Readings List

Readings

Including the seminar’s three novels, all assigned readings will be made available to participants in advance of the start of the seminar.

If you are a participant in the summer seminar and are looking for the readings, they can be found here.

  • Ed Lin, “Chinese New Year,” from The Asian American Literary Review
  • Zohra Saed, “Samsa on Sheepshead Bay: Tracing Uzbek Foodprints in Southern Brooklyn,” from Eating Asian America: A Food Studies Reader (NYU Press, Eds. Robert Ji-Song Ku, Martin F. Manalansan, Anita Mannur)
  • Barbara Tran, “Reflection: Family Business” from The Asian American Literary Review “Local/Express: Asian American Arts and Community 90s NYC”
  • HT Tsiang, The Hanging on Union Square (Kaya Press)
  • Sueyeun Juliette Lee, “On Speculative Poetry: a future ((tense)) // yet // else”
  • Swati Marquez & Tamina Davar (Lettering by Ji-Hee Seuk), “DesiFax: Fragments We Recall” from The Asian American Literary Review “Local/Express: Asian American Arts and Community 90s NYC”
  • Bushra Rehman, Corona (Sibling Rivalry Press)
  • “The Lark Essays” (all three essays) from Teachers & Writers Magazine
  • E. Tammy Kim, “New DREAMs” four-part series from Open City Magazine (make sure to read all four parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)
  • Varun Sriram, “My Airport Story,” from The Asian American Literary Review “Post-9/11 Special Issue”
  • Stuart Gaffney & Ken Tanabe, “Loving Days: Images of Marriage Equality Then and Now” from War Baby/Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art (University of Washington Press, Eds. Laura Kina & Wei Ming Dariotis)
  • Bino Realuyo, “Letter” from The Asian American Literary Review “Local/ Express: Asian American Arts and Community 90s NYC”
  • Ed Lin, “Reflection” from The Asian American Literary Review “Local/ Express: Asian American Arts and Community 90s NYC”
  • E. Tammy Kim, “11 Allen Street: Portrait of a Chinatown Housing Struggle” from Open City Magazine
  • Scott Kurashige, “Serve the People at the Bottom: Yuri Kochiyama” from The Margins
  • Vijay Prashad, “First Days in Radical America” from The Margins “Counterculturalist” Series 
  • Tomie Arai, “Some Notes on Rupture” from The Asian American Literary Review “Local/Express: Asian American Arts and Community 90s NYC”
  • Ed Lin, This Is A Bust (Kaya Press)
  • Christine R. Yano & Wanda Adams, “A Life Cooking for Others: The Work and Migration Experiences of a Chinese Restaurant Worker in New York City, 1920-1946” from Eating Asian America (NYU Press)
  • Lauren Hilgers, “The Kitchen Network: America’s Underground Chinese Restaurant Workers” from The New Yorker (October 13, 2014)
  • Herb Tam, “Chinese Americana”

Films

All films will be screened during the seminar. Some materials are available online for use in classrooms, while others are available through the filmmakers, distributors, or copyright holders.

  • Vision Test, Wes Kim, 2002, 6mins
  • A Son’s Sacrifice, Yoni Brook, Musa Syeed, 2008, 28mins
  • 9 Man, NYT Op-Doc, Ursula Liang, 2014, 2mins
  • Off the Menu: Asian America, Grace Lee, 2014, 54mins
  • Behold the Asian: How One Becomes Who One Is, James T. Hong, 1999, 12mins
  • Grave Goods, Leslie Tai, 2012, 12mins
  • Bohulano Family Collection, 2014, CAAM, 8mins
  • Broken Tongue, 2014, Monica Saviron, 3mins
  • Emergency Needs, 2007, Kevin Jerome Everson, 6mins
  • Tom Vu Money Making Seminar Infomercial, 1985, 5mins
  • From Alex To Alex, Alison Kobayashi, 2006, 5mins
  • The Others, Aram Collier, 2008, 8mins
  • History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige, Rea Tajiri, 1992, 32mins
  • A Map of My Heart,Muzhgan Rasul and Lisa Herndon, 2014, 36mins
  • Wings of Freedom, Janna Sellars, Sumaya Mahmoud, 2014, 5mins
  • Black Eyed Peas – “The APL Song” Patricio Ginelsa, 2003, 3mins
  • Pilgrimage, Tad Nakamura, 2008, 22mins
  • September 11 – India, Mira Nair, 2002, 9mins
  • Muni To The Marriage, Stuart Gaffney, 2004, 4mins
  • Going Home, Hung Nguyen, 2011, 20mins
  • E Haku Inoa: To Weave A Name, Christen Marquez, 2013, 55mins
  • Balikbayan, Larilyn Sanchez, 2004, 4mins
  • Nerakhoon: The Betrayal, Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath, 2009, 96mins
  • Hypebeasts, Jess Dela Merced, 2013, 20mins
  • In Space, Visra Vichit-Vadakan, 2011, 16mins
  • Mr. New York, Vipal Monga, 8mins, 2014
  • The Good Son, Michael Sandoval, 2003, 9mins
  • Parallel Adele, Adele Pham, Adele Ray, 2008, 16mins
  • Making Noise in Silence, Mina Son, 2012, 19mins
  • Article of Faith, Christina Antonakos-Wallace, 2011, 10mins
  • San Francisco State: On Strike, Saul Rouda, David Dobkin, 1969, 20mins
  • A Village Called Versailles, Leo Chiang, 2009, 68mins
  • Notorious MSG – “Straight out of Canton”, 4mins
  • 100 Eggs a Minute, Anita Chang, 1996, 23mins
  • Texas Doughnut Shop, Wook Steven Heo, 2007, 21mins
  • A Slip of the Tongue, Karen Lum, 2006, 3mins
  • Insert Credit, David Nguyen, 2013, 7mins
  • Cut Piece, Yoko Ono, 1965, 6mins
  • Eels, Patty Chang, 1999, 5mins
  • Kev Jumba VideoBlog, 2012, 3mins
  • Sea in the Blood, Richard Fung, 2000, 30mins
  • Self Portrait, Stom Sogo, 2008, 2mins
  • Black Hair and Black Eyed, Julie Whang, 1995, 9mins
  • Das Racist – “Who’s That? Broown!”, Thomas De Napoli, 2010, 4mins
  • American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, Grace Lee, 2014, 82mins

Audio

Suggested Supplemental Readings

Accessible texts suitable for grades 6-12 and/or K-12 educators teaching English, Language Arts or Social Studies

  • Moustafa Bayoumi, “Yasmin” in How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America. New York: Penguin, 2009.
  • Fay Chiang, “Looking Back: Basement Workshop, 1971-1986” in Quiet Fire: A Historical Anthology of Asian American Poetry 1892-1970. New York: The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, 1996.
  • Sui Sin Far, “Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of a Eurasian” in Mrs Spring Fragrance and Other Writings. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1995.
  • Eileen Kim, “Preface” in Charlie Chan Is Dead: At Home in the World. New York: Penguin, 2004.
  • Amitava Kumar, “New York” in Bombay, London, New York. New York: Routledge, 2002.
  • Erika Lee, “The Chinese Exclusion Example: Race, Immigration and American Gatekeeping.” Journal of American Ethnic History Vol. 21, No. 3, Spring 2002, pp. 36-62.
  • Bethany Li, “Chinatown Then & Now”: A Report of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, 2013.
  • Lisa Lowe, “Heterogeneity, Hybridity, Multiplicity: Marking Asian American Differences” in Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 1996.
  • Sunaina Maira, “Racial Profiling in the War on Terror: Cultural Citizenship and South Asian Muslim Youth in the United States” in Missing: Youth, Citizenship and Empire After 9/11. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2009.
  • Akhil Sharma, “Surrounded By Sleep” in Charlie Chan Is Dead: At Home in the World. New York: Penguin, 2004.
  • Min Hyoung Song, “Not Ethnic Literature” in The Children of 1965: On Writing, and Not Writing, as an Asian American. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2013.
  • Jose Garcia Villa, “Untitled Story” in Charlie Chan Is Dead: At Home in the World. New York: Penguin, 2004.
  • Frances Chung, Crazy Melon and Chinese Apple. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2000.
  • Curtis Chin, Terry Hong, Paragh Khandar, eds. Local/Express: Asian American Arts & Community in 90s NYC. Special Issue of the Asian American Literary Review, 2014.
  • Catherine Chung, Forgotten Country. NY: Riverhead, 2012.
  • Sonya Chung, Long for this World. NY: Scribner, 2013.
  • Bruce Edward Hall, Tea That Burns: A Family Memoir of Chinatown. NY: Free Press, 1998.
  • Jacqueline Jules, Duck for Turkey Day. IL: Albert Whitman, 2009.
  • Jean Kwok, Girl in Translation. NY: Riverhead, 2011.
  • Jean Kwok, Mambo in Chinatown. NY: Riverhead, 2014.
  • Peter Kwong, The New Chinatown. NY: Hill and Wang, 1996.
  • Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker. NY: Riverhead, 1996.
  • Chang-rae Lee, On Such Full Sea. NY: Riverhead, 2014.
  • Don Lee, The Collective. NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012.
  • Ed Lin, Waylaid. NY/LA: Kaya Books, 2002.
  • Ed Lin, Snakes Can’t Run. NY: Macmillan, 2010.
  • Ed Lin, One Red Bastard. NY: Macmillan, 2012.
  • Lenore Look, Alvin Ho (series). NY: Yearling, 2009.
  • Bette Bao Lord, In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. NY: Harper Collins, 2003.
  • Mary Ting Yi Lui, The Chinatown Trunk Mystery: Murder, Miscegenation, and Other Dangerous Encounters in Turn-of-the-Century New York City. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2007.
  • Sunaina Maira, Desis in the House: Indian American Youth Culture in NYC. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2002.
  • Nami Mun, Miles from Nowhere. NY: Riverhead, 2009.
  • Bino Realuyo, The Nuyorasian Anthology. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1999.
  • Muriel Stanek, We Came from Vietnam. IL: Albert Whitman, 1985.
  • John Kuo Wei Tchen, New York before Chinatown: Orientalism and the Shaping of American Culture, 1776-1882. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2001.
  • Silas House & Neela Vaswani, Same Sun Here. Somerville, MA: Candlewick, 2012.
  • Sylvia Whitman, Under the Ramadan Moon. IL: Albert Whitman, 2008.
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