Please choose ONE of the questions to answer. Thank you!

1. Choose two out of the five different national groups we have discussed (Chinese,
Japanese, Koreans, Indians, Filipinos). What were the “push” and “pull” factors,
historical speaking, that led these two groups to travel to the United States? What
obstacles did they face as sojourner and settlers? How and why were these
groups initially gendered when coming to the U.S.? What roles did these groups
perform when they reached the U.S.?

2. Evaluate the argument that World War II constituted a “watershed” for Asian
Americans in which events began to flow in a very different direction. Using two
out of the five different national groups we have discussed (Chinese, Japanese,
Koreans, Indians, Filipinos) discuss how World War II changed the lives of each
ethnic group. Be sure to address both perceptions of Asian Americans and
material changes to the lives of Asian Americans. Based on your chosen
examples, is it fair to describe World War II as a “watershed moment”?

3. How was “Asia” historically an invention of the Western imaginary? How and why
have Asians been historically perceived by the western imagination? What is
Edward Said’s critique of this perception? How did the United States become an
inheritor of this perception? Give historical examples of this using two out of the
five different national groups we have discussed (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans,
Indians, Filipinos).