ENGL 047B. Asian American War Literature

{Cross-listed as ASAM 047B}
Asian Americans are typically studied in terms of immigration, empire, and race. America’s long history of wars in Asia and the workings of racialization within the nation as social war intimate another story. A major pathway for Asians to America and a hallmark of life in Asian America, war underlies the ways that Asians have been known in America. This course centers war in Asian American studies to (re)discover the histories that remain buried so long as only the manifestations, but not the condition, of Asian American identity and of U.S. nationhood are tackled. Examining Asian/American wars in reverse chronological order-from the War on Terror to the Vietnam War to the Korean War to World War II in the Pacific to the Philippine-American War-this course excavates the layers of the “forgotten” and repetitive history of Asian/American modernity through literature. In the process, we will explore the relation between history and literature, event and perspective, forgetting and repetition, and representation and (the) reality (of war). Readings may include The Reluctant Fundamentalist, The Sympathizer, Yellow Rain, DMZ Colony, The Guest, Camp Notes, But For the Lovers, Insurrecto, and The Manchurian Candidate. This course may be combined with ENGL 047A into an Honors Preparation course (pending instructor approval).
20th/21st c.
Prerequisite: At least one W course. Recommended before taking the course: ENGL 009W or ENGL 047A.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Eligible for ASIA, CPLT, GLBL-Paired, PEAC.
Spring 2025. Ku.
Catalog chapter: English Literature
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/english-literature

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