Afro-Asia: Food, Futurism, and Feminisms

Professor T. L. Goffe

tlg92@cornell.edu

Africana Studies & Research Center

Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Program

 

Schedule

Location: The Internet, Monday + Wednesday: 3:00-4:15

Office Hours: By appointment

 

So before we begin, we’re in the midst of a horrific pandemic. We know this. I want to acknowledge its traumatizing effects on you, and me, and everyone else taking this class. If you tell me that you’re having trouble, there will be no judgement on my part.

I hope you’ll extend me the same courtesy, especially as the Zoom room inevitably breaks, or when, while I’m lecturing.

You should know that:

1) Under no circumstances should you feel obligated to share personal information about your health, or anything else, at any time.

2) I am happy to discuss matters with you by appointment and over office hours. I’m here to be a resource and facilitator for you, though I should also note that as a professor, I am designated a “Responsible Employee” and am required to report “details of incidents or suspected incidents of sexual and gender-based harm or discrimination.”

3) If I can’t help you, or be of use or service, chances are good I can connect you to a university resource or person who can help, or be of use or service.

4) If you need extra time on anything, or help in some fashion, or need to miss class, just let me know. We’ll figure it out. We’ll get through this.

Course description. In 1900, speaking of the global color line, W.E.B. Du Bois said “the ends of the world are being brought so near together the millions of black men in Africa, America and the Islands of the Sea, not to speak of the brown and yellow myriads elsewhere are bound to have a great influence upon the world in the future, by reason of sheer numbers and physical contact. Taking up Du Bois’ anticolonial conception of the “darker races” and pushing it further to think about the millions of women too, this course explores global Afro-Asian intimacies. What does it mean to consider Senator Kamala Harris’ nomination as candidate for Vice President of the United States of America as a woman of African, Indian, and Jamaican heritage? Students will consider the formation of African and Asian diasporic cultures and a proto-Global South in the twentieth century.  The seminar tackling issues of  the intertwined legacies of African enslavement and Asian indenture by reading the novels of Patricia Powell, Chang Rae-Lee, and the artwork of Albert Chong, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Andrea Chung. Students will work in groups to design an Afro-Asia dinner party and cookbook as part of the final project.

In the tradition of the formation of the Birmingham school of cultural studies founded by Stuart Hall and his colleagues, this class will complement the ‘Afro-Asia working group.’ As such members of the seminar will be part of the planning committee for a symposium on Afro-Asia: Futurism and Feminisms in 2022. Guest speakers will be invited to speak with us on zoom to discuss the contours and futures of Afro-Asia as a concept and subfield of inquiry.

You have a series of written assignments due over the course of the semester. These assignments are designed to support our work in the classroom and must be submitted on time.

It goes without saying that all written work must be original, any plagiarism will result in an “F” in the course. Plagiarism will not be tolerated in any form. This includes not using proper citations to attribute credit to ideas that are not your own.

Please read Cornell’s statement on Academic Integrity here on avoiding plagiarism and for a comprehensive discussion of what plagiarism entails.

Papers must be written using standard Chicago Manual of Style or MLA citation form ONLY. Any paper that doesn’t follow standard citation guidelines will be returned to you without a grade.

Citation format is specific—even if you believe that you know how to construct your citations use this website as a starting point.

Requirements

More than one unexcused absence from class will adversely affect the attendance and participation grade. After 3 absences you are in jeopardy of failing the class. Please arrive on time to all class meetings.

10% PechaKucha — 10% food blog posts

20% participation/attendance

15% Oral History with Dining Hall Worker –

15% Menu for Bandung Midterm— 30% Afro-Asia cookbook + paper

PechaKucha. (10%) In groups students will produce a 20 x 20 presentation with 20 slides and 20 seconds each for a total of 6 minutes. Pick one text to focus on. Presentations will be timed. Sign ups for presentation will take place by Monday September 7.

Food Blog Posts. (10%) Students are expected to submit a food genealogical analysis each week. Posts are due by 2pm on Sundays. No exceptions. Students must type out the passage and cite the page number of the excerpt.

• **Students must comment on at least one other student’s blog post before class begins on Wednesdays**
• Extra Credit. Extra posts count as unlimited extra points towards participation.

Required Books

• The Pagoda
• And China Has Hands
• The Book of Salt
• On Such A Full Sea
• Exit West
• Dark Princess

Here is a link to a library research resource on Afro-Asia.

This syllabus and lecture materials will be made available in alternative formats upon request. Academic accommodations are available for students with disabilities.

GENDER IDENTIFICATION: You are welcome to assert your own gender identification(s) in this class; please specify your preferred gender pronoun when we do introductions. I identify with the feminine pronoun and prefer to be called Professor Goffe.

Citations

Use either MLA or Chicago only. See Diana Hacker Model Papers for examples of how to cite properly. Plagiarism is a serious offense and will not be tolerated so if it is not your original idea be sure to cite.

http://dianahacker.com/bedhandbook6e/subpages/model.html

There will be two pop quizzes on assigned readings that will count towards your participation grade.

