floor of Garrison. It is accessible by elevator. If,
for some reason my office is inaccessible to you, I will make arrangements to meet in a
different location.
4.        The University of Texas provides, upon request, academic accommodations for
students with disabilities. For more information contact the Office of the Dean of
Students, 471-6259 or 471-4641.
5.        I will follow University standards and rules regarding academic dishonesty. You
should familiarize yourself with these standards and consequences of violations
university policy.
6.        Turning in assignments: I do not accept papers handed in by email.  Your papers
are due at the beginning of class, in class.  Late papers may be handed in at the CAAS
office (GRG 220) during regular office hours.

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

Please check back for updates.

This interdisciplinary course introduces students to core questions regarding the historic and contemporary experiences of Asian Americans. Students will critically engage key issues, theories and debates in Asian American Studies, while also learning to unpack “Asian American” as a concept that contains an evershifting multiplicity of peoples, histories and places.

Please check back for updates.