Asian American Studies 197A
Winter Quarter 2002

Political Tour of Communities

This assignment is due by February 11. Each student is required to participate and/or lead a political tour of a community where Asian Pacific immigrants either live or work in Southern California, such as Koreatown, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Little Saigon, or the Garment District. Political tours are different from tourist tours and community tours (see notes from class discussion). Each student is required to write an essay (four pages minimum) around the following questions:

1. Why did you choose the particular community for your political tours?

2. What have you learned in your previous Asian American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and related classes about this community?

3. How did you prepare for your political tour? For example, what did you find out about the history of this community, size of population, other demographic characteristics, etc.? Where did you find this information for your preparation?

4. Based on discussions from our class, what specific things will you be focusing on during your political tour? Are these issues omitted or under-studied in current Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies classes?

5. What did you learn from your political tour? How will you share this new knowledge with others, especially other UCLA students?

6. What are ways that you will continue to increase your understanding of this particular community? Be specific.

7. Do you feel that in the future you can lead a future political tour for other students? Why or why not?

8. Begin to envision an expanded role for students in our communities. Based on your political tour, what can this expanded role be? Be specific.