| Course Description |
In a gesture of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and spurred on by a wave of anti-Asian violence ignited by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Asian American artists and activists recently revived the slogan “Yellow Peril Supports Black Power.” Behind this slogan lies a long history of solidarity and
collaboration between members of the Asian and African diasporas who saw their struggles against racial oppression, both on a domestic and global scale, as
deeply intertwined. This course explores the literary dimensions of this rich yet often overlooked history, whose greatest thinkers were often also writers
themselves. Through the study of poetry, novels, drama, and memoir, we will trace the development of “Afro-Asian” literary imaginaries from the early twentieth
century to the present. Far from adopting a uniform approach to the subject, the texts we read will vary in form and content, ranging from the romantic, to the
experimental, to the critical. Our reading throughout the course will be anchored in key historical moments in the history of Black and Asian solidarity and conflict,
from pre-war anti-colonial movements, to the Third World Liberation strikes of the 1960s, to the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Together, we will ask what the unique
role of literature has been within this history, and explore the possibilities that literature holds for imagining cross-racial solidarity in our contemporary moment.
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