This co-taught course explores the carceral logics of US citizenship and immigration policy through the interdisciplinary fields of Asian American and Latinx studies. We will consider how racialized immigrant communities have been criminalized, incarcerated, and detained under the guise of national security. We will also explore the ways that carceral infrastructure is a fundamental component of the capitalist economy of the United States. How have Asian American and Latinx communities seeking asylum and safety been shaped by racist immigration laws that lead to deportation? What systems are set in place that make prison-to-deportation or refugee-to-detainee possible? How have people resisted and maintained hope under constant threat from violent institutions and administrations? We will read scholarship and explore cultural production from Black, Indigenous, Asian American, and Latinx scholars, activists, and artists. Following the core tenets of ethnic studies, the course grounds itself in the understanding that resistance movements to white supremacy, racial capitalism & settler colonialism must fight for liberation and safety for all.
3 units · Letter (ABCD/NP)
This co-taught course explores the carceral logics of US citizenship and immigration policy through the interdisciplinary fields of Asian American and Latinx studies. We will consider how racialized immigrant communities have been criminalized, incarcerated, and detained under the guise of national security. We will also explore the ways that carceral infrastructure is a fundamental component of the capitalist economy of the United States. How have Asian American and Latinx communities seeking asylum and safety been shaped by racist immigration laws that lead to deportation? What systems are set in place that make prison-to-deportation or refugee-to-detainee possible? How have people resisted and maintained hope under constant threat from violent institutions and administrations? We will read scholarship and explore cultural production from Black, Indigenous, Asian American, and Latinx scholars, activists, and artists. Following the core tenets of ethnic studies, the course grounds itself in the understanding that resistance movements to white supremacy, racial capitalism & settler colonialism must fight for liberation and safety for all.
Offered in Winter 2026 at Stanford University.