SYLLABUS

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Asian American Studies 116: Asian American Social Movements: Mobilizing for Peace and Justice

Asian American Studies 116; class ticket number: 121-701-200

Fridays, 2 - 4:50 p.m.
Public Policy 1278s

Instructor: Glenn Omatsu
e-mail: gomatsu@ucla.edu or glenn.omatsu@csun.edu

Course Description

This class is dedicated to the memory of Professor Yuji Ichioka, the founder of Asian American Studies who passed away in fall 2002. Professor Ichioka emphasized the responsibility of teachers and students in Asian American Studies to share their knowledge with the community, to respond to community needs with research, to confront all forms of oppression, and to work for social justice. This class follows these founding principles of Asian American Studies.

This class addresses the challenges facing Asian Americans following September 11, 2001. According to Professor Ichioka, the terrorist attacks and the U.S. terrorist responses ushered in a new era of world history with profound implications for people in the U.S., especially young Asian Americans. U.S. military intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, the Philippines and other regions plus corporate domination of the world confront activists with new challenges requiring creative and imaginative organizing strategies. As Professor Ichioka often stated, the responsibility of people in Asian American Studies is not simply to critique injustice from "ivory towers" of academia but to work at the grassroots level in our communities to collectively create alternative visions for society.

This class also focuses on the key role that Asian Pacific American students can play in this period. This class provides students with hands-on activist training to help them confront class polarization, which increasingly is becoming a major feature of Asian Pacific American communities. Students will receive training in ways that they can use campus resources, including their academic skills, to support community efforts around peace and justice.

Course Staffing

Instructor: Glenn Omatsu, 52974 (messages only)
e-mail: gomatsu@ucla.edu or glenn.omatsu@csun.edu

Office hours: Fridays before and after class; place to be announced

Course Readings

Grading

40% Reflection papers

10% Political tour of one L.A. or Southern California community where Asian immigrants work and live – e.g., Koreatown, Garment District, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Little Saigon

30% Class projects, including final class project and final class report

10% Outreach and mobilization assignments

10% Attendance

Class Goals

1) To honor the memory of Professor Yuji Ichioka by responding to his challenge for students in Asian American Studies to meet our communities’ needs with research, service, and activism;

2) In this post 9-11 period, to expand consciousness of students and people in our communities by relating questions of war, terrorism, and corporate global domination to larger issues of peace, justice, and community-building;

3) To encourage students and people in our communities to explore new approaches to education around issues of peace, justice, and community-building;

4) To use UCLA campus resources and student talents to generate educational resources for off-campus communities;

5) To provide activist training for students to work with community groups; this training will address the class privileges of students in elite institutions such as UCLA and the ways that they can use campus resources to support struggles for peace, justice, and community-building.

Description of Class Projects

Students will create resource materials and organize projects and events to educate and mobilize fellow students and people in off-campus communities about the significance of peace, justice, and community-building in this period.

To carry out class projects, especially the final project (see description below), each student will participate in at least one work committee. Suggested work committees are:

Students will also be responsible for coordinating work of the work committees and avoiding bureaucratization of responsibilities – a hallmark of UCLA students.

Final Class Project

By tenth week, students will organize an on-campus educational program sharing what they have learned from this class. The target audience for the event will be other students. Students from this class will be responsible for all aspects of preparation for this event, specifically: content of the program, quality of the program, publicity, outreach and mobilization, securing funding and a site for the event, and their ability to work collectively and cohesively to organize this event.

Student Responsibilities for this Class

1) Make sure this is a class you really want to take (look over the syllabus and assignments). This class takes students out of the "safe zone" of the traditional classroom. Notice, for example, that there are no tests, and grading for the final class project will be partly based on an evaluation given by a member of a community organization. This does not mean that this class will be easy. On the contrary, students who are used to traditional academic standards will experience high levels of anxiety by 7th week. Please carefully consider whether you want to take this class and accept the responsibilities listed below.

2) Unlike recent classes that I have taught, this class is not student-initiated. If you want to take a class that is student-initiated, please consult with advisors in the Asian American Studies Center for alternatives.

3) Although in this class we will discuss and study issues related to current U.S. intervention in the Middle East and South Asia and corporate global domination, the focus of this class is not on war, U.S. foreign policy, terrorism, and corporate exploitation. If you are interested in taking a class related to these issues, please consult the UCLA course schedule or consult with your academic advisors. The focus of this class is on broader questions related to peace, justice, and community-building and ways that students can forge strategic alliances with others in society to create a new society different from the current one where war and corporate domination are defining features.

4) By enrolling in this class, each student is making a commitment to attend all class sessions, to do the assigned readings and reflection papers, and to work on the class project, including participating in meetings outside of class with other students to prepare the final project.

5) This class requires a considerable amount of work outside the classroom (research, committee work, community visits, etc.).

6) Grading for this class is based on each student’s performance; I will not grade on a curve. Some students come to this class with extensive experience in campus activism and familiarity with off-campus communities; I will expect more from these students than those with less experience.

7) Finally, a key goal of this class is to encourage students to share what they are learning with others and to learn from immigrant workers in our communities. In the late 1960s, the movements that created Ethnic Studies began with a vision of education that linked classroom learning to issues in the community. This vision continues today. Students have a special responsibility to share their knowledge and resources with others in their communities, including other campuses. Knowledge is too important to stay within the classroom. In addition, students at elite institutions such as UCLA have a special responsibility to develop the necessary humility to effectively teach and learn from those in our communities.

Class Sessions

Note: Each class session will be divided into three parts: a lecture and/or discussion on a topic relating to current efforts around peace, justice, and community-building as they affect Asian Pacific Americans; a student activist training component; and in-class meetings of student work committees for the class projects. Students are also expected to meet outside of class for preparation of their part of the class project.

Friday, Jan. 10 Overview of new challenges facing Asian Pacific Americans – especially students in Asian American Studies classes – in this post 9-11 period

Friday, Jan. 17 Critical role of Asian Pacific American students in our communities; leadership training workshop; confronting class privilege of UCLA Asian Pacific American students; identification of campus resources that can be shared with our off-campus communities

Friday, Jan. 24 Creative and imaginative political education for our communities in this period around peace, justice, and community-building

Guest speaker: Tony Osumi

Friday, Jan. 31 Grassroots Community Education: New Approaches

Friday, Feb. 7 Strategies for confronting war and terrorism in the post 9-11 era

Friday, Feb. 14 Corporate global domination and the anti-globalization movement

Friday, Feb. 21 Strategies for community-building in the post 9-11 era

Friday, Feb. 28 Preparation for final class project

Friday, Mar. 7 Strategies for the future work on promoting peace, justice, and community-building

Friday, Mar. 14 Final class session; final project written reports due

Readings

Training Materials for Student Activists

Excepts from David Werner and Bill Bower, Helping Health Workers Learn: A Book of Methods, Aids, and Ideas for Instructors at the Village Level

"Leadership Training Workshop"

"Power to the People! Empowerment and Democracy for Asian Americans in the New Millennium"

"Democracy in Small Groups: What Is It? Why Is It So Important?"

"Community Education: A Guide for Asian American College Students"

"Student Activism Resource Booklet" – from California State University, Northridge