ASAM 197: Asian American Arts and Activism
SPRING 2009
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course addresses the lack of recognition given to the role of the arts in the Asian American movement. It will primarily focus on the role that the arts have played in social justice and awareness work situated in the context of the Asian American movement. It will look at how art, whether in music, fine arts, street art, poetry, etc. has transformed as a part of social justice and awareness work and responded to changing times.
This course will encourage students to support local Asian American art events with their participation and attendance as well as their boundless creativity. Individual and class projects will include the production of creative works, publications or workshops and conferences.
In addition, students will collaborate to create the next year’s ASAM 197 course topic and syllabus.
PEDAGOGICAL STATEMENT
The course is designed to provide students with the greatest opportunity to enrich themselves in Asian American studies through the course material and leadership inside the classroom. The learning process will continue outside the classroom, in the greater Los Angeles area, specifically within Asian American communities. Off-campus site visits comprise a significant portion of the class. The overall success of this course rests solely on the commitment of each individual student.
Our pedagogical model is based on the experiences of learning through teaching. As such, students’ course grades will reflect feedback from their classmates and the faculty collaborator.
ASSIGNMENTS
-1. Due end of week 2: Decorated “stream of consciousness” journal.
-1. 2 times a week: 5-10 minute journal entry.
-1. Due end of semester: Final Creative Project.
This can be an individual or group project. Possible projects include a creative performance piece, short film, workshop, written piece, etc. It must in some way be related to activism, education and raising awareness about contemporary Asian American issues to a larger Claremont community. 


SPEAKER SERIES

CROSS-CAMPUS CONFERENCE

WEEK1
Tuesday
Intro the course

Thursday
- Intro people
- Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

WEEK2
Tuesday
- Karen Umemoto, "On Strike!" San Francisco State College Strike, 1968-1969: The Role of Asian American Students" (Contemporary Asian America) p.49-75
- Glenn Omatsu, "The Four Prisons and the Movements of Liberation: Asian American Activism from the 1960s to the 1990s" (Contemporary Asian America) p. 80-112)

Thursday
- Dorinne Kondo, Chapter 31 "Art, Activism, Asia, and Asian Americans" (Contemporary Asian America) p. 636-664
- Fred Houn, "Revolutionary Asian American Art: Tradition and Change, Inheritance and Innovation, Not Imitation!" (Legacy to Liberation) p.383-388

WEEK3
Tuesday
- Elaine H. Kim, "Interstitial Subjects: Asian American Visual Art as a Site for New Cultural Conversations" (Fresh Talk Daring Gazes) p. 1-50
-Elizam EScobar "Art of Liberation A vision of freedom" 86-95 (reimaging America_Arts of Social Change)


Thursday
- ed. Augie Tam, Chapter 30 "Is There An Asian American Aesthetics?" (Contemporary Asian America) p.627-635
-Ricardo Levins Morales "The Importance of Being Artist" p.16-24 (Reimaging America_Arts of Social Change)
- Nina Felshin, "Introduction" (But is it Art?) p.9-29

WEEK4 REPRESENTATION
Tuesday
- Stuart Hall reading on media literacy (Get from Nancy to choose articles)
-Richard Fung , "Seeing Yellow: Asian Identities in Film and Video" p.161-171 (State of AA in 1990s)
- Nick Carbó, “Assignment” p. 239-240 (Screaming Monkeys) prose
- - Denise Duhamal, “Hello Kitty”242-245 Poem

Thursday (Filipino representation)
- Catherine Choi, Salvaging the savage on representing filipinos p.35-49 (Screaming Monkeys) article
- Rick Bonus, Homeland Memories and Media: Filipino images and imagination in America p. 145-153 (Screaming Monkeys) Filipino images

WEEK5 THEATRE
Tuesday
- Chapter 1 Critical Strategies for reading AA drama, page 1-34 (Josephine Lee, Performing Asian America)
- 99 Histories or Durango by Julia Cho (mental illness, history, generation, gender)

Thursday
- Chapter 5 Acts of Exclusion: AA History of plays, pg136-163, (Lee, Performing Asian America)
- FOB play (50 pages) by David Henry Hwang




WEEK6
Tuesday
- Lane Ryo HIrabayashi, intro, (significance of visual media and potential) (Reversing the Lens) 3-11
- Jun Xing, empowerment, smashing stereotypes and developing empathy (RL) 11-29
- Stephen Gong, A History in Progress:Asian American Media Arts Centers (SAA)

