This seminar offers students of all backgrounds an analytical toolkit to become thought leaders on major legal issues that Asian Americans are either invoked to resolve difficult debates on or implicated in, from citizenship eligibility to language rights to affirmative action.
In the first portion of the semester, “Frameworks,” each week we will examine a foundational legal question provoked by paying close attention to Asian Americans and the law. For example, does litigation in the name of Asian American group interests inherently have collateral effects on how law impacts people who identify as being part of other groups? When, if ever, should the experiences of Asian Americans be invoked to resolve debates on legal issues? In the second portion of the semester, “Dialogues,” each week we will put two areas of law in conversation with each other—including property law and federal Indian law, voting rights and citizenship law, and national security and hate crimes law—to explore the themes of “power,” “voice,” and “protection” as central concerns of Asian American jurisprudence. The third portion of the semester will be devoted to group workshops of student research projects and one-on-one meetings with the instructor to discuss projects.
Grades will be based on [1] thoughtful participation in class sessions; [2] completion of four short responses (as short as 50 words) on weekly reading assignments; [3] a final analytical/argumentative paper involving original research (around 6500-8500 above-the-line main text words) with a rough draft due before the end of Fall Break; and [4] completion of low-stakes mini assignments designed to develop the final paper throughout the semester.
Zhang, Alexander 