By Bella Whitmore | Intern
When signing up to take an English class, many curricula may involve some Shakespeare, William Faulkner and maybe a white female writer thrown in from time to time. Rarely in academia are entire classes devoted to the perspective of writers of color, and when it does occur, there is often a severe lack of representation of Asian-American perspectives.
Dr. Tracy Hoffman, senior English lecturer, said she noticed this problem and sought to rectify it. After sprinkling in a few Asian-American texts within her typical English classes curriculum, Hoffman opted to widen her horizons and set her eye on a larger goal.
“I taught Amy Tan for years, but decided I needed to do better,” Hoffman said. “I needed to grow in my understanding of Asian American Literature, and so I began a journey of reading and teaching other texts.”
While the Baylor English department has made influential strides towards more diversity in class selection in recent years, Hoffman said there is always progress to be made.
“Asian American Literature is my contribution to this process,” Hoffman said. “Asian American Literature should be an important class for any Literature major since you can’t have a full understanding of America’s literary richness without studying Asian-American texts.”
Fort Worth senior Ally Kendziorski is a current student in the newly founded class and felt drawn to take the class due to her connection with the subject and curiosity in learning more.
“I decided to take an Asian-American literature class primarily because I was exposed to the author Amy Tan in high school,” Kendziorski said. “Tan is a brilliant writer, and I wanted to study more of her works and the literature of other Asian-American writers, as these stories are special and an essential part of the English major.”
Dallas junior and fellow classmate Emelie Wong explained the value and personal growth that can be had in taking a class centered around underrepresented demographics.
“I decided to take Asian-American literature because it was a topic that I was not familiar with despite being Asian-American,” Wong said. “Learning about other cultures should be prioritized more and learning about cultures we aren’t familiar with is beneficial.”
With this fall being the first semester of the first Asian-American literature class, the curriculum and course goals are still growing and taking shape, Hoffman said. While this class serves solely as an introduction to Asian-American literature, Hoffman said she has ambitions to let the class become something larger and more complex than what it is now.
“I wrote the course description so that other colleagues in the English Department could readily teach the course, too,” Hoffman said. “My prayer is for Baylor to hire an expert in Asian American Literature in the near future. My class is only an introduction, but someone with greater expertise could teach advanced courses.”
The advent of this class, even if it is currently a solely introductory course, serves as a progress marker for Baylor’s commitment and dedication to diversity and augmenting underrepresented perspectives.
“This class adds diversity to Baylor because it ensures that Asian-American writers are included in literary study at Baylor,” Kendziorski said. “All people have an important voice, and each person’s ethnicity adds to their perspective. It allows us to build the quality of our characters and encourages us to share our own diverse perspectives.”