Thursday
-Bill Nicholas, Historical consciousness and the viewer: who killed vincent chin (SAA) + video (SCREENING)

WEEK7 GENDER/SEXUALITY
Tuesday

GENDER ARTICLE???
- Elaine Kim, Asian American Women Artists p. 573-602
-Alqizola Hirabayashi, confronting gender stereotypes of Asian american women (RL) 155-169
slaying the dragon- Hirabayashi, Issue of Reinscription (RL) 241-249 (SCREENING)

Thursday
- "The Art and Politics of Asian American Women" (Legacy to Liberation) p.235-242
- Laura Hyung-Yi Kang, The desiring of Asian Female Bodies', interracial romance and cinematic subjugation (SAA)
- Jessica Hagedorn, “Asian Women in Film: No joy no luck” p.204 (Screaming Monkeys) 6 page reflection/analysis
- Miss Saigon boycotting reading????

WEEK8
Tuesday
QUEER ARTICLES???
1) Looking for My Penis - Richard Fung. Examines emasculation of gay Asian American males in pornography

3) Creating, Curating, and Consuming Queer Asian American Cinema, Ji Han and Marie Morohoshi. An interview w/ the director of the annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF).

Thursday
DETAILS Magazine
Screaming Monkeys men section???
LGBT Organizing thru media???


WEEK9
Tuesday
- Abelmann and Lee, Blue dreams p.399-406 (screaming monkeys) article on LA rebellion and race relation
- Anna Smith, "Twilight," monologues on LA rebellion and race relations

Thursday
- Sesshu Foster Manual something…
- Thiem Bao Thuc Phi, Reverse Racism p.154-155 (Screaming Monkeys) Humor, Prose
- Prashad, summer of bruce, pg.255-265 (Screaming monkeys) Article on polyculturalism and about afro-asian culture

WEEK10 VIOLENCE/WAR
Tuesday
-Lin and Tan, Holding Up More than Half the Heavens: Domestic Violence in our communities 321-334 AA in 1990s
-RIta Chaudhry Sethi p.235-247 Smells like Racism State of AA in 1990s
- Yamamoto, Wilshire Bus, 413-416 (screaming monkeys) short story

Thursday
MID-APRIL: TAD NAKAMURA’S DOC + MANZANAR PILGRIMAGE
-Inada, drawing the line p. 367-376 (screaming monkeys) poem on interment

WEEK11
Tuesday
-Enemies within and without pressure to depolitize community art 148-153 (reimaging a)
- Melanie Kramer, "Garden the City: Activism through Interventionist Art" p.121-132
- Aileen Penner, Jacinda Mack & Lee Bensted, "Salmon Tales: Eco-Art Activism" (Wild Fire) p.133-145
- Sau Wai Tai, "Confessions of a Community Artist: A Letter to My Fellow Earthworkers" (Wild Fire) p.146-159
- Pariss Garramone, "Tellingsmiths: The Work of Planting Trees and the Politics of Memory" (Wild Fire) p.160
PLUS FARMLAB

Thursday
- Heather Lash, "You are my Sunshine: Refugee Participation in Performance" (Wild Fire) p.221-229
- collective work eva sperling cockcroft(reimaging america) 190-198
PLUS THE DRAMATHERAPY DUDE

12 break
13
14
15

PUT YOUR READINGS UNDER THESE TOPICS!

1 AA Movement/New/early

- Chapter 4: speaking out, asian American alternative press (William White, Asian American Movement)
- Chapter 1: Origins of the Movement (White, AA Movement)
- Chapter 3: Race v. Gender, the AA women’s Movement (White, AA Movement)
- Carlos Buloson, America is in the Heart p.53 novel excerpt (Screaming Monkeys)6 pages
- Bienvenido Santos, The Day the Dancers Came p.126 novel excerpt (Screaming Monkeys) 11pages
- Thaddeus Rukowski, Hello Nuremberg p. 144 prose (about transnationalism in Screaming Monkeys) 1 page.
- Stephen Gong, A History in Progress:Asian American Media Arts Centers (SAA) 101-111
- Roland Tolentino, Identity and Difference in :Filipino/a American" Media Arts, (SAA) 111-133
- Karen Umemoto, "On Strike!" San Francisco State College Strike, 1968-1969: The Role of Asian American Students" (Contemporary Asian America) p.49-75
- Glenn Omatsu, "The Four Prisons and the Movements of Liberation: Asian American Activism from the 1960s to the 1990s" (Contemporary Asian America) p. 80-112)
- "Rethinking the Asian American Studies Project: Bridging the Divide Between Campus and Community." Kenyon Chan
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_asian_american_studies/v003/3.1chan.html
- Petra Kukacka, Chapter 9 "Mixing Metaphors: Risk in Art and Activism" (Wild Fire) p110-118
- Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed




