Instructor Description

Instructor Requirements
Willingness to act as facilitator and not as active professor/instructor is a must.
Knowledge of labor studies is a priority.
Knowledge of labor studies in the context of Asian Americans is preferable.

Instructor description
Hired professor/instructor will act as facilitator to the students and to the pre-arranged student constructed syllabus. Because students are in charge of their own facilitations and run class discussions about the readings, there will be almost no lecturing by the instructor. The professor/instructor will guide and collaborate with students. The instructor will additionally be responsible for events and activities that may be outside of the scheduled class time.

Grading for Next Year

Grading
Attendance 10%
Participation 20%
Facilitation 20% --10% graded by class, 10% graded by partner(s)

Assignments
Blog 10%
Creative Project 10% -- A project related to labor issues. Can be events, engagement, presentations, etc.
Syllabus and Reader 20%
Response Paper to Creative Project 10% -- Graduate 6 pages, Undergraduate 3 pages

Tony Osumi Workshop

Art and Activism Workshop
with Tony Osumi

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
7pm - 8:30pm @ SOCA Lounge

RSVP to Kim (limited to 20 participants)

Next Year Course Description (Draft)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course surveys labor issues, with a focus on Asian Americans. The course combines historical context with contemporary labor issues and a range of specific industry examples to provide students with a broad understanding of the subject. There is a significant focus on the local Los Angeles area, but the course also covers broader issues.

This course will encourage students to engage with local Asian American labor issues, mobilization, and organizations. Guest speakers and workshops will contribute significantly to the course content.

Additionally, students will collaborate to create the next year’s ASAM 187 course topic and syllabus.

Suggestions for Next Year's ASAM 187

Presenter Responsibilities:

- Briefly meet with other presenter and the instructor after class the week before to discuss presentation topic and suggested references

- You are encouraged to discuss your presentation with the other presenter

- With the other presenter, think of a few questions to stimulate discussion

- Try to think of some questions you expect to be asked by the class

- Submit a short synopsis of your presentation and suggested reference article(s) to instructor by noon on Friday for the class announcement

- Prepare a “Fact sheet” to hand out during discussion

- You can include a summary of the main points, facts and figures, or anything else

you think people might want to refer to during the discussion

Presenter Guidelines:

- Try to include references from peer reviewed or other reputable sources in addition to newspapers (although you may use mass media to illustrate a common opinion)

- You are not expected to argue things that you know are untrue

- Please cite your sources

- Try to make your presentation accessible to audience members outside of your field

- Try to stay within the time limit

- Give an introduction to the issues, or choose a subtopic to discuss in detail

Syllabus To Do List

Everyone has a task!!!!

Put the readings together – Nancy
Put the syllabus together – Jessica
Create Blog (with initial “we wish we knew” posting) – Natty
Blog Use Instructions/Suggestions – Allison
Instructor info/role description sheet – Junko
Preliminary Course Description – Kim
Pedagogical Statement – Emily R and Emily W
*Course Assignment Descriptions (with grade breakdown, without weekly presenter instructions, without blog instructions) – Lynette and Shara
Weekly Presenter Instructions – Cheukwa

*examples: # of mandatory field trips (ex: May Day March!), thought journals, blogs

Email Jessica Reading Citations, Email Nancy the Readings

hey everyone-- below are the finalized weeks for next year's class. Please email JESSICA the CITATION of your readings (NO description) along with the week number that it goes under. Email it to jwen@hmc.edu no later than SUNDAY evening (before 5pm). If you have speakers/films/optional readings, include those as well. citations only!!

Then, email Nancy ELECTRONIC copies of the readings and CLEARLY indicate which WEEK NUMBER your reading is for!

WEEK 1: Welcome!
WEEK 2: Asian American Labor Issues: General Overview and Pedagogy
WEEK 3: History of Asian American Labor (Allison)
WEEK 4: Filipino Farmworkers and the UFW (Natty)
WEEK 5: Organizing the Asian American Labor Movement – The Role of Unions (Jessica)
WEEK 6: Effect of Socioeconomic Factors on Asian American Labor (Junko, Cheukwa, Jessica)
WEEK 7: Local Asian Americans and Labor: A Historical Perspective (Junko)
WEEK 8: Spring Break!!
WEEK 9: The Impact of Globalization on Domestic Laborers (Cheukwa)
WEEK 10: Asian Americans in the Sweatshop Industry (Emily W)
WEEK 11: Asian Americans in the LA Labor Movement (Emily)
WEEK 12: Transnationalism of Asian American Labor (Emily/Natty/others?)
WEEK 13: Immigration and Deportation Issues and Concerns, Proposing Action and Solutions (Kim)
WEEK 14: "The Trafficking Jam" - The Problem of Human Trafficking (Shara)
WEEK 15: The Greater Labor Movement (Lynette)

Facebook Event

Tad Nakamura at the 5Cs
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=97837213331

Class today...

