(Erika Lee, The Making of Asian America: A History, Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition, 2016.) – Can be used as a source.
The examination will have two sections. Each answer should be approximately 650 to 750words in length.Section 1: (50%)This section will include threeof the following short essayprompts. You will be required to answer oneof them. These questions may be approached in very different ways and there is no singleway to frame their answers. Support your responses in detail using information from both the lectures and readings. Please be sure to write in full sentences and double-space your answers.
1.One of the major themes of the course is the influential role of larger world events in shaping Asian American communities before World War II. Choose two out of the five different national groups we have discussed (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Indians, Filipinos) and compare and contrast how the global status of each country affected sojourner and settler communities in the United States.
2.Choose two out of the five different national groups we have discussed (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Indians, Filipinos). What were the “push” and “pull” factors, historical speaking, that led these two groups to travel to the United States? What obstacles did they face as sojourner and settlers? How and why were these groups initially gendered when coming to the U.S.? What roles did these groups perform when they reached the U.S.?
3.What connections exist between U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War and the shape of new Asian American communities during the second half of the twentieth century? Explain using at least three major examples from the lectures, readings and discussions.
4.Evaluate the argument that World War II constituted a “watershed” for Asian Americans in which events began to flow in a very different direction. Using two out of the five different national groups we have discussed (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Indians, Filipinos) discuss how World War II changed the lives of each ethnic group. Be sure to address both perceptions of Asian Americans and material changes to the lives ofAsian Americans. Based on your chosen examples, is it fair to describe World War II as a “watershed moment”?
5.How was “Asia” historically an invention of the Western imaginary? How and why have Asians been historically perceived by the western imagination? What is Edward Said’s critique of this perception? How did the United States become an
2inheritor of this perception? Give historical examples of this using two out of the five different national groups we have discussed (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Indians, Filipinos).
6.What historical circumstances helped create the Asian American Movement and what character did the movement take (provide specific examples)? What types of activities did members of the movement engage in? Ultimately, do you believe that the Asian American Movement was a unique historical moment with a defined beginning and end, or something that continues to the present day?Section 2: (50%)This section will include twoof the following short essayprompts. You will be required to answeroneof them. These questions may be approached in very different ways and there is no singleway to frame their answers.
Support your responses in detail using information from both the lectures and readings. Please be sure to write in full sentences and double-space your answers
.1.How did changes in immigration law beginning in 1952 fundamentally change the demographics of Asian American communities? Discuss key changes in detail and note the effects they had on Asian American communities in the second half of the twentieth century.
2.To what degree have issues of racism, sexism and silences regarding sexuality affected Asian Americans since the start of the Asian American movement? Discuss at least three major incidents in Asian American history in which these three phenomena negatively impacted Asian Americans and explain how racism, sexism and silences surrounding sexuality functioned in those cases
.3.The lives of Asian Americans in Hawaii were shaped by significantly different factors than those on the mainland. What historical factors transformed Hawaii into a place of exceptionally diverse Asian American influence? Be sure to consider the origins of Hawaii’s racially based labor system and explain why that system unraveled during the first half of the twentieth century.
4.How does one construct his own identity when one is caught between very different cultures? Is cultural identity separate from personal identity or are they mixed together? In the graphic novel American Born Chinese,how does the author Gene Luen Yang try to redefine what it means to look American? How does Jin come to terms with his feelings of being inferior? Include a discussion of the internal conflict(s) Jin faces? Who is the character Chin-kee? Why does Gene Yang incorporate the story of “The Monkey King?” How does the Monkey King motif play out in American Born Chinese?
3TECHNICAL DETAILS FOR THE ESSAY:Format:Typed, 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, one-inch margin all around.Length:Each answer should be approximately 650 to 750 words in length.Late exams are graded down one notch (BàB-) for every day of lateness.PROOF READ:More than 6spelling or grammar mistakes will be graded down one letter grade (AàA-
