Gary Okihiro

Wow I'm pretty surprised by the negative reviews of this professor. I took Third World Studies with him and I found both the readings (though heavy) and his lectures to be really powerful and thought-provoking. He definitely comes to class with I guess what some might call his "opinions" but every professor has opinions and political standpoints, and Prof Okihiro is definitely open - and very encouraging - of having conversations about his lectures and the readings. All these comments about how he hates white people pretty much reflect how upset white people felt about taking a class that analyzed the power of our subject position and centered scholars and theorists of color. Professor Okihiro is incredibly sweet, incredibly smart, and very articulate about the different power structures at play both in the US and globally. As a Barnard gender studies major, I felt like I learned a ton of really useful and important stuff in this class. Also the class itself was very small and fostered great discussions.

In regards to the review below, I feel like I need to clarify a few things. If you firmly believe that Asians in America are NOT a marginalized, oppressed group of people and that institutionalized racism does not exist, then there's not really much room for you in an ethnic studies class. I'm not saying that you shouldn't take the course, because I definitely had some of those assumptions that were completely shattered by the end of the semester, but if you refuse to keep an open mind then the readings and lectures, no matter how clear and cogently argued, are not going to change your mind. Chalking the impetus for this class to "martyrdom complexes" is a pretty obvious example of that. The class is clearly structured and outlined, and Professor Okihiro openly encourages debate and critical analysis of the texts that we read. That said, you have to back your shit up. For example, if you want to argue that Asians in America DO statistically earn more than any other race including whites, you can't ignore the fact that that statistic is based upon MEAN income and not MEDIAN income. (Median income being widely accepted as a more accurate statistic in terms of determining general trends in income.) No, the citing of statistics is not inherently "conservative," but the manipulation of those statistics can be. This class (and ethnic studies in general) is about understanding those…

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could take ethnic studies? NONE! He/she would be awoken to the racist white power structures that are put into place to control him/her because of the color of his/her fur. That woodchuck would reject all capitalist modes of production that oppresses its peoples and it would cry at the beauty of its empowerment. My brother/sister, Woodchuck, would then return to his/her roots by underwater basket weaving and being critical of the white devil. Take this class if: -You hate whitey and/or "white power structures". <wink> -You have lots of extra money to waste on useless classes. -You absolutely adore Marx. -You hate whitey and would like to yell at him/her for a semester. -You need a global core class that requires a minimal time investment.

Content: Professor Okihiro has strong opinions, and his lectures consist of conveying those opinions while occasionally citing some interesting facts and/or historical events. He will rarely demarcate where his opinions begin and facts end. If you plan to sleep through a humanities class and want a decent grade, this class will probably work out okay for you; if you actually care about content keep reading. If you sincerely believe that Asians in America and Asian-Americans have been and are currently an abused and repressed minority by an overbearing white evil, then you will love this class. If you like rational discussion based on observable facts and the real world, look elsewhere. If you like open class-based discussion that gives weight to logical arguments, or in fact, any arguments at all that are not seconding the Professor's stated opinion, look elsewhere. In my experience you will be surrounded by Asians or Asian Americans with heritage representing the global diaspora in this course, yet they will for the most part fail to realize that their criticisms of society and America in general are colored by preconceived notions or martyrdom complexes which encouraged their taking this course in the first place. Hopefully you will not be one of them. Or are you?

This class is a joke. I am sorry, but it is complete crap. While I do understand and agree with some of the viewpoints of Okihiro, it ends up being essentially a class on bitching about white people and how they suck. Okihiro is a hypocrite (says he hates capitalism and is a socialist, yet comes into classes with very nice dress clothes) and a bitter old man, and while he is an eloquent lecturer, his lectures do reflect his attitude. I can understand where he is coming from, but at the same time, he should conduct himself to a higher standard. One class period was "Oppression Olympics" where there was a debate on which ethnic group suffered the greatest oppression. If someone expresses any sort of disagreement with Okihiro, he essentially dismisses his/her argument (without necessarily being nasty) but with either obvious sarcasm or just a bewildered look on his face. I had a great TA (Brian) but I had to hold my tongue at times, and when I did speak out (usually in disagreement with some of the authors) I ended up becoming the target from my peers. Again, if you express any sort of disagreement with the authors, you will not get a full check plus on your weekly responses (under the guise of not thinking critically enough) and those will end up hurting your grade if you are on the border between grades. I ended up with a B (80% on the midterm/B+ on the final but no exact % was…

He's a really nice and laid back guy. His knowledge of Asian American history is tremendous. He basically only teaches one day a week while the other day, the TA leads a discussion. The class can get quite touchy feely as people talk about themselves and try to pass if off as if every other person of Asian American descent had the same experience. Much of the material we read is not discussed. There are also weekly videos to be watched and those are not discussed at all which is a shame since many of the videos triggered a lot of thought and questions for the students who watched them.

I'll be honest with you -- I wasn't a fan. This was my least favorite course of all the classes that I have taken at Columbia so far. I find the material far from intellectually vigorous -- politically charged readings beneath a veneer of high-falutin language is given out weekly. But rather than analysis from a purely analytical standpoint, breaking down arguments are discouraged as we are encouraged to accommodate the unique, oppressed viewpoint of the author. To some degree, this is an interesting standpoint. But it leaves those with genuinely different opinions extremely little to do as the semester progresses as the class is set up in such a way that only certain kinds of opinions are voiced in during lecture. It is not that Okihiro shoots down comments so much as that the way the course is set up and taught in and our of recitation is not particularly accommodating to this kind of discussion. Talking to other members of the class, many agreed that they found themselves giving arguments in their papers and exams that they absolutely did not agree in or believe were valid, but which they gauged might get the best response from their TA -- an idea to how this class works. This class is a difficult class to stomach -- not because of the workload (its low), but simply because of the way it is conducted. If you are a student who needs to be convinced by his work, steer clear.…

great class ! amusing guy. plays music during lecture days and just student generated talking on discussion days. no exams ! so you really don't need to pay that much attention ! lots of guest speakers ! good stuff ! two papers, discussion, weekly responses to readings and weekly films is not too tough ! the class is interesting, the readings are pretty okay too !

Honestly, this class was largely a disappointment. Coursework is taught purely from Okihiro's point of view, with selected readings serving solely to reinforce his points. Okihiro actively derides critical intellectual concepts such as scientific classification, the academic system, etc. While I understand that indeed, the point of the class is to examine systems for ethnic qualities, little "proof" was actually presented. Instead, the course relies on the highly subjective complaints of select individuals, dismissing any opportunity to question the validity of their claims by declaring that this would in itself "suppress their ability to speak." A course which claims to foster free speech, but instead, serves as a stage for constant subjective complaint against "the establishment" quickly looses any semblance of genuine intellectual quality.

two 10 page papers, one a research paper. Tons of reading, but the TA for my class never got it together and put some of it online as promised. Posting to an e bulletin board....ah the agonies of being a 21st century student.