This is the accompanying syllabus to the essay by Professor Chang, “Teaching Asian Americans and the Law: Struggling with History, Identity, and Politics.” The article explores the goals and challenges in constructing a course on Asian Americans and the Law. In his course on Asian Americans and the Law, Professor Chang tries to include in the weekly reading packets history, narratives, and cases. Professor Chang includes the narratives because he has found that the students often have a difficult time relating to the history without them. After all, narratives bring life to history, making it easier for students to relate to and/or identify with the historical persons who occupy very different subject positions with regard to race, nationality, immigration history, class, and gender. He also includes cases because they simultaneously document enactments of power directed against persons of Asian ancestry and stand as examples of active resistance by those persons in the face of state and private power.
Robert S. Chang,
Syllabus: Asian Americans and the Law, 10 ASIAN L.J. 105