SCA-UA 370 - A Field Research Course

Institution:

New York University

Subject:

Description:

What is a "Chinatown"? The word alone evokes many images, sounds, smells, and tastes from many different sensibilities. For recent immigrants, it can be a home away from home; for "outsiders," an exotic place for cheap eats; for male action-flick fans, Chow Yun-Fat (or Mark Wahlberg) in The Corruptor; and for you? (Fill in the blank.) We explore the nooks and crannies of Chinatown in the American imagination and in its New York realtime, nonvirtual existence. How do we know what we know and do not know? What does Chinatown have to do with the formation of normative "American" identities? What are the possibilities (and limits) of crossing cultural divides? Class members individually and/or in groups research, experience, and document a chain of persons, places, and/or events, creating their own narrative "tour" of this place's meanings. Novels, history books, tourist guides, films, and pop culture supplement the primary "text" of New York's Chinatown. This is a collaborative, discussion-intensive, field-researchdriven class.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nyu.edu

Phone Number:

(212) 998-1212

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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