Course Description: As the Asian American population grows, the need for discourse about the Asian American LGBTQ+ community is imminent. This is an interdisciplinary layout to explore the topic.
Objective:
1. Understand and apply queer theory to explore Asian American sexuality
2. Analyze and critique the two films Wedding Banquet and Saving Face
Readings:
1. “Influences of Culture on Asian Americans’ Sexuality” by Sumie Okazaki in The Journal of Sex Research (JSTOR)
2. Queer Theory: An Introduction by Anna Marie Jagose, “Introduction” and “Theorising same-sex desire” (pg 1-21)
3. Asian America : Straitjacket Sexualities : Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the Movies. “Asian American Manhoods in Hollywood.” (pg 102-110)
4. Culturally Responsive Counseling with Asian American Men. “The Face of the Asian American Male Client” (pg 21-23). *Though this reading is from counseling men, the definition of “face” in the except will be useful to know for analyzing the film Saving Face.
5. How Movie Critics and Moviegoers View Films Differently
Films:
Wedding Banquet (1993) by Ang Lee
Saving Face (2004/5) by Alice Wu
Additional Readings:
1. Living Out Islam: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Muslims by Scott Alan Kugle
Though I hoped to include Muslim Asian Americans in these lesson plans, I chose not to include this reading because it explored Muslim sexualities from around the world and not just Muslim Asian Americans. Regardless, it is a good read to learn more about Muslim LGBTQ+ in general and not specifically in America.
2. “The Invention of Heterosexuality” by Jonathan Katz
Katz points to the importance of learning about heterosexuality in order to understand other sexualities. Here is an excerpt from this chapter: “The study of the history of the heterosexual experience will forward a great intellectual struggle still in its early stages. This fight to pull heterosexuality, homosexuality, and all the sexualities out of the realm of nature and biology into the realm of the social and historical. Feminist have explained to us that anatomy does not determine out gender destinies…Heterosexual history can help us see the place of values and judgments in the construction of our own and others’ pleasure, and to see how our erotic tastes–our aesthetics of the flesh–are socially institutionalized through the struggle of individuals and classes” (Katz 239).
This is not the approach I emphasized in this lesson plan, but it is one I have at least read about. If you want to further explore this topic, this may be an interesting read.
