Undergraduate General Education

AA S 101 First-Year Experience (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: First-year freshmen.

Foundations of intellectual, academic and career preparation for students enrolled in Asian American Studies courses.

Course Attributes:

• A1: Oral Communication

AA S 110 Critical Thinking and the Asian American Experience (Units: 3) 

Development of basic critical thinking skills involved in understanding, criticizing and constructing arguments reflective of the experience of Asian Americans and key themes of Asian American Studies. (Note: In order for this course to satisfy General Education, students must earn a C- or CR or higher grade if taken fall 2014 or later.)

Course Attributes:

• A3: Critical Thinking

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

AA S 214 Second Year Written Composition: Asian American Studies (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: ENG 114 or equivalent with a grade of CR or C- or better.

Reading and writing with speech as a supportive language skill. Must be taken after completing 24 units and before completing 60 units. (Plus/minus ABC/NC, CR/NC allowed)

Course Attributes:

• A4: Written English Comm II

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

• Social Justice

No courses applicable. 

AA S 212 Asian Americans and Mass Media (Units: 3)

Images and treatment of Asian Americans in mass media, especially motion pictures, television, advertising, popular literature and commercial art. American minorities in the entertainment industry. [Formerly AA S 518 and AA S 693]

Course Attributes:

• C1: Arts
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

AA S 216 Introduction to Asian American Literature (Units: 3)

Reading and analysis of Asian American literature. Appreciation of literature from a literary standpoint with a focus on history, identity and representation. [Formerly AA S 206]

Course Attributes:

• C2: Humanities
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

AA S 218 Asian American Culture (Units: 3)

Ethnic values and cultures in America using Asian American arts, languages and literatures. How these works reflect and express the character of the Asian American experience and the forces that have shaped that experience. [Formerly ETHS 210]

Course Attributes:

• E1: Lifelong Learning Develop
• C2: Humanities
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Global Perspectives
• Social Justice

AA S 211 Contemporary Asian Americans (Units: 3)

Examination of factors that define minority groups and their positions in contemporary U.S. society, using Asian Americans as a case study. [Formerly ETHS 220]

Course Attributes:

• D1: Social Sciences

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

• Social Justice

AA S 210 History of Asians in the United States (Units: 3)

Comparative analysis of the experience of different Asian American groups and their place in the general history and development of American society. [Formerly AA S 200]

Course Attributes:

• U.S. History
• D2: Social Sciences: U.S. Hist
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

AA S 213 Asian Americans and American Ideals and Institutions (Units: 3)

The Asian American experience in the U.S., focusing on basic governmental ideals and institutions. Impact of Asians on legal-constitutional America and the countervailing impact of political-legal structures imposed on Asians. [Formerly AA S 205]

Course Attributes:

• U.S. Govt CA State Local Govt
• D3: Social Sciences: US CA Gov
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Social Justice

AA S 106 Asian American Activism (Units: 3)

Introduction to the discipline of Asian American studies and the practice of interdisciplinary, social-justice based inquiry and research. Focus on the human behavior of Asian American leadership, visionary activism, activist movements and activist-related knowledge paradigms. Emphasis on rhetorical strategies of communication for self-reflection, self-determination and community empowerment, and for the development of social relationships.

Course Attributes

E: Lifelong Learning Develop

AA S 108 Asian American Artistic Explorations: Creativity, Identity, and Community (Units: 3)

Examine Asian American artistic explorations as self-expression, a reflection of community and a tool for organizing. Study how artists utilize creative work for the exploration, recording, understanding and expression of Asian American life. Investigate the importance of visual literacy in enacting social justice and empowerment in the Asian American community. Explore how Asian American artists employ autobiography and self-portraiture to analyze and express concerns such as well-being, identity formation, social justice and community activism. Analyze works by Asian American creators in relation to the Asian American community. Writing and creative assignments. (Plus-minus letter grade only)

Course Attributes

E: Lifelong Learning Develop

Any 3-unit course offered by the College of Ethnic Studies, including AAS courses, will fulfill this requirement. Transfer students starting in Fall 2022 will generally complete this requirement prior to transfer.

AA S 591 Asian American Community Health Issues (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Examination of community health concepts and needs specific to the Asian American communities; practical skills in community health issues and service. [Formerly AA S 575]

Course Attributes:

• E1: Lifelong Learning Develop
• UD-B: Physical Life Science
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Social Justice

AA S 322 Chinese American Language and Literature (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

Cultural identity of the Chinese American as it is expressed in the language and literature; Chinese community and its influence on the creative process in literature. 