Hey everyone I'm sorry but I won't be in class either, I really am not feeling very well. I'm sorry :(

Class Today

Hey I won't be in class today but I'll post my selected readings and blog response before class time. See you at the film screening!

Tad's screening location change

Hi everyone!

Per Tad's request we changed our location for his screening to the Lincoln building.

Shara, Lynette, Cheukwa

Week 14

Salmon Tales:
How do you feel about the article's discussion about the relationship between humans and salmon?
Do you like methods they used, linking art and activism?
Did you like one banner in particular? Why?

Tellingsmiths:
What do you think publishing does to a work? As Garramone asks, "Does publishing make tellings into the truth, a truth?"
What do you think about stories, autobiography, testimonial as fiction? Truth? In academia? How are they effective?
What place do you think imagery, imaginary, and imaginings should have in truth and academia?
How do you see Garramone's ideas in relation to Asian American publications?

Confessions of a Community Activist:
What do you think of Sau Wai Tai's critique/analysis of universities and urban spaces?
How did art and artistic creation hep Sau Wai Tai and her students understand the links between race, gender, and environmental oppressions?

Garden the City:
In what ways could the Garden the City project be taken as "political art?"
Do laws controlling public (or private) spaces act as mechanisms for controlling individuals and communities?

Class tonight

Hi everyone, I can't make it to class tonight. Parents in town + illness. Sorry!

Tad Nakamura

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are officially at the Motley on the 29th for this event. We can start setting up at 6.45, while the event starts at 7.

Yay!

Post Part 2

Drawing the Line

At the end of the poem a letter from Bill Clinton is included. Do you think this is part of the poem? How is it effective to include the poem?

Smells Like Racism 

By referencing the article and from what we talk about in class, what are some race and class issues that prevent Asian and Asian Americans (Asian Indians in the article) from making the obvious connection with other oppressed groups? 

Flyer for Tad's Screening

Hi, Everyone!

Our group (Shara, Cheukwa and I) is working on flyers to send out and post around campus. Above are two drafts of the flyers (maybe we will have 2 different ones: 1 full page, one smaller?). The full page has more information (including a synopsis provided on the film's blog found here: http://asongforourselves.blogspot.com/2008/12/about-film.html ) while the short one is mroe directly to the point.

They are currently labeled with the (potential) location of the Motley and we are still deciding whose e-mail address should be listed as the more information contact. Should it be made more explicitly clear that Tad will actually be present?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated ASAP- we need to get a final one soon so that we can get it approved by the colleges for posting!

Week 13 Post-Part 1

“You Are My Sunshine” discusses the (noticeable) differences between spectacle and testimony (pg. 222).

Spectacle
· Voyeurism
· On display
· Not concerned with social justice, change

Testimony
· Speaker +audience
· The witness is a necessity
· It is an unfinished product, because it demands response, discussion, etc.

1. If I said that a museum is a spectacle because it revolves around a sense of voyeurism, for example ethnic experiences on display, would you agree? Why/why not? What about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial?

2. What are some examples of spectacle or testimony that you have experienced/been to? And Why would you characterize them as such (i.e. spectacle as opposed to testimony)?
2A. How can you REALISTICALLY make a production or an event that is more like a spectacle, read more testimonial?

3. In Lawson Inada’s “Drawing the Line,” what does it mean for you when Inada says, “Yosh is drawing the line” ? Why is it repeated throughout the piece?

*Optional media to look at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loOBBJAP9yA (Lawson Inada talking about his time in camp and also him reading some poetry)

Lynette's Syllabus Section

Hello, everyone! I'm sorry that I'm late ith this- I was involved in a car accident yesterday. Not to worry- all is well and I have a syllabus section to present to you.

Hello, everyone! I'm sorry that I'm late ith this- I was involved in a car accident yesterday. Not to worry- all is well and I have a syllabus section to present to you.


