Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Summer 2019 - ENGL 394 E100

Studies in Asian Diasporic Literatures (4)

Class Number: 5862

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    May 6 – Aug 2, 2019: Thu, 5:30–7:20 p.m.
    Vancouver

  • Exam Times + Location:

    Aug 8, 2019
    Thu, 7:00–10:00 p.m.
    Vancouver

  • Prerequisites:

    Two 100 division English courses, and two 200 division English courses. Students in the Global Asia Program Minor may enroll with permission of the instructor.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Studies a selection of literary works in English from the Asian Diaspora. May be organized by cultural movements, critical issues, or theoretical approaches. The historical and regional focus of the course will vary.

COURSE DETAILS:

What is the relationship between place, memory, and identity? For those who leave their homes for new lands, how are these three concepts tested? As a field of inquiry, diaspora studies focus on issues of identity and identification across a range of cultural and national encounters. In this course, we will examine some of the diverse voices that emerge from the complex entanglements between space and self. We will discuss the material with specific questions in mind: Where is home in the literature of Asian diasporas, and how are homelands remembered, mourned, imagined, or rejected? How are new or inherited spaces reconfigured through the writing of (im)migrant voices? What are the conflicts that arise through the charged interplay of history, identity, culture, race, gender, and language? And, across these debates, how do particular literary forms reshape or unsettle the ways in which migration, multiculturalism, globalization, or media impact identity and voice? Our discussions of the literature will be supplemented with shorter selected readings by postcolonial, transnational, and diaspora theorists such as Lily Cho, Marianne Hirsch, Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, Roy Miki, Vijay Mishra, and Mona Oikawa, and Frantz Fanon.

Grading

  • Thoughtful participation 10%
  • 3 response papers* (1-2 pages each) 15%
  • Oral presentation* (10 minutes) 10%
  • Mid-term exam 10%
  • Research paper proposal, including an annotated bibliography of (min.) 2 secondary sources 15%
  • Final research paper (8-10 pages) (The research paper may grow out of the oral presentation or one of the response papers.) 40%

REQUIREMENTS:

To receive credit for this course, students must complete all requirements.

* You are required to submit three response papers over the course of the semester. You are not required to submit a response paper if you are already giving an oral presentation on the same text.

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Rawi Hage, Cockroach
ISBN: 978-0887848346

David Henry Hwang, M. Butterfly
ISBN: 978-0452272590

V.S. Naipaul, The Mimic Men
ISBN: 978-0676975031

Kerri Sakamoto, The Electrical Field
ISBN: 978-0676971958

Additional readings (theoretical and literary) will be available on Canvas.

Department Undergraduate Notes:

IMPORTANT NOTE Re 300 and 400 level courses: 75% of spaces in 300 level English courses, and 100% of spaces in 400 level English courses, are reserved for declared English Major, Minor, Extended Minor, Joint Major, and Honours students only, until open enrollment begins.

For all On-Campus Courses, please note the following:
- To receive credit for the course, students must complete all requirements.
- Tutorials/Seminars WILL be held the first week of classes.
- When choosing your schedule, remember to check "Show lab/tutorial sections" to see all Lecture/Seminar/Tutorial times required.

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS