002 DIS , 02:30 P.M. - 03:45 P.M. , Tu,Th (09/02/2008 - 12/10/2008) ,
FolH 208 , TCEASTBANK ,
Asian America through Arts & Culture
Meets with: AAS 3501 section 001

Grading basis/credits: 3 credit(s), max credits 9, 3 repeats allowed

Description: This course will introduce students to interdisciplinary questions of Asian American experience, identity, and community through looking at artistic practice. This semester's focus will be Asian American theater, drama, and performance. We will explore the works of contemporary Asian American dramatists such as Frank Chin, David Henry Hwang, Philip Kan Gotanda, Ping Chong, Naomi Iizuka, Diana Son, and Julia Cho, and think about how works written for the theater are inspired and produced. Our approaches will include an investigation of the complex relationships between the Asian American playwright and more Eurocentric dramatic forms (such as naturalism, symbolism, the ?family play?) in contemporary American theater. We will also consider how Asian American playwrights restate traditional?Asian theater and dance forms and discuss how performance art and multi-media experimentation might also fit into an idea of Asian American theater. Our background will include a historical survey of Images of the Oriental in popular and high culture. We will discuss in particular how the twentieth century American stage constructs representations of the Oriental in popular plays and musicals such as The Flower Drum Song, The King and I, and South Pacific. We will also look at influential works such as Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, as well as stereotypes created in television and cinema. We will also look at the history of theaters which have sustained Asian Americans as actors, playwrights, and designers. There will be the opportunity include a service-learning component in which students work with local Asian American arts groups and organizations. Students will be encouraged to participate in Asian American arts and culture through attendance at and performance in local arts events.

Class Time: 25% Lecture, 10% Film/Video, 25% Small Group Activities, 25% Student Presentation, 15% Guest Speakers.

Work Load: 50-100 pages reading per week, 20 pages writing per term, 3-4 papers.

Grade: 50% reports/papers, 10% special projects, 10% attendance, 10% journal, 10% in-class presentation, 10% class participation.

Instructor: Lee,Josephine D (Morse Alumni Award) Open Faculty Award Information