My proposed title is: The Greater Labor Movement Today

1. In order to give the fact that the labor movement is not just in the US, this article is a list of recent events in the labor movement around the world. More current events and contemporary events can be found at the Worker’s World website: http://www.workers.org/ww/index.html

Andy Mclnerney . “Workers Around the World.” Workers World News Service, Feb. 1996.

http://www.workers.org/ww/1996/fileout66.html




2. AFL-CIO is the federation of America’s unions. It is international and serves 11 million members, including 2.5 million members in Working America. Their FAQ page provides answers to questions such as “In this day and age, why do we still need unions?” and their Unions101 page provides a quick guide to what unions do for people today. The local unions page provides union contacts in California.


These are all short; 2 - 3 pages at most, and the contact page is more for reference than reading material.



AFL-CIO. “Unions101”. 2009. http://aflcio.org/joinaunion/union101.cfm

AFL-CIO. “Unions Facts”. 2009. http://aflcio.org/aboutus/faq/

AFL-CIO. “Your Local Union Movement (California)”. 2009. http://aflcio.org/aboutus/unioncities/clcfind.cfm?state=CA

3. Recently, workers have had issues with FedEx and their employee policies. Many workers are mislabeled as private contractors, and thereby denied the protection which comes with the title of “employee”. For example, FedEx has a discrimination policy to protect employees, but not private contractors. The article discusses anti-union propaganda posted, managers intimidate employees, question results of elections, terminating those who ask for union, bribery by improving conditions, etc.

The article contains personal stories as well as facts about the companies; I feel that this piece really makes the labor movement real since FedEx is such a big corporation. We could assign the entire article, but I especially liked the Anti-Civil Rights and Anti-Union Campaign sections and feel that they could stand alone.

Article Summary: http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/publications/general/fed-up-with-fedex.html

Anti-Civil Rights: http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/dmdocuments/ARAWReports/fedupwithfedex.pdf pages 13 - 18

Anti-Union Campaign: http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/dmdocuments/ARAWReports/fedupwithfedex.pdfpages 19 – 24


Johansson, Erin. “Fed Up with FedEx: How FedEx Ground Tramples Workers' Rights at Civil Rights.” American Rights at Work, 2007.

4. For my media, I found a clip from Stephen Colbert’s show called “The Word: Solidarity”. It is a satire on arguments given against having unions and the solutions which corporations are offering as alternatives to allowing unions for their workers.

Colbert, Stephen. “The Colbert Report: The Word – Solidarity”. Online Video Clip. American Rights at Work. http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/component/option,com_issues/Itemid,92/view,issue/id,9/



I hope that you get an idea of what I had in mind; I will bring hard copies in on Monday if you do not like to view the pages online.


Lynette

I've got a massive headache, so I won't be in class tonight.
Here's my bibliography, etc.:

1. Anderson, Michelle J. "A License to Abuse: The Impact of Conditional Status on Female Immigrants." The Yale Law Journal 102 (1993): 1401-430.

Anderson retells personal stories of immigrant women who are battered in their marriages. Their husbands take advantage of their unstable residential statuses, telling them that they cannot get help without risk of deportation. She notes that immigrant women often do not even speak English, and so are less likely to be able to receive help, even if they do manage to find possible sources of rescue.


2. Narayan, Uma. "'Male-Order' Brides: Immigrant Women, Domestic Violence and Immigration Law." Hypatia 10 (1995): 104-19.

Narayan talks about the domestic abuse that often awaits mail-order brides. Their husbands threaten to turn them in to INS if they attempt to get help, and they are unable to get out of their marriages because they could possibly lose all chances of citizenship and/or residency. She also analyzes the governmental problems that harm these immigrant women and, essentially, support their abuse.


3. Raymond, Janice G., Donna M. Hughes, and Carol J. Gomez. Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States. Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. 16 Apr. 2001. University of Rhode Island.

This project is, in and of itself, a book on the subject of human trafficking. It gives overviews of the trafficking problems, details about specific trafficking operations and their locales, and explanations of the types of experiences these women go through. It has, essentially, everything from the pimps to the purchasers, from the initial contact to imprisonment and forced sex. A gold-mine of information on the topic.



Possible Films

“So Great a Violence: Prostitution, Trafficking and the Global Sex Industry”

“The Day My God Died”

Though they don't necessarily deal with Asian Americans, they do deal with human trafficking and forced sex within it. There wasn't a whole lot I could find on human trafficking in the US regarding Asians.

Syllabus Session (April 6)

for the syllabus:
create to do lists

• this includes speaker information so they can contact them (multiple speaker options if available, and then it's up to the person who signed up for that session to take care of contacting the speaker, etc.)

For next week:

• bring a title for your week
• bring annotated bibliography of articles that you want to use for your week and email a copy to Nancy
• bring ideas of speakers or films for your week

Resources for the Syllabus

I found a huge annotated bibliography for a course called "Asian Pacific American Labor Studies" taught by Glenn Omatsu. It's full of great articles, but some of them are sort of hard to find. I've had to link+ several books.

