Analyzes the global presence of an Asian group with a significant U.S. population: migration/settlement history, transnational economic/political/cultural interactions between diasporic communities and with land of origin, impact on Asian American community/identity formation. Instructor selects group(s).

This course will center the Southeast Asian diasporas generated by the Vietnam War, a Cold War conflict that displaced millions of Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, Hmong, and others. Many arrived in the U.S. as refugees, leading to the formation of extensive Southeast Asian American diasporic communities. These communities maintain complex bonds to homelands reshaped by war, distance, and time. Our approach will learn from critical refugee studies, a field that seeks to overturn narratives of refugees as passive, damaged victims and to recenter the study of refugees through the perspectives of refugees themselves. We’ll listen to the unique forms of knowledge, history, and politics that Southeast Asian refugees possess through their lived experiences. The rich literature, film, music, art, and culture produced by Southeast Asian American diasporic communities will be our central way into these perspectives, while sources from critical refugee studies, history, anthropology, and other fields will help us understand the contexts of refugee lifeworlds.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills