Seats Available – LACS 235 / JAPN 234 Japanese American Literature

TR: 10:50AM-12:05PM

Course Description:
This course introduces works by Japanese American authors and Japanese authors who write while living in foreign countries. Learning about the early formation of the Japan-U.S. relationship, we will move onto the dark period between the two countries before and during WWII to contextualize Japanese American works about internment camps. To learn how Japanese American literature has developed in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, we will continue to read recent Japanese American works that are hinged upon the theme of cultural borders and differences. We will examine the dynamics of different cultural and linguistic experiences also in Japanese literary works by Yoko Tawada and Ian Hideo Levy. Readings also include works by John Okada, Hisaye Yamamoto, Julie Otsuka, Karen Tei Yamashita, and Ruth Ozeki.

Prerequisite(s): None

Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities and Global Requirements

TR: 10:50AM-12:05PM
Professor Katsuya Izumi