The Darker Races: Anticolonial Utopias, Metropolitan Intimacies

Week 1         

Wed. Sept. 3    Course Introduction: Food, Futurism, and Feminisms

Sun Ra, Space is the Place (1974) excerpt in class

“To the Nations of the World,” W.E.B. Du Bois (1900), Zheng He, China’s Great Armada, National Geographic website  (homework)

 

Week 2

Mon. Sept. 7              Darker Things: A Magic Show and Lecture by Romil Chouhan  Zoom + Instagram Live (Presentation Sign-Up)

Wed. Sept. 9             “Uses of the Erotic,” “Poetry is Not a Luxury,” Audre Lorde, and Introduction to Working Group as concept, Bengali Harlem (excerpt),  The Karma of Brown Folk (excerpt)

 

Week 3

Mon. Sept. 14           Professor Goffe, “Racial Contagion, Racial Enclosure: Yellow Peril and Black Lives,”

W.E.B. Du Bois, Dark Princess (Part  I)

Recommended: Dohra Ahmad, “More than Romance”: Genre and Geography in “Dark Princess”

Wed. Sept. 16             W.E.B. Du Bois, Dark Princess (Part II)

Recommended: Alys Eve Weinbaum, “Reproducing Racial Globality:W. E. B. DU BOIS AND THE SEXUAL POLITICS OF BLACK INTERNATIONALISM”

 

Week 4

 

Mon. Sept. 21           W.E.B. Du Bois, Dark Princess (Part III, IV)

Evelyn

Gastropoetics of Afro-Asia, Chop Suey, and Food Solidarity

Wed. Sept. 23            Guest lecture by Chef Bryant Terry (Afro–Vegan)

 

Week 5

Mon. Sept. 28

Powerpoint: “Black Left Feminism and Afro-Asian Solidarity in the 20th Century,” Zifeng Liu, (Guest Lecture, Ph.D. Candidate, Cornell University)

Video Lecture: Rachel Kuo (Asian American Feminist Collective), “Together in the “Belly of the Monster”: Women of Color Feminist Networking” (link in Google Doc)

• THE AAFC Zine1 and Zine 2 Building an Asian American Feminist Movement (2018) paired with TWWA’s “What is the Third World” (1971)
• Recommended: TWWA’s Security Protocol
• Black Panther Party Archival documents

Sophia Su + Nikki

Wed. Sep. 30

Discussion Section: Laboratory Midterm Session

Come to a class with a list of staff members who work in the dining hall or as custodians at Cornell.

 

Week 6

 

Mon. Oct. 5            Albert Chong, read artist statement and look through the artwork (podcast to be uploaded)

Saidiya Hartman, “Venus in Two Acts,” Small Axe, 2008.

Kaitlyn + Amrita

Wed. Oct. 7        The Book of Salt (part 1-8, 1-84), Listen to Heritage Radio Network, Food Without Borders (any of the episodes)

Vivian

Guest Lecturer: Sari Kamin (Public Programs Director, Museum of Food and Drink)

Week 7

Mon. Oct. 12              Attend Virtual Launch Block Party,  Indigenous People’s Day, 7PM, In class Study Hall, RSVP for zoom link

Homework: The Book of Salt (part 9-15, 84-161)

Take Home Midterm Distributed

Wed. Oct. 14               Class does not meet

Homework: The Book of Salt (part 9-15, 84-161)

Week 8

 

Mon. Oct. 19

Guest lecture and sweet potato pie cooking demo by Chef Lucas Sin of Junzi Kitchen

The Book of Salt (read through part 18, pg 202)

Maddie + Laura

Listen and comment on Prof. Goffe’s *Get Free* podcast with Andrea Chung for homework – 3 comments

 

 

Wed. Oct. 21            The Book of Salt (part 19-end, 203) & And China Has Hands (depending on your edition read the first third)

“2021 by Jota Mombaça”

Recommended: Afterword by Floyd Cheung, Anne Cheng “Ornamentalism: A Feminist Theory for the Yellow Woman,” Tao Leigh Goffe, “Chop Suey Surplus”

Leah + Myles

Week 9

Mon. Oct. 26             And China Has Hands (depending on your edition read the second third)

Sakura

Review Oral History with Dining Hall Worker

• Storyboards for the Cookbook due, one per group,

Wed. Oct. 28             And China Has Hands (finish reading)

 **Menu Midterms are due Friday October 30 midnight, by email**

Speculative Fictions: Afro-Asia Futurism and Temporalities

Week 10

Mon. Nov. 2                Mohsin Hamid, Exit West (first half)

Jane + Grace

Listen to “Imagine Otherwise” podcast, Aimee Bahng

Wed. Nov. 4                Mohsin Hamid, Exit West (second half)

Hannah

Week 11

Wed. Nov. 9   COOKBOOK LAB DAY

 

Wed. Nov. 11  COOKBOOK LAB DAY

 

Week 12

Mon. Nov. 16         NO CLASS

Wed. Nov 19        NO CLASS

 

Week 13

Mon. Nov. 23      NO CLASS

Wed. Nov. 25        NO CLASS

Week 14

 

Mon. Nov. 30      Chang-Rae Lee, On Such a Full Sea (lecture) (you are not required to read the novel)

The Pagoda, Patricia Powell (1998)

 

Wed. Dec. 2         The Pagoda, Patricia Powell (1998)

Marie + Mercedes

Soundtrack:♫ “Oh Calypso (Wo ai ka li su),” Grace Chang (1956)

 

Week 15

 

Mon. Dec. 7    The Pagoda, Patricia Powell (1998)

Leadora + Jae

 

Wed. Dec. 9  The Pagoda, Patricia Powell (1998)

Soundtrack: “Mr. Chin,” Yellowman (1980)

 

Week 16    

Mon. Dec. 14            Afro-Asia Cookbook Showcase            

Wed. Dec. 16            Afro-Asia  IG Cookbook Showcase     Last Class: Afro-Asia Dinner Party