HIST216

Description

Content & topics vary by semester and instructor; May be repeated one time for credit. THE TITLE OF THIS COURSE FOR FALL 2025: SEC. 2 ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY Introducing the fundamental historical narratives of Asian Americans, this course invites students to explore the varied experiences of Asians in America and their interactions with other racial and ethnic groups by using the lens of law, gender, race, colonialism/imperialism, and citizenship. We examine a couple of seminal cases: Asian slaves in Colonial Mexico, the original fight for Birth Right Citizenship, the influence of Frederick Douglass's idea of the Composite Nation, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Japanese American incarceration during WWII, the killing of Vincent Chin in Detroit, the myth of model minority, the 1992 Los Angeles Riot, and the Anti-Asian violence since 2020. Finally, this course aims to provide a critical perspective on the conventional narrative of American history that largely excludes (and erases) the life stories, impacts, and contributions of Asian Americans. THE TITLE OF THIS COURSE FOR FALL 2025 TOPIC: SEC. 1 VIOLENCE IN EARLY AMERICA This course traces the history of violence in colonial North America. Students will examine both the concept of violence and how it shaped everyday life for colonists, Indigenous communities, and enslaved people. The course will touch on everyday violence, intimate violence, environmental violence, and warfare. Students will also draw on "Settler Colonial Theory" and other frameworks to analyze the cultural origins of violence in America.