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Exposing the Price of Ignorance: Teaching Asian American History in Michigan
Scott Kurashige
| For the final meeting of my Asian American history survey during the winter 2006 semester at the University of Michigan, we studied the narratives of three immigrants whose journeys to the United States followed harrowing experiences that had shaped the course of world history. The first saw his Philippine childhood shattered by the Japanese occupation during World War II. While aiding the guerrilla resistance, his eldest brother was imprisoned and executed. From humble Chinese peasant origins, the second subject saw the Communist revolution transform his family's status. As a Red Guard militant, he was granted a rare opportunity to attend college. By contrast, the final subject witnessed the extreme deprivation dictatorial Communist rule caused in Cambodia. After she fled to a refugee camp to escape the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge, she eventually resettled in Michigan, as the other two had. Asian American historians are blessed with the type of rich source material that pushes forward studies of race, class, gender, war, and migration in transnational context and situates the field at the cutting edge of the discipline of history. Such narratives do more than breathe new life into the foundational concept of America as a nation of immigrants. They demonstrate how the struggle of Asians to establish a home in America offers new modes of rethinking the meaning of national identity. |
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Those narratives were drawn neither from my primary nor my secondary research. They were instead the product of course-assigned research papers, which in these cases focused on oral histories of the students' parents. Monica Kim, a Department of History Ph.D. student and graduate instructor, was so impressed by the quality and originality of these projects that she and I asked the student authors to share their findings with the class. By recognizing how their class projects place them at the frontiers of scholarly research, students come to appreciate how histories of marginal subjects stretch the boundaries of knowledge production. My goal is for students to see themselves as history makers—possessing the power both to write and to change the course of history. |
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As I teach at a large research university in the Midwest, the regular schedule for my Asian American history survey includes three hours of lecture per week and one hour of discussion led by a graduate instructor. It generally draws fifty to seventy students. I could not imagine putting the curriculum together without the graduate school training I received at the University of California, Los Angeles, home to the nation's largest Asian American studies department. But living and toiling in the hinterlands of Asian American settlement has led me to alter my approach in several critical ways. I will outline the key historical themes I highlight and the methods I use to engage them. Finally, I will try to convey a sense of how students have responded to the course and some of the ongoing challenges I face.1 |
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