ASAM · Columbia University
The class was phenomenal! Professor Han was the best at encouraging engaging discussions over sensitive issues concerning intersections of race, psychology, and the Asian American identity. The professor is approachable and friendly and a practicing psychotherapist herself outside of the class room. The readings were extremely interesting and touch on a wide variety of topics like racial micro-agressions, inter-generational conflict, and transnational adoption. It always felt like we ran out of time to talk about everything we wanted to each class. So if you enjoy that kind of tight-knit discussion seminar feel, go for it!
We talked about a lot of concepts and experiences in class. I enjoyed working on the assignments. I can tell that Professor put a lot of thought into making this course reflective for us.
Professor Han is a kind and caring person who if very knowledgable about her field (a few of the readings she assigns us she co-wrote) but I'm fairly certain this is the only class she teaches and she's definitely a psychiatrist first and professor second. The homework consists of readings and 3 essays over the course of the semester. The readings are either psych research or books. Psych research is hard to understand for someone with no psych/science background, but general idea is easy to get through skimming. Books are really damn good. I'm really Free Food for Millionaires and it's 600 pages but I've read 540 pages in less than a week - it's that good. The 3 essays are relatively creative. One is an analysis of your own family, another is about the model minority myth, and a third is literary analysis of the books you read. Class only meets once a week and is super low maintenance. Participation is really easy, especially if you've done the reading, and a lot is sharing personal opinions and anecdotes. Sometimes we spend part of the class screening a video, and sometimes we have speakers. It's called "Asian American Psychology of Race" but it's mostly East-Asian, and the class make-up is predominantly East-Asian women. I like this class because it's pretty easy (although I've only gotten back one essay so far) and gives me an excuse to read interesting books. Also encoura…
Throughout this semester, I was able to gain a plethora of knowledge about ethnic identity development, racial melancholia, the model minority myth, racism, and microaggressions experienced by Asian Americans in the United States.
Prof Han is extremely caring. A very talented, smart, and interesting professor. Her class is less about intensive readings as it is about discussion and introspection. Asian-American psychology is still a very new field and so there is no real established curriculum or textbook for it; instead, a lot of the learning comes from discussion, making observations on daily life, and doing related readings (from journal articles to contemporary fiction). Recommended for those with an interest in Asian-Americans, obviously. However, at times it does slightly feel like things discussed in class could probably be generalized for any immigrant and not just Asian-Americans.
This class introduced me to the history of and the theories regarding Asian Americans in the United States. I also learned how to create a genogram and construct a genogram interview.
One 8-10 page paper, two 5-7 page papers. Class attendance and participation is a must. Manageable if you actually take interest in the content!
Learned a lot about the model minority myth, microaggressions, intergenerational trauma and its effects on my own generation.
A couple readings a week, a few books over the course of the semester, 3 papers.
I really hope this course inspires a whole curriculum of courses dedicated to students of color and encourages healing through collective learning. There are some others out there currently, like Professor Denise Cruz's Intro to Asian American Literature and Culture lecture, but I would like to see more support for these professors and classes. These classes are ones that truly encourage intellectual and personal growth, and care for students of color in predominately white institutions.