Starting next semester, NC State will offer its first course, FL 394, focused on Asian-American culture and literature. Taught by Nathaniel Isaacson, Asian-American Literature aims to bring awareness to topics of the Asian-American experience both throughout history and current events in the United States.

Isaacson is an assistant professor of modern Chinese literature with a Ph.D. in Asian languages and cultures from University of California-Los Angeles. He said that often while teaching his classes, he was approached by Asian-American students who said there was a need for a class that discussed Asian-American culture at NC State. 

“Students felt that they wanted to see classes that addressed some of their issues as Asian-Americans rather than just classes that address Asian studies within Asia,” Isaacson said.

When Natalie Nguyen, assistant director of the GLBT Center, also reached out to Isaacson about the possibility of creating this course, Isaacson said he knew that now was the right time to officially get it started.

Nguyen said she spoke to students who expressed that they felt NC State was lacking in curriculum of Asian-American culture. She said students wanted to see a class that was a representation of their experience and wanted the opportunity to learn more about Asian-American history.

“When you look at diversity awareness and education, there is a lot of discussion about seeing curriculum that reflects you,” Nguyen said. “That helps to give you a better understanding of your identity and the things you’re experiencing.”

According to the Forbes 2015 ranking, 5 percent of NC State students are Asian-American. Nguyen said these students often do not have an outlet to express their struggles as Asian-American students in the same way other groups do.

Nguyen said that from talking to students, she has noticed that students who are first, second and third generation each have different experiences of being incorporated into American society. She said that often their parents can’t be a good resource for students because the conditions are always changing, and coming to the U.S. as an immigrant is such a different experience than being born and raised in the U.S.

Nguyen also explained that Asian-Americans were a more prevalent part of American history, especially in the mid-late 1900s, in which many people were unaware. The hope is that this course will allow students to see another perspective of history in the U.S. that people are often unaware of or that they have not heard before.

The course will focus on the commonalities between the Asian-American experience and the experience of other ethnic groups or minority groups within the U.S. Topics that will be covered range from the civil rights movement, immigration and current issues in today’s society.

Both Nguyen and Isaacson researched other courses similar to this one at other institutions to gain an idea of what types of topics to cover and which types of literature to focus on, as well as to build a course that gives a well-rounded perspective into each of the topics.

Asian-American Literature will be open to everyone on campus, and Isaacson said he hopes students from all different backgrounds will choose to enroll.

However, according to Isaacson, as of last Thursday, there was only one student who was signed up for the course. If approximately 10 to 15 students do not enroll in the class by the beginning of the spring semester, then it will likely be canceled or postponed.

Nguyen said that if this happens, they have a plan for advertising and creating awareness of the class to students by next fall.

Students at other universities in the past have protested for types of classes like these. For example, students at Northwestern University went on a 120-day hunger strike to have Asian-American studies courses offered at their school.

Nguyen said they were lucky that NC State was very receptive with making the course before students needed to protest for it, but now there is a need for increased awareness of it so that they can keep this class and continue to build the Asian-American studies in the future.

“It will be 2016, and this is our first-ever [Asian-American] class,” Nguyen said. “To put that in the same sentence is kind of mind-boggling. It’s going to take some time to build that momentum and that movement.”