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/aasc/classweb/winter02/aas197a/atocpart1.html

Additional Week 11 Questions

The article Reverse Racism is very powerful and puts into perspective how horribly Asian Americans were treated by whites. The article makes references to the Japanese imprisonment camps, white influence in Asia, immigration restrictions, racism, rape, prostitutes and much more.

• How do you think non minorities, especially non Asian Americans, would react to this article?

• Would the white community realize what they have done is extremely racist and wrong?

• Do you think this article was successful in getting its point across?

In the Summer of Bruce, Vijay Prashad talks about how everyone comes from all ethnicities and how all cultures are related. It also talks about how Bruce influenced people around the world through his karate as he become the first famous Chinese actor.

• What do you think about everyone originating from all races?

• Why didn't Suger Ray Leonard know Bruce was a champion boxer when he said he was influenced by a non boxer because he liked the art and reflexes of Bruce's karate?

Week 11 Questions

Sorry these are a bit late. Emily should be adding onto this in a bit.

In Summer of Bruce, Vijay Prashad presents Bruce Lee's films as points of intersection between Asian American and Black struggles against structural racism and oppression. His picture of inter-ethnic solidarity and "polyculturalism" is a striking contrast to the images of violence between Blacks and Korean Americans during the 1992 LA riots.

• What is responsible for the apparent disconnect between these two accounts?

• What role did the mainstream (read White) media play in shaping popular perceptions of inter-ethnic violence in 1992?
  

• Does the mainstream media have any responsibility for creating divides between two communities that both face structural oppression?

• To what extent do Abelmann, Lie and Prashad deconstruct the model minority myth and myths of Black/Asian American conflicts?

Week 10 Blog

Hi guys! Here are our questions about the readings. I hope you found them as interesting as we did. : )

1. Mainstream media is hypersexualized and in all of the sexiness, sex education on marriage, pregnancy, and sexual orientation is rarely mentioned. We see lots of sex but we don't talk about it in an educational manner.

• What can we do to combat this?
• In this same discourse, what is sexual liberation?
  

2. Regarding the subject-object of porn (and other forms of media) discussed in the Fung reading:

• Can you think of anything that makes the male Asian American character less of an object to be desired and more of a subject to be addressed?
• Why is the Asian "servant/house boy" such a popular fantasy? How does this factor in with the notion of Asians as foreign? How might we combat this?
  

3. According to the satirical magazine image, "society at large" thinks that Asian "equals" white-gay. What does this say about gay culture? What is this trying to say about Asian men? (Feminized?) why is it trying to pose this idea?

• What are your reactions to the magazine picture?

4. What do the readings say about gay culture? What do they say about the Asian and Asian American experience in gay culture?

5. Reflect on Morohoshi's definition of empowerment - to be in a place of power, where you have access to produce your own work and tell your own story.

• Think also about the responsibility that comes with that power: "We had to get the word out ourselves and conduct our own preview screenings and curatorial process. If we didn't have the time, [the] energy, or the interest, that queer girls shorts program would have never happened" (85). What are the pros and cons of being placed in this kind of position?
  

On a slightly side note: If any of you have seen "Milk" (a docudrama about the life and murder of openly gay politician, Harvey Milk), think about the role of the Asian American gay man in the film. What is it? How is he portrayed? Is he really portrayed at all?

Hey Shara! What's your email? 

We're going to be talking about a lot of different issues, watching a short film, and enjoying free food! Come! and tell your friends/classmates. Questions? email me: junko.ihrke@cgu.edu

Sylabus Update

ASIAN AMERICAN AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
Immigration
Historical perspective - current connect to historical as relevant
Case Studies (bring in local focus) Riverside
Jose Calderon - use him as resource (Filipino Farmworkers)
Farmworkers
Sex Trafficking
Sweat Shops APALA ior AIWA
Domestic Workers - PWC
Unions

"How do these Asian American issues relate to the greater labor movement?"

Speaker Series

Tony Osumi - SOCA (Kim)
Skim - MOTLEY (Jessica)
Tad Nakamura -small auditorium (Cheukwa)
Bambu -MOTLEY (Emily)

Let's have Skim's performance a the MOTLEY
venues subject to change
dates will vary
throughout APRIL
2 hour maximum

Field trips for next year!

This seemed like a common thread in the course evaluations, so I'm starting a thread for some labor related API events.