1.5 Asian Americans and Art general background

- ed. Augie Tam, Chapter 30 "Is There An Asian American Aesthetics?" (Contemporary Asian America) p.627-635
- Dorinne Kondo, Chapter 31 "Art, Activism, Asia, and Asian Americans" (Contemporary Asian America) p. 636-664
- Fred Houn, "Revolutionary Asian American Art: Tradition and Change, Inheritance and Innovation, Not Imitation!" (Legacy to Liberation) p.383-388
- Elaine H. Kim, "Interstitial Subjects: Asian American Visual Art as a Site for New Cultural Conversations" (Fresh Talk Daring Gazes) p. 1-50
- Jan Avgikos, Chapter 3 "Group Material Timeline: Activism as a Work of Art" (But is it Art?) p.85-116
- Nina Felshin, "Introduction" (But is it Art?) p.9-29
-David Mura "Shift in Power, A Sea Changes in the Arts" p.183-204 (The State of AA in 1990s)
-Ricardo Levins Morales "The Importance of Being Artist" p.16-24 (Reimaging America_Arts of Social Change)
-Elizam EScobar "Art of Liberation A vision of freedom" 86-95 (reimaging America_Arts of Social Change)



2 Gender/Sexuality
- Jessica Hagedorn, “Asian Women in Film: No joy no luck” p.204 (Screaming Monkeys) 6 page reflection/analysis
- Laura Hyung-Yi Kang, The desiring of Asian Female Bodies', interracial romance and cinematic subjugation (SAA)
- "The Art and Politics of Asian American Women" (Legacy to Liberation) p.235-242
- Oona Padgham, "Arts in Detention: Creating Connections with Immigrant Women Detainees" (Wild Fire) p.117-187


3 Theatre
- FOB play (50 pages) by David Henry Hwang
- Golden Child By David Henry Hwang
- Chapter 2 of (National Abjection) “The dance that’s happening”
- Chapter 1 Critical Strategies for reading AA drama, page 1-34 (Josephine Lee, Performing Asian America)
- Chapter 3, "Chinaman’s unmanly grief" pg. 61-89 (Lee, Performing Asian America)  (about this Chicken Coop Chinaman)
- Chicken Coop Chinaman by Frank Chin  60 pages

- Chapter 4 Seduction of Stereotype pg89-136 (Lee, performing asian america)
- Chapter 5 Acts of Exclusion: AA History of plays, pg136-163, (Lee, Performing Asian America)
- 99 Histories by Julia Cho (mental illness, history, generation, gender)
-


4 LA/Race

- Thiem Bao Thuc Phi, Reverse Racism p.154-155 (Screaming Monkeys) Humor, Prose
- Prashad, summer of bruce, pg.255-265 (Screaming monkeys) Article on polyculturalism and about afro-asian culture
- LEw, Black Korea p. 395-398 (screaming monkeys) Prose/poetry Black Korea
- Abelmann and Lee, Blue dreams p.399-406 (screaming monkeys) article on LA rebellion and race relation

- Anna Smith, "Twilight," monologues on LA rebellion and race relations



5 Representation
- Catherine Choi, Salvaging the savage on representing filipinos p.35-49  (Screaming Monkeys) article
- Thaddeus Rukowski, White and Wong p.142 (Screaming Monkeys) 1 page. poem
- Rick Bonus, Homeland Memories and Media: Filipino images and imagination in America p. 145-153 (Screaming Monkeys) Filipino images
- Yamanaka, I Wanna Marry a Haole so I can Have a Haole Last Name p.231-237 (Screaming Monkeys) Prose assimilation
- Nick Carbó, “Assignment” p. 239-240 (Screaming Monkeys) prose
- Denise Duhamal, “Hello Kitty”242-245 Poem
-Richard Fung , "Seeing Yellow: Asian Identities in Film and Video" p.161-171 (State of AA in 1990s)


