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!!!