Race, Robots, and Asian/American Literature

Course Description

Summary

From Blade Runner to Ex Machina, visions of robotic futures are populated with Asian bodies, settings, and cultural forms. How is it that robots became so closely linked to the racialization of Asian/American people? What might we learn about the latter by examining how the former shows up in our cultural imagination? And how have Asian diasporic writers handled these uncomfortable entanglements in literature? In this 2000-level literature course, we will examine works of fiction, poetry, and film that engage connections between Asian/American identity and artificial life. In doing so, we will build close reading skills, practice constructing arguments about texts, and explore key concepts in Asian American Studies. Course readings will include literary works by writers like Chang-Rae Lee, Larissa Lai, Sally Wen Mao, and Bhanu Kapil; critical essays by Edward Said, Vijay Prashad, and Anne Anlin Cheng; and several films. You will write weekly responses, one 2-3 page essay, and one 4-6 page essay. For the final project, students will have the option to either give a presentation about a piece of media featuring robots, or do a creative project with a critical introduction.