Each student from our class is required to participate in and/or
lead a political tour two communities: L.A. Koreatown and one other
community where low-income Asian Pacific immigrants either live or
work in Southern California, such as Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Little
Saigon, or the Garment District. Political tours are different from
tourist tours and community tours (see Aimee Pham’s “Notes
on Political Tours” at the following website: http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/aasc/classweb/winter02/aas197a/notespt.html).
Each student is required to write an essay (five 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.? What are current
issues
of residents relating to peace and justice — e.g., housing,
health care, education, police abuse, etc.? Where did you find
information for your tour preparation?
4. What did you learn from your political tour? How will you incorporate
this information into your work on our class project? How can you
share this expanded awareness with others, especially other UCLA
students?
5. What are ways that you will continue to increase your understanding
of this particular community? Be specific.
6. Do you feel that in the future you can lead a future political
tour for other students? Why or why not?
7. Begin to envision an expanded role for students in our communities.
Based on your political tour, what can this expanded role be? Be
specific.