First off: Dolores Huerta, who was one of the leaders of the Filipino farm workers when they started striking in the 60's visits Pitzer every year. In fact, she's coming this friday! I'll try and have the time and place by classtime today.

Week 9 Post

Hope everyone had a relaxing spring break. Here are a few questions to consider for this week's reading.

In "Confronting Gender Stereotypes of AA Women" it seems that many of the thoughts revolve around the question, “do Hollywood movies perpetuate racial stereotypes by reinscribing them in the popular imagination or are such movies merely ‘harmless entertainment’ that has no lasting impact or effect?” What do you think? Have you seen any movies recently that you found used stereotypes in a non-detrimental way? What about in a very detrimental way?


What is your opinion about what happened between the members of Unbound Feet and the disbandment of the group?
Wong believed that…
· You cannot force politics on another person.
· As activists and feminists it is important to speak out against issues that you don’t agree with, even if it means dividing/creating scars in the (Asian American) community.
· “Criticism is a positive moving force” (240).
· The opposing members in Unbound Feet relied on personal squabbles and did not act on “democracy and feminism” (240).
Do you agree with all of Wong’s insights in the situation? Is there anything that we can learn from this incident? What does it say about (feminist) organizations, organizations that at its core try to bring people from all cultures, all walks of life, and all communities?

mid-term class evaluation

hey class,

please comment about how you feel about the class so far. this can include anything from your thoughts about the readings, to the pace of the class, the workload, suggestions for future class improvements, etc. thanks!

Professor for Next Semester

- hired professor should have knowledge and/ or experience with labor issues
community organizer?
community involvement
knowledge specific to LA
understanding of API issues
understanding of API identity
should have community connections
should be people friendly
how to explain understanding/ experience to students with no prior knowledge/experience
should have experience with facilitating a diverse group

- hired professor should understand this is a student run class, but should enforce weekly assignments, such as blogs
- be aware that students coming in may not have prior understanding/ experience of labor issues and/or Asian American studies

Week 7 Blog

Hi, everyone! Cheukwa and I came up with these questions for Monday; we know that there's a lot; feel free to only answer parts, but please give a bit of thought to each question so that we may discuss it in class.

On page 105 of Gong, the criteria for admitting pieces into the Asian American Film Festival. There were both exclusive and inclusive criteria over the years: "Films by, for and about Asian Americans" was a criteria at one point while at another time any "positive images and truthful portrayals of the Asian American experience" would be considered. Cheukwa and I thought that this connected really well to the series of questions asked by Hirabiyashi and Xing on page 7. We could not find a more precise and clear way to ask it, and so our first set of questions are theirs verbatim:

Who has the authority to represent a given community? Does one have to be an "insider" in that community or experience to represent it authentically? Can sympathetic, well-informed outsiders be as effective, or even more effective, precisely because they have both empathy and a modicum [small portion] of detachment from the group being represented?

Our second question block is about representation of Asian Americans in video and film. Hirabayashi and Xing mentions on page 4 that media can be used to recognize, confront, and smash stereotypes as well as develop empathy. On page 5, the authors say that film can be used to "raise both individual and collective consciousness." Can you think of any documents/ documemoirs/ mainstream films that empower Asian American viewers by doing the things listed above?

Field Trips

It's super late to post this but if there are comments/ideas about field trips, let's talk about them here...

(We can delete this post if it doesn't end up being useful, but I wanted to post it in case there's any chance it would be helpful. I think it would be good to check-in about what field trips we want, or what other things we might want for the semester).

Hi guys! Sorry for the late post. We weren't sure until last night/this morning if there were going to be other readings.


Loni Ding, an AsAm director, creates what she calls “docu-memoirs” to “search out shards of history found in archaeological artifacts, household objects, personal mementos, folklore, and rituals, the film links history to contemporary issues.” Docu-memoirs are not objective, nor are they completely subjective. They are compilations of personal accounts which give historical context to the actions of the characters.

• The term “docu-memoir” encompasses the concept of non-faceless history that Lee describes in Acts of Exclusion. Are docu-memoirs useful recordings of history?
• Since they draw upon personal experiences being retold, do they impose the viewpoints of some (East Asians, for example) on all members affected by the event? Or do the personal experiences help to make the history richer and better understood?
• Should we strive to write history objectively, or (as suggested by Lee on page 150) should we try to record the past in such a way that it “exceeds history as a series of numbers and dates”?
  

Lee compares the writing of Asian American history with the theatrical expression of Asian American conflicts in history. She claims that it is "impossible to make rigid distinctions between written history as 'fact' and theater as 'fiction'" (137).