7 Violence/war
- Jose Ileto p.125 + spoken word media track 7
- Bill Nicholas, Historical consciousness and the viewer: who killed vincent chin (Screening Asian Americans) P159-173 + show video
- LinMark, the two Filipinos,  (screaming monkeys) 321-323 short story assimilation anger
-Inada, drawing the line p. 367-376 (screaming monkeys) poem on interment
- Huynh, SOuth wind changing p. 384-391 (screaming monkeys) novel excerpt 
- Yamamoto, Wilshire Bus, 413-416 (screaming monkeys) short story
-RIta Chaudhry Sethi p.235-247 Smells like Racism State of AA in 1990s
-Lin and Tan, Holding Up More than Ha;f the Heavens: Domestic Violence in our communities 321-334 AA in 1990s


8 Film
- Jessica Hagedorn, “Asian Women in Film: No joy no luck” p.204 (Screaming Monkeys)
-Bill Nicholas, Historical consciousness and the viewer: who killed vincent chin (SAA) + video
- Stephen Gong, A History in Progress:Asian American Media Arts Centers (SAA)
- Roland Tolentino Identity and difference in "filipino/a American" Media Arts (SAA)
- Lane Ryo HIrabayashi, intro, (significance of visual media and potential) (Reversing the Lens) 3-11
- Jun Xing, empowerment, smashing stereotypes and developing empathy (RL) 11-29
-Alqizola Hirabayashi, confronting gender stereotypes of Asian american women (RL) 155-169
+ slaying the dragon

- Hirabayashi, Issue of Reinscription (RL) 241-249



9 Transnational

- Robbie Seth, Fifty-Fifty p.181-188 (Screaming Monkeys) prose
- Bino Realuyo, Four million p. 191-202 (Screaming Monkeys) poem


10 Healing (earth, individuals, groups)
- Melanie Kramer, "Garden the City: Activism through Interventionist Art" p.121-132
- Aileen Penner, Jacinda Mack & Lee Bensted, "Salmon Tales: Eco-Art Activism" (Wild Fire) p.133-145
- Sau Wai Tai, "Confessions of a Community Artist: A Letter to My Fellow Earthworkers" (Wild Fire) p.146-159
- Pariss Garramone, "Tellingsmiths: The Work of Planting Trees and the Politics of Memory" (Wild Fire) p.160
- Heather Lash, "You are my Sunshine: Refugee Participation in Performance" (Wild Fire) p.221-229
-Enemies within and without pressure to depolitize community art 148-153 (reimaging a)
collective work eva sperling cockcroft(reimaging america) 190-198

I've been wanting to post this it's so funny

Grocery Store Wars

It's been too long! Intense Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients
8 oz of bittersweet chocolate chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla ( I always use a little more : ) )
1 TBSP orange liquor (grand marnier or cointreau are best; optional)
Cocoa (dutch process is best)

1. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it is just boiling.
2. Immediately turn off the heat and allow the cream to sit for 20-30 seconds. With a wire whisk, slowly stir the cream and chocolates together until the chocolate is completely melted.
3. Whisk in the vanilla and orange liquor(opt.).
4. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour or in the fridge so that the mixture can set


With 2 teaspoons, spoon round balls of the chocolate mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roll each ball of chocolate in your hands to roughly make it round. Roll in cocoa powder. These will keep refrigerated for weeks, but for best results serve them at room temperature.

Tambourine Man!!

WAIT FOR IT...................



WAIT FOR IT...................



WAIT FOR IT...................



WAIT FOR IT...................



HELL YEAH!!!

Arts Course Focus

The Fluid Version of the Arts and Activism/Artistic Activism Course

The course addresses the lack of recognition given to the role of the arts in the Asian American movement. focuses attention on the role that the arts has played in social justice and awareness work situated in the context of the Asian American movement. It will look at how art, whether in music, fine arts, street art, or poetry, transformed as a part of social justice and awareness work and responded to changing times.

Add! Change! Improve!

