This course is a historical survey of the perceptions of and experiences of Asian-descended people and Asian Americans from the seventeenth century to the present. We will trace the history of Orientalism and consumption of goods from Asia in the colonial periods, immigration from and to China, Japan, and Korea and the “importation” of Buddhism in the nineteenth century, expatriate nationalist movements, Japanese internment, and South and Southeast Asian cultures in the United States in the twentieth century, and more.