• What do you think is more effective for continuing our discourse: writing textual histories or dramatic performances? Why?
• In these instances, what defines "fact" and "fiction"? Could history potentially be considered the "fiction" and theater the "fact"?
  

See pp. 146-7 to reference Hwang's The Dance and the Railroad for these questions.

• When a theatrical representation of an historical event is deliberately changed to oppose the recorded information about said event, can the dramatization still be considered historical?
• How does the rewriting of history via theatre differ from the rewriting of historical textbooks?

Syllabus Topic Brainstorming

Since we weren't able to do this on Monday night, let's start brainstorming for the topic of next semester's course... (Please comment with thoughts, ideas, and possibilities...)

Artists and Activists

Sandra Tsing Loh - German and Chinese/ KPCC/ Performance artist/ Focuses on LAUSD and Education

Freedom Sounds - Korean American/ Traditional Drumming

Tony Osumi - Muralists in Little Tokyo/ Works with the community/ SOCA is bringing him in??

Skim -musical stuff/ spoken work musician/ works with freedom sounds

Taiko Teams - 5c Teams/ opening act maybe?/ or other LA teams

Bambu - spoken word artist/ hip hop / youth empowerment/ social and political issues/ local artists

D'lo - LA/ Sri Lankan - American/ SOCA may bring her/ war/ race/ class/ sexuality/ political theatre

Canyan Sam - performance artist/ so cal activism/ San Francisco

Sabrina Tan - Filipino/ spoken word artist/ Bamboo Girl editor/ Los Angeles

Bah.

I hate colds. Sorry, all.
But, my ideas for artists/activists are:
Kip Fulbeck
Gaye Chan
Dawn E. Nakanishi
Margaret Cho

I couldn't figure out if all of these people were actually in California, but I like them. (And I know Cho is just wishful thinking.)

Presentation dates

Presentation Dates:

2/9 week 3 – Kim, Jessica
2/16 week 4 – Emily W., Emily R.
2/23 week 5 – Jessica, Cheukwa
3/2 week 6 – Shara, Lynette
3/9 week 7 – Junko, Lynette
Week 8 – Spring Break
3/23 week 9 – Cheukwa, Emily
3/30 week 10 – Shara, Allison
4/6 week 11 – Natty, Emily
Week 12 – syllabus session
4/20 week 13 – Allison, Junko
4/27 week 14 – Natty
Week 15 – syllabus session

extra assignment!!

Cheukwa and I would like you guys to bring in an ad to class; this should be an ad with a PERSON on it please! Any type of ad is okay, as long as there is a person on it. We are going to talk about how these ads give off some connotation and denotations of the people portrayed. More details in class!!

WEEK 5 BLOG

Hey Everyone! Sorry this is a bit late, but here are some blog questions for monday. As usual, you don't need to answer all the questions. And don't forget to bring in speaker/artist ideas for our event!

In general, why do you think we were assigned to read the Saussure reading? How related is idea of representation to art? The reading also talked a lot about linguistics, and how language is the “code” required to get concepts or ideas across. Again, how is language related to art? Is language a necessary component to a piece of art of any type (music, painting, dance, speech, etc etc.)?

Most of us have probably not seen many of the films that Fung writes about. However, can you any recent mainstream films in particular that portray Asian Americans as being “doubly displaced” both in American and in their country of ethnic origin?

Let’s think about the Hello Kitty sestina. Is this like anything you have read before? Is the style very unique? What do you think is the underlying message, if there is one at all, in this poem? Is there significance to the images that Duhamel conjures up in your mind as you read it?

Week 4 Post!!!

Hey guys, I hope you all are having a good weekend! Here are some questions to ponder and write about.

In Nina Felshin's introduction to her book "But is it Art" she spends a while analyzing what Activist Art actually is. Do you agree or disagree with her definition? What is some type of activist art, that is part of the hybrid culture mentioned, that you have experienced? In her introduction she also mentions different ways that activists try to get their work noticed. What do you think is the most productive way to get activist art to completely fulfill its potential? Towards the end of her introdution she mentions that it is ironic that most of the artist in her book have "ongoing relationships with the art world." How much do you think that this impacts their ability to effectively accomplish their activist goals? One more thought, do you think that it is possible for an activist group to remain strong and effective over a long period of time, perhaps 75 years or more? What would have to happen in the group to make this possible?

