ATS3179 · Between here and there: Asian diaspora literatures and cultures

Overview

Located within the field of diaspora studies, this unit introduces you to Asian-Australian, Asian-Canadian and Asian-American literatures and cultures. Connected to Asia by legacies of birth/inheritance/origin, Asian presence in Anglophone countries is often dual by citizenship and interlinked through complex circuits of transnationalism. Diasporic Asians navigate the possibilities and challenges of belonging to multiple countries, communities and cultures. These transnational demographic groups have fundamentally changed the discourse of multiculturalism in Anglophone white-settler colonies through diverse histories and multiple processes of settlement. In this unit, you will study how transnational Asian diasporas narrate the (hi)stories of their arrival and affiliation within and outside Anglophone white-settler nations. You will explore narratives of diasporic Asians through literary texts like essays, novels, poems, stories; and performative cultures like comedy, films, graffiti, television series. By chronologically tracing Asian diasporas in Australia, Canada and the United States from the formation of these nations and leading up to the idea of the Asian century, you will consider how Asian diaspora narratives challenge that Asia is not “out there” somewhere and explore how it exists within the geopolitical-historical and cultural-spatial bounds of the Anglophone country/continent in question.

Areas of study: Global studies

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

1. analyse and apply key concepts of Asian transnational belonging and settlement through the lens of diaspora studies within the context of Anglophone multiculturalism;
2. critically evaluate Asian diasporic production through a variety of literary and cultural narratives in print, media and audio-visual documents;
3. utilise discipline-specific research methods to critically interpret diverse Asian diasporic works throughout Anglophone settler nation-states.

Workload

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per teaching period typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.