LIT133F COURSE SYLLABUS
Week One: Introduction to the “Pacific Rim” Imaginary and “World-Making Practices”
Week Two: Pacific Rim Centers, Asia/Pacific Flows, Challenges
John Pule, “I look at the map of the Pacific”
Joseph Balaz, “Hawaii Is da Mainland to Me”
Teresia Teiawa, “Amnesia”
Lawson Fasao Inada, “Shrinking the Pacific”
Susan Koshy, “American Dreams”
Cathy Park Hong, “Adventures in Shangdu”
Rob Wilson, “Another Tempest”
Viet Nguyen & Janet Hoskins, “Transpacific Studies: Critical Perspectives on an Emergent Field”
Week Three: Transacting East/West Orientalism and Moving Beyond
David Henry Hwang/ David Cronenberg, M.Butterfly, David Mas Masumoto on Food and Food Porn.
Week Four: Becoming Oceanic and Archipelagic
Epeli Hau’ofa, “Our Sea of Islands,” & Pacific Island poems by Joe Balaz, John Pule, and Teresia Teiawa.
Selected scenes from Moby Dick (Directed by John Houston); selected scenes from Whale Rider (Directed by Niki Caro)
Week Five: Global Souls on the Pacific Rim
Drifting City documentary of transpacific flows into Hong Kong, China, and Korea by Korean film scholar, Kim So-Young.
Rob Wilson, "Globalization, Spectral Aesthetics, and the Global Soul"
Week Six: Walking as World Embodying and World Making Practice
Selected chapters from Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking
Week Seven: Walking as World Making
Henry David Thoreau, “Walking”; Rob Wilson/ Tee Kim Tong, “Jaywalking in Kaohsiung”
Week Eight: Denuclearizing the Pacific and Remaking Oceania
Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, selected poems from Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter
Experience videos and read blogs and materials on Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner’s website: https://www.kathyjetnilkijiner.com/
Week Nine: Surviving the World Anthropocene: Snowpiercer and Killer Capitalism
Donna Haraway, “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantatiocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin”
Rob Wilson, “Snowpiercer as Anthropoetics: Killer Capitalism, the Anthropocene, Korean-Global Film”
In-class showing and discussion of Bong Joon-ho’s film Snowpiercer
Week Ten: Our Writings and Class Projects
Presentations and Discussions
REQUIRED WRITINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS FOR NON-UCSC STUDENTS
1. 5 one-page, in-class writing prompts based on the assigned readings to be handed in by 12 pm before the day of the class.
2. Final research essay or creative writing consisting of 6-8 pages (double-spaced, 12 font), with footnotes and bibliography included.
3. Written description of your garden, walking, or environmental project (can include photos).