In the second reading there are many different arguments about whether there is an Asian American aesthetics. Every writer seems to have a slightly different idea about what eactly aesthetics means. What does it mean to you? How would you define it? In Paul Pfeiffer's essay he claims that the idea of Asian American aesthetics is completely legitimate because no one questions Western aesthetics, which he claims is equally broad. Do you agree with this assessment? Why or why not?

Any questions you don't get a chance to blog about we can always talk about in class so don't feel like you have to get to all of the! See you guys monday :)

Asian American Artists Symposium

www.aasc.ucla.edu/archives/event03142009.htm

Saturday, March 14, 2009

9am - 1pm

Armand Hammer Museum

This event is free and open to the public.

RSVP 310.825.2974 or aascrsvp@aasc.ucla.edu

by March 13, 2009

For more info click on the link above.

Responses to discussion questions

Hi, sorry for the late posting - I though we were going to discussion the questions in class.
I think the social status of AA is more minimized than is oppressed. Because a lot of Whites view AA as model minorities, some of them actually admire Asian cultures. But because of their lack of understandings of the diverse and complicated history and values of Asian cultures, they often generalize or stereotype AA identities.
One obvious area is the racial depictions of Asian actresses in TV and film. The racial images and assumptions reinforce the hypersexual and hyperfeminine imagery of Asian women (e.g. Charlie's Angles, Joy Luck Club, and Lipstick Jungle.) Being constructed as "the Orient," we lost our voice in America.
Mass media is also responsible to keep status quo intact. When I was doing some research on the 1968 SFSC Strike, most of the news articles that I found focus on the Black students and treated the effect of AA as secondary.
I believe art is a healthy way to decolonize White society's imagery of AA. In order to continue to resist stereotypes and struggle for a voice, filmmakers ought to be responsible for their interpretations of cultural representations of ethnic identities. Moreover, audience need to investigate what is playing on the screen and read beyond the surface intent. As college students, we ought to read critically and voice our opinion in anyway we can. These are some forms of resistance we can use to go against the flow of hegemonic power.

Reader Situation

Hey class,

I finally got all the articles/essays together and then discovered that my regular "reader guy" went out of business. This means that I will have to make the readers at King's copies and I anticipate that they will cost anywhere from $20-40 (it is a pretty thick reader), but I am almost positive they will come under $40.

I was wondering if you all mind paying this much for the reader or if you would like to continue having everything online in PDF format. now that I have the articles I can put more of them up on Sakai at a time, rather than posting readings week to week.

Please let me know what you think.

thanks,
nancy

Thank you Kim for the readings

Kim,

Thank you for emailing me the readings. 

Cheukwa

A Song for Ourselves

A Song for Ourselves is listed as an activity on the Syllabus, and from what I know it sounds wonderful. It's the premier of Tadashi Nakamura's documentary about Chris Iijima and his impact on the Asian American movement, as well as the use of music for social justice.

It's on February 28th, which is kind of soon, so maybe we can start talking about whether it'll be a class fieldtrip?


http://www.jaccc.org/09asongforourselves.htm

Director's Statement:

The Asian American Movement not only worked for social justice, it created the community into which I was born and raised. When I asked what the early movement was like, my mom simply played an old record for me. This was my first introduction to Chris Iijima. When I got to know Chris myself, rather than seeing him as an OG from the past, I looked up to him as a role model for the present. When Chris got sick, the community that was created over thirty years ago came together from all parts of the country to care for him and his family in a way that made me realize the lasting power of the Movement.
A Song For Ourselves is my attempt to capture the essence of this community I am grateful and proud to be a part of.

A Couple More Questions Before Class

The Oppression + Art/Activism/Asian Americans posting has most of the questions, but here are a couple about the Houn and Escobar readings:


Have Houn and Escobar's arguments changed (informed? confirmed? challenged?) how you view/classify art as

• "Revolutionary"?
• "Political"?
• "Asian American"?

How do you see art in relation to propoganda? Is all art propoganda? Is art's impact compromised if it functions as propoganda?

Reading assignments

Hi everyone,

I have no access to SAKAI for this class at the moment. Could someone please forward me the readings (Houn, Escobar, & Freire) to cheukwa.jones@cgu.edu? I really appreciate your help. Thanks, Cheukwa

Kip Fulbeck

So I mentioned in class on Monday Kip Fulbeck's film "Some Questions for 28 Kisses," and Nancy wanted me to give a bit more information.

The video itself consists of three or four different audio tracks, all laid over one another, so it's worth more than one viewing (in my opinion).

