Critical Theory Emphasis

Recent formulations of Diaspora stress not only the complex ties of memory, nostalgia and politics that bind the exile to an original homeland, but also the connections that link diasporic communities across national boundaries with multiple dispersed communities. Diaspora may evoke an imagined geography, a space not reducible to an original source, but where divergent local experiences of widely dispersed communities interact with shared histories of crossing, migration, exile, travel and exploration, spawning hybrid cultures. The concept of “diaspora” offers a useful geo-political framework for examining the related issues of identity constructions and cultural positionality. The course focuses on the constructions of Asian/American identities in contemporary art by exploring evident themes of ambivalence, hybridity, interstitiality, liminality, displacement, exile, returns, locations of home, transnational, nation, colonialism, neocolonialism and post-colonialism. The past decade has witnessed a significant growth and critical appraisal of cultural production by Asians of the diaspora. While this course is neither a survey nor celebration of this burgeoning Asian cultural production, it will offer an opportunity to examine a range of conceptual, aesthetic and political issues raised in its representations as well as its receptions.

Course materials include an eclectic selection of writings--theoretical, experimental and fictional as well as work in a variety of media--all of which contribute a rich interplay between roots and routes among sites, sights and cites.