Ethnic Studies 220 – The Asian
American Experience
Fall 2002- Eric Mar
FINAL
EXAM
Instructions:
·
This
is an open book/open notes take-home exam. It is worth 30% of your final course
grade. Your answers are due at or before
·
Write
your answers neatly in ink. Read the
questions carefully and give
well-organized answers. Use the exam to show what you know citing specific
examples where possible from the readings, guest speakers and other course
materials, including films and videos.
Answers that do not draw from the course materials and class discussions
will be given ZERO points.
·
I
strongly suggest that you make a copy of your answers for your own records to
protect yourself in case of any kind of mix up with getting your answers to me.
EXAM WEEK If
you need to meet in person I can arrange to meet sometime during 12/12-12/19
week on campus. Don't hesitate to email me at ericmar@att.net
if you have any questions or need some help with anything.
FINAL
EXAM (100 points total = 3 questions, plus 1 extra credit at the bottom of the
page)
1. Discuss the model minority
stereotype/thesis. How and why did it
arise? How does the stereotype impact Asian Americans communities today?
2. Drawing from the text readings [esp.
Colleen Fong/Judy Yung], class discussions and the film ‘Slaying the Dragon,’
explain what contributes to ‘outmarriage’ among Asian
Americans. [hint – the best answers will address concepts like ‘hypergamy’ and ‘power relations behind motivations’]
3. Drawing from class discussions of the
2002 elections and text readings [esp. Ling Chi-Wang’s article on “Race, Class,
Citizenship and Extraterritoriality”] explain how both Republicans and
Democrats ‘play the race card’ manipulating Asian American political interests.
[hint – best answers will address concepts like ‘institutional racism’ and how
corporations and wealthy folks dominate the political system in the
EXTRA CREDIT
– [you are not required to answer this question – but if you do answer it
satisfactorily [with thoughtfulness] it can add a maximum of 20 points to your
exam grade]
Activist/scholar Glenn Omatsu writes:
"(a)s
we approach the end of the 20th century, activists are confronted with a
task similar to that confronting activists in the late 1960's: the need to
redefine the Asian American experience.
And as an earlier generation discovered, redefining means more than ethnic
awakening. It means confronting the
fundamental questions of power and domination in
Discuss your views of whether the
concepts developed during the Asian American Movement – self-determination,
liberation, militant struggle – are meaningful and relevant to Asian Americans
today. Are the ideas of the movement alive in 2003!,
or have they become just the old and stale rhetoric of a past era of youthful
idealists?
GOOD LUCK!
SERVE THE PEOPLE! J