Here's the standard description of it:
Fulbeck force-feeds the viewer scores of all-too-familiar Asian female/Caucasian male pairings in Hollywood films, and combines them with contemporary excerpts from best-selling novels, magazines, and dating services. Some Questions For 28 Kisses delves into the causes and purposes of these created images and their relation to interracial dating, ethnic fetishes, race and gender wars, and Hapa identity.

And here's all-about-Kip, quoted directly from his site.
Kip Fulbeck is an American artist, slam poet and filmmaker. He is the author of Permanence: Tattoo Portraits; Part Asian, 100% Hapa; and Paper Bullets: A Fictional Autobiography, as well as the director of a dozen short films including Banana Split and Lilo & Me.

Kip has been featured on CNN, MTV, and PBS, and has performed and exhibited in over 20 countries. He speaks nationwide on identity, multiraciality and pop culture — mixing together spoken word, stand-up comedy, political activism and personal stories to standing ovations.

A challenging and inspirational teacher, Kip is a professor of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he has been named an Outstanding Faculty Member four times. He is also an avid surfer, guitar player, motorcycle rider, ocean lifeguard, and pug enthusiast. A complete overachiever despite being only half Chinese, Kip is also a nationally-ranked Masters swimmer.

He may or may not be a worthwhile person to study for a bit, but I think he brings up some interesting points in the film.

Manzanar Pilgrimage

I was doing some surfing and found some websites for the Manzanar Pilgrimage.

Here is the committee that puts on the pilgrimage every year, take a look to see what went on last year, and what the schedule is for this year:

http://www.manzanarcommittee.org/

http://blog.manzanarcommittee.org/2008/07/16/manzanar/

Their facebook group site has pictures from last year:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=125594300079

Oppression + Art/Activism/Asian Americans

Hey everyone! I have a couple of discussion questions for you guys to write/think about. You don't need to necessarily answer all of them. Whatever we don't end up blogging about, we can always leave to discuss in class as well :]

Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed discusses the roles and characteristics of both the oppressed and the oppressors and mentions the two distinct stages of the pedagogy of the oppressed (Freire pg 54). Can you think of an experience of oppression you have encounted, one that you are comfortable with sharing, and how it either does/does not relate to Freire's two stages? Did you deal with the oppression, or did you just let it be? Let's say that you could be either the oppressed or the oppressor.

Kondo (Kondo pg 643) writes about a "white woman in the audience who proclaimed her shock that Asian Americans were raising issues of racism. She clearly viewed Asian Americans as model minorities, assuming that racism for [us] is no longer an issue." Now tying in oppression with Asian Americans, I think it'd be interesting to know everyone's background of not just Asian American history, but Asian American oppression. On a very general level, prior to taking this class, did you know that many Asian Americans today feel that they are oppressed in the US? If so, what are some ways that Asian Americans oppressed (both past and present)? If not, would you have believed it if someone told you? Why/why not?

Finally, Kondo describes many various instances of Asian American Art/Activism being tied together, from the fight for an Asian American Resource Center in the Claremont Colleges to the protests agains the mainstream book/film Rising Sun. How do you think Asian Americans are described in mainstream movies/books/music etc. etc. today? Are the images positive or negative? Do you agree/disagree with Kondo's perspective? And finally, is there anything can be done about the stereotypes of Asian Americans in current art/media?

Our budget

Just found out that we have around $2000 to use for the class. I suggest we start talking about how this money will be allocated so that we can give the proper people in administration a heads up. thanks!

Allison's response 2/1

Asian American Activism?

readings:
Freire - excerpts from Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Umemoto - "'On Strike' San Francisco College Strike, 1968-1969: The Role of Asian American Students.
Omatsu - "The Four Prisons and the Movements of Liberation: Asian America Activism from the 1960s to the 1990s"

I think it would be interesting to consider everyone's background knowledge about the history of Asian American activism before taking this class.

Can you easily name celebrated Asian American activists or moments of activism in the same way you would be able to with Black, Chicana/o, White, etc. activists or movements?

How have the four prisons inhibited your knowledge about Asian American activism? How has our current educational system and the way we approach learning inhibited your knowledge about Asian American activism?

How do the four prisons and our educational system inhibit or promote your desire to be an activist? What is an activist?

Of course, I don't expect us to come up with ultimate answers for all of the thoughts/questions... but it should be interesting to discuss. Would love to know what you guys are thinking...

Welcome!

Hello ASAM 187 course members!

Hopefully, we can use this blog to its fullest potential. Feel free to comment on posts or even start your own. For instance, if you have ideas for field trips, guest speakers, possible topics for next year's ASAM 187 course - this is the place to "voice" them.

Looking forward to an exciting and enlightening semester!