PSCI1293 - Policing, Prisons, and Asian America

In the era of Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate, how do Asian Americans fit into national conversations about the role of police and prisons in society? Some Asian Americans have pushed for prosecuting anti-Asian incidents as “hate crimes” and activating other carceral responses in light of pandemic-related anti-Asian violence. Others have grappled with how Asian Americans themselves face different forms of carceral violence and what solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement looks like. This course asks: What are the varied ways Asian Americans are entangled with the prison industrial complex, as invested in, impacted by, and seeking to resist policing? What can the experiences of Asian Americans tell us about the politics of race, violence, and the carceral state? First, we will examine the debates over “hate” frameworks and carceral solutions in the Stop Asian Hate movement and the broader contemporary movement against anti-Asian violence. Second, we will consider how Asian Americans are impacted by the carceral state in multiple ways, including but not limited to post 9/11 surveillance, immigrant detention and deportation, and the policing of sex work and other forms of gendered and precarious labor. Third, we will explore how Asian Americans have been resisting carceral violence, building alternatives, and engaging in projects for police and prison abolition.