ENGL S-241. Drawing Asia/America in Graphic Novels

Instructor: Catherine H. Nguyen, PhD
Lecturer on History and Literature
Day & Time: Tuesdays & Thursdays 6:30–9:30pm (EDT)
Summer 7-week session | CRN 35076
Limited to 25 Students

The course explores Asian American literature by focusing on the genre and form of comics and graphic novels. Through these illustrative and textual works, we explore the Asian American experience of immigration and racial difference as well as the construction of Asian American identity and representation through such works as Adrian Tomine's Shortcomings and Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do. The course also considers the transnational and global literature of Asian American graphic novels from other sites of Asian migration and diaspora, including Vietnamese-Australian Matt Huynh's The Boat and Korean-Belgian adoptee Jung's Couleur de peau: miel. As such, this course seeks to examine literary works and cultural productions in the form of comics and graphic novels that engage with and articulate the Asian American experience as well as the sense of being Asian in the world.

Syllabus

 

This course meets via live web conference. Students must attend and participate at the scheduled meeting time.