AMES-609S
TRANSPACIFIC ASIA/AMERICA
Not in Fall 2026
Term
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that the readings, films, or examples carry real weight. Best for students who will engage with the materials instead of skimming everything.
DepartmentAMES
Terms offeredFall
Typical enrollment10–13
Semesters of data2
5.4
Hrs / week
12
Responses
23
Enrollment
52%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
3.8
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.0
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.2
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
3.0
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysismedium
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 39 comments across 2 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that the readings, films, or examples carry real weight. Best for students who will engage with the materials instead of skimming everything.
Student Reports
How hard is the A?
A is doable but not automatic
The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.
Homework Load
Moderate homework load
Homework load looks moderate. The recurring signal is steady weekly work, but not a course that turns every assignment into a grind.
Lecture Load
Lighter lecture burden
Student comments describe this as more discussion-, seminar-, or workshop-driven than lecture-dependent. The lecture burden itself does not sound like the main source of friction.
Strengths
• Readings, films, or outside materials come up repeatedly as a real strength rather than filler.
• Discussion is a clear strength; students repeatedly describe the class conversation as engaging and useful.
• Students repeatedly say the course teaches something concrete, whether that is content mastery, research skill, or a strong foundation.
Tradeoffs
• There is no single dominant complaint theme, but the feedback is not uniformly glowing either.
Best fit for
Best for students who will engage with the materials instead of skimming everything.
Watch out for
• A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.
Student Responses
I am a MFA student and haven't experience academic study training, so this course is really, super hard for me. But also because of this course, I have to force myself read many English papers in this semester, which really help me to get used to English reading and writing environment I am currently in. Also, reading these papers give me other perspectives to see this world, especially related to topics such as Asian-American and Korean War.
Fall 2023 · Kwon, Aimee
Colonialism theories; East Asian history in the 20th century; Cold War history
Fall 2023 · Kwon, Aimee
I learned a lot about approaching history from a "minoritarian" perspective.
Fall 2023 · Kwon, Aimee
Applying critical scholarly works to current events Understanding and contextualizing the Asian/American diasporic Critically thinking about the lens through which we receive information and view our histories, traumas, and futures
Fall 2023 · Kwon, Aimee
My close reading skills, critical thinking capacity, and knowledge of either colonial or postcolonial theoretical backgrounds were greatly reinforced.
Fall 2023 · Kwon, Aimee
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | Kwon, Aimee 4.3Rate My ProfessorsQuality4.3Difficulty2.2Would retake67%Based on 5 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 3.4 | 2.8 | 4.0 | 10 |
| Fall 2023 | Kwon, Aimee 4.3Rate My ProfessorsQuality4.3Difficulty2.2Would retake67%Based on 5 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.1 | 3.3 | 6.7 | 13 |
Instructor
Kwon, AimeeAMES
Also teaches
AMES-152CNS VISUALIZING MINOR STORIES4.0AMES-171 WORLD OF KOREAN CINEMA3.9