 Course Attributes: 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

• Social Justice 

AA S 332 Japanese American Art and Literature (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

Examination of Japanese American art and literature through historical, social and cultural factors that influenced its development. Specific works and artists representing different genres and periods will be analyzed. [Formerly AA S 444] 

Course Attributes: 

• E1: Lifelong Learning Develop 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

• Social Justice 

AA S 352 Filipina/o American Literature, Art, and Culture (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

Critical perspectives on Filipina/o American culture through the examination of diverse genres of art and literature primarily written in English about Filipina/os in the United States, the Philippines and in diaspora. [Formerly AA S 363] 

Course Attributes: 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

• Global Perspectives 

• Social Justice 

AA S 372 Vietnamese American Literature (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

A critical survey of Vietnamese American literature, taking into account issues of race, class, gender, sexuality and trauma. 

Course Attributes: 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

AA S 377 Cambodians in the United States (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

Examine push-pull factors that led people to flee Cambodia; focus on constraints and strategies (institutional, artistic, community, cultural) deployed by Cambodian Americans to negotiate their status in the U.S.: politically, culturally, economically, and socially. [Formerly AA S 393] 

Course Attributes: 

• E1: Lifelong Learning Develop 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

• Global Perspectives 

• Social Justice 

AA S 512 Asian American Children's/Adolescent Literature (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

Literary works with Asian American themes that are written for youth (preschool to middle school). How Asian Americans are depicted from the 19th century to the present in this literature. [CSL may be available] [Formerly AA S 502] 

Course Attributes: 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

• Social Justice 

AA S 514 Asian American Community Arts Workshop (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

Interdisciplinary collaboration in a variety of Asian American creative art forms through community-based workshops. Classwork, 2 units; activity, 1 unit. [Formerly AA S 304] 

Course Attributes: 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

AA S 516 Asian American Photographic Explorations (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

Photography as a personal tool for the exploration, recording, understanding, and expression of Asian American life. Classwork, 2 units; laboratory, 1 unit. [Formerly AA S 308] 

Course Attributes: 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

AA S 520 Asian American Musical Communities (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing or consent of instructor. 

Review of the Asian American musical experience, including the cultural sources that have informed artists' projects, as well as the history that has shaped collective arts organization and activism among Asian Americans. 

Course Attributes:

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

AA S 522 Transracial Adoptee Experience (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing or consent of instructor. 

Examination of transracial adoption from historical, cultural, and sociopolitical perspectives. Addresses ways in which transracial adoptions challenges notions of culture, race, gender, sexuality and nation. 

AA S 540 South Asians in the United States (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

History of South Asian immigration to the U.S., and how South Asian Americans negotiate ethnic belonging and national citizenship. Topics include racialization, class divides, gender, inequalities, queer politics, and youth culture. [Formerly AA S 340] 

Course Attributes: 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

• Global Perspectives 

• Social Justice 

AA S 582 Asian American Women's Literature and the Arts (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

Works by Asian American women writers and artists; how Asian American women are depicted in literature and the arts. [Formerly AA S 622] 

Course Attributes: 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

• Social Justice 

AA S 584 Asian American Sexualities (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

Introduction to Asian American queer theory and sexuality studies. Examination of how sexuality impacts the lived experience of immigration, race, gender, class and generational difference among Asian Americans. 

Course Attributes: 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

• Global Perspectives 

• Social Justice 

AA S 585 Asian American Religiosities (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

Major issues particular to the predicaments of Asian Americans and their religions; interdisciplinary and anchored in critical Asian American Studies perspectives constructed within the context of the intersections of race and religion. 

Course Attributes: 

• E1: Lifelong Learning Develop 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

• Global Perspectives 

• Social Justice 

AA S 588 Asian American Media Workshop (Units: 3) 

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.  

Film and media arts as self-expression, reflection of community and a tool for activism in the Asian American community. Classwork, 2 units; activity, 1 unit. 