Menu project

Often when you look in a telephone book there is one section for Asian and if you are lucky there are subcategories such as Japanese, Chinese or Korean. One of my favorite restaurants when I go home is an “Asian” restaurant, the name is Yu’s Mandarin. During winter break when I took my best friend, Eric there his mom told him to take a menu because “Laurie’s family knows Asian food”. The menu is simple and unadorned but the same couldn’t be said for the restaurant. There are golden lions outside the entrance and even more inside to greet you. The waiting area is small but there is a row of seating along the wall. There are Japanese language magazines on a table and even a shoji screen next to the bar. There is a podium that takes your party’s name which always has a red banner on it with golden Chinese characters. The hostess is always a woman and more often than not is a young women in her 20s. She’s usually dressed in a cheongsam or at least has chopsticks in her hair. There are lucky bamboo plants and bamboo planters everywhere along with a small bubbling rock fountain.
The menu is interesting because there is a picture of people cooking and a blurb that reads, “For an unbelievable dining experience, enjoy superior Chinese cooking as you watch our chefs masterfully prepare traditional dishes and house specialties behind a magnificent glass backdrop”. There is no way that this cannot be food pornography. Sometimes you can see a chef hand making noodles through this glass window and it is quite showy. Usually all you can see are chefs turning woks and seeing huge red flames.
The rest of the menu is all in English with Chinese character subheadings except for the last page which is only in Chinese Characters and Korean Hangul script. The items on the Chinese/Korean language menu aren’t clearly delineated as different from the front pages but there are quite different prices and the numbers don’t match up to the numbers on the English menu. I’ve gone to this restaurant with different groups of people one being friends and the other family. When I go with my family we eat at the big tables where they have lazy susans but there are always dishes that I can’t find on the English language menu. Clearly there are two markets that they are trying to cater to. One is white Americans and the other is Chinese, Koreans and Japanese speaking Americans who crave traditional, “authentic” cuisine that may seem odd, unusual or disgusting to the general population.
However, the items that are clearly made for white Americans cannot be clearly separated either unless you or other guests you are dining with know that certain dishes are not authentic such as General Tso’s chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken and Pork, Orange Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Fried Rice, Crab Rangoon, Mongolian Beef, Chow Mein and basically any fried food especially egg rolls. Most of the “authentic” dishes are more Americanized. The egg rolls for example have thicker skins and are full of meat instead of traditional egg rolls with thin crispy skins filled with carrots, bean sprouts, cabbage and other thinly sliced fresh vegetables. One time I ordered an eggplant dish in English and what I got at the table was heavily sauced, fried eggplant when I was expecting a dish that I had ordered before in Mandarin which was fresh eggplant with a light spicy sauce with fresh basil leaves and boiled peanuts. I find it extremely interesting that the chefs and wait staff will vary a dish depending on who is the perceived customer.
“Traditional” Asian dishes use vegetables as their main focus and meat serves as a garnish but with American food it’s the other way around. They don’t say Americans are meat and potatoes for no reason! Most people assume that “Asian” food is greasy, full of refined carbohydrates such as noodles and rice, and with tons of MSG lobbed on. Asian food doesn’t need to be that way. Asian cultures are full of fresh foods that are locally grown or raised. In Japanese restaurants if the fish for sushi is not fresh then you are in trouble. In Chinese restaurants you are given the impression that the food is not necessarily fresh because there are no indications to tell you otherwise. You can hide taste and freshness with spices, lots of oil, and MSG.
The atmosphere of the restaurant itself is interesting. The wait staff are all male and either Chinese or Korean while the busing staff are usually Hispanic males. In this setting there are few females on staff so women aren’t hyper sexualized as they are in other Asian restaurants. It seems that the décor is more stereotypical of an “Asian” restaurant with a golden Buddha at the front, boxed dolls, Asian wall fans, silk paintings, and glass paintings all over the walls. I feel like they are here to reassure non-Asians that this is an authentic restaurant full of the dishes and décor they have become accustomed to. By marketing to both groups simultaneously they can have save space by having almost like two restaurants in one. They can fulfill the expectations of Chinese and Korean diners seeking Chinese cuisine but also the palate and visual expectations that westerners have created. What is particularly problematic is that Westerners begin to believe that the found served to them in the restaurant is the same stuff that Chinese Americans eat at home everyday. This only reiterates the stereotypes of Asians as all the same and of opium dens and the like.
I don’t necessarily think that we should necessarily accuse Asian American business owners of selling out when they create dishes with the American palate in mind. However, I feel that if one is only making these dishes only to earn a living that is wrong. Food plays a huge role in cultural identity and if chefs are deliberately distorting these dishes then they run the risk of distorting the cultural identity they put out as well as their own identity.

my plant

Hiya, i know we're supposed to post today what sort of things we want to plant in the garden, and i want to plant garlic! either garlic or okra. does anybody know a website telling you what things are good to plant this time of year in SoCal?

Also, don't forget to post your menu projects, when u finish them!

TALK TOMORROW!!!!

Hey y'all Professor Suh's talk at the motley is toorrow 10 am until 12 pm.