AML 3673 - Spring 2026 - Adhikari

This course examines Asian American literature within a broad and dynamic global framework. We treat Asian as a fluid and contested category—encompassing South, East, and Southeast Asian lineages—and understand Asian American as a formation shaped by migration, labor, exclusion, and assimilation. We explore transcultural narratives that illuminate questions of identity in an increasingly interconnected and cosmopolitan world. Situating the texts within the currents of global modernity, we consider how rapid technological change, capitalist expansion, and shifting geopolitical relations reshape experiences of diaspora and belonging. Drawing on transnationalism, globalization, cosmopolitanism, diaspora studies, and multiculturalism, the course investigates representation, appropriation, appreciation, authenticity, and the interplay between individual and collective identities. Students will develop a shared critical vocabulary and nuanced insight into the diverse voices that define Asian American literature as both a national and transnational phenomenon, revealing how these works engage – and often challenge – the very idea of modernity itself.