Course Attributes: 

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities 

• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities 

AA S 301 Asian Americans of Mixed Heritages (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Issues concerning Asian Americans of mixed racial and ethnic heritages, focusing on mixed heritage identities in relation to their ethnic and cultural sensibilities. [Formerly AA S 550]

Course Attributes:

• E1: Lifelong Learning Develop
• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Global Perspectives
• Social Justice

AA S 320 Chinese in the United States (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

The Chinese American experience in critical historical perspective from the beginning of immigration in the 19th century to the present. [Formerly AA S 310]

Course Attributes:

• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Global Perspectives
• Social Justice

AA S 323 Chinese American Identities (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Historical, institutional, and cultural sources of Chinese American identity and sensibility. Mental health issues related to self-perception, stereotypes, family problems, institutional racism, and the development of autonomy. [CSL may be available] [Formerly AA S 315]

 Course Attributes:

• E1: Lifelong Learning Develop
• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Global Perspectives
• Social Justice

AA S 330 Nikkei in the United States (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Historical experience of Japanese Americans in the United States: prewar immigration and settlement, the struggle against racial exclusion, World War II incarceration, and the postwar return and development of contemporary Nikkei community. [Formerly AA S 331]

Course Attributes:

• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Social Justice

AA S 333 Japanese American Identities (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Japanese American character, identity, self-image, and behavioral manifestations of the interaction of American and Japanese cultural values. [Formerly AA S 335]

Course Attributes:

• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

AA S 350 Filipina/os in the United States (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Immigration of the Filipina/os to the United States; various coping mechanisms used in response to adjustment problems; changing structure of the community. [Formerly AA S 456]

Course Attributes:

• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

AA S 353 Filipina/o American Identities (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Historical, social, and cultural influences that impact the identities of Filipina/o Americans through a framework of decolonization. [Formerly AA S 355]

Course Attributes:

• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Social Justice

AA S 360 Koreans in the United States (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Korean Americans in the U.S., examining the historical experience and the sociological, political, and economic implications of being a minority and immigrant in the U.S. [Formerly AA S 380]

Course Attributes:

• E1: Lifelong Learning Develop
• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Global Perspectives
• Social Justice

AA S 370 Vietnamese in the United States (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Origins and causes of Vietnamese movements to the U.S. and nature of Vietnamese experience in America in terms of political, cultural, and economic factors.

Course Attributes:

• E1: Lifelong Learning Develop
• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Global Perspectives
• Social Justice

AA S 373 Vietnamese American Identities (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Vietnamese American experience since 1975: psychological adaptation, educational adjustment, socioeconomic integration, and cultural/ethnic maintenance. [Formerly AA S 375]

Course Attributes:

• E1: Lifelong Learning Develop
• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Global Perspectives
• Social Justice

AA S 510 Asian Americans in California (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Asian American contributions to the building of the state from their first arrival in the 19th century to their role within California's multiracial racial formation and their growing influence on contemporary California. [Formerly AA S 300]

Course Attributes:

• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Environmental Sustainability
• Social Justice

AA S 541 South Asian Diaspora (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Uses transnational and comparative frameworks to examine South Asian immigration to various countries; how colonialism, nationalism and the politics of race, gender, class and sexuality shape diasporic identities and communities. [CSL may be available] [Formerly ETHS 657]
(This course is offered as RRS 657 and AA S 541. Students may not repeat the course under an alternate prefix.)

Course Attributes:

• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Global Perspectives
• Social Justice

AA S 570 Southeast Asians in the United States (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Comparative exploration of Southeast Asian America by examining the histories and experiences of Burmese, Cambodian, Filipina/o, Hmong, Indonesian, Lao, Mien, Mong, Vietnamese and Thai Americans. [Formerly AA S 390]

Course Attributes:

• E1: Lifelong Learning Develop
• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Global Perspectives
• Social Justice

AA S 587 Asian Americans and Environmental Justice (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Examination of the environmental racism issues faced by Asian Americans and how their communities have organized for justice.

Course Attributes:

• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Environmental Sustainability
• Social Justice

AA S 595 Asian American Communities and Public Policy (Units: 3)

Prerequisite: Upper-Division standing or consent of instructor.

Public policy issues, their impact on and the responses from the Asian American communities; relationship and complexities of local, state and federal policies facing the Asian American communities. [CSL may be available] [Formerly ETHS 665]

Course Attributes:

• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Social Justice

AA S 681 Asian American Community Changes and Development (Units: 3)

Prerequisites: Upper-Division Asian American Studies majors and minors only; 6 units of AA S GE courses or consent of instructor.

Asian American community origins, changes, economics; trends in residential and community patterns; and effects of immigration and population growth. [CSL may be available] [Formerly AA S 680]

Course Attributes:

• UD-D: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Social Justice