Race and Ethnic Relations

Anthropology/Sociology 65
Fall 1999
Class meeting place and time:  Wednesday 7:00-10:00 pm, 210Hopkins

Instructor: Terry Hoops
Office:  307 Hopkins
Office phone: #2219  Home phone: 870-1444  (call anytime but dinner and after 10:00 pm)
Office hours: :  Mondays 10:00-12:00, 1:00-3:00, Tuesdays 1:00-3:00, Thursdays 1:00-3:00

Objectives of the Course

American society (by this I loosely mean people who live in the United States, not the people of the continent) represents one of the most interesting and unique of human endeavors: the attempt to construct a single national identity out of a complex plurality of cultural and historical traditions.  Ours is a multicultural society, a product of the immigration of peoples from all over the world whose lives and histories became interwoven with members native groups, who were themselves composed of many distinct “nations.”  All the distinct groups in the country, whatever their ethnic or national backgrounds and heritages, have been shaped by this complex and rich cultural interchange; in other words, each distinctive ethnic group is a product not only of its own cultural heritage, but also of its interaction with, response to, struggle against forces and structures of a larger society, and with other groups within that larger society.  It is this that makes multicultural groups truly multicultural, and makes individuals in our society multicultural as well.  In one sense we could argue that every American is multicultural, because the society she or he belongs to has been shaped by the complex exchange between the different cultures that shaped the history of this society. This fact makes the study of race and ethnic relations particularly complex, since one cannot comprehend any given ethnic or national group in our society on its own without understanding the larger context in which it has existed and forged an identity.

This fact challenges the idea common in today’s political discourse and media that America represents a certain type of society, one which is rooted in a European (primarily English) cultural heritage, linguistically English, predominantly white, Protestant, male, propertied and heterosexual.  As a friend and former colleague of mine, sociologist Bruce Nordstrom, notes in his syllabus on Race and Class in America, American society often holds to a cultural myth which believes that “we” are really a “white society”--- that white people alone truly define what is normal and normative in our society, and that people of color are “others,” or at worst, are “problems.”  He goes on to note that this has been reflected in many government policies over time; in fact, one of the first national laws passed by the U.S. congress in 1790 barred non-white immigrants from ever becoming citizens, based solely on the criteria of their color.  The country’s concept of democracy until the late 1860’s excluded African Americans, women were barred from voting until after World War I, and Native Americans weren’t granted citizenship and the vote until 1924.  While the country has celebrated the creativity and energy which immigrants bring, it has also at different times attempted to block immigrants from non-Western European origins.  Many well-known social critics such as W.E.B.Dubois and Malcom X take the argument a step further: they have argued that government policy is simply a manifestation of a deeply rooted ideology of racism in American society.  These critics have put it bluntly: racism underlies the very foundations of the American "psyche,” and until this is recognized conflict between the races in our society will continue to simmer.  Their blunt criticism has created resentment and a political backlash among those who believe that racism has been conquered in the US, and who want to see all government programs to combat racially based inequality terminated.

What is race, where do racialized identities in our society originate?  What is racism, and what impact has racism had on American culture?  The aim of this course is to explore, rethink and respond to ideologies of race in our society, and, as Bruce Nordstrom has stated, “help us understand the reality of America as a multicultural society from its very origins.”  The course has a three overarching goals:  first, to explore the “archeology” of the notion of race in Western society.  Perhaps one of the most pervasive ways in which our society has explained cultural difference is through the metaphor of race, or biological based differences between various groups.  The concept of race as it is present in our society is a relatively recent phenomenon, and anthropology’s emergence as a discipline last century is very much connected to notions of race prevalent at the time which viewed human diversity around the world as racially based.  Fortunately, while some early anthropologists embraced the notion of race, others, like Franz Boas, provided the some of the first genuine critiques of the concept, and placed differences between societies squarely in the realm culture, rather than biology.  We want to explore the conceptual and historical underpinnings of the notion of race:  what is race?  What intellectual, political and cultural factors led to the notion of race?  We want to explore what racism (the idea that there are biological foundations to the distinction between the behaviors and achievements of different ethnic groups) is, and how it has shaped the experiences of different ethnically distinct groups in the US over the course of their history.  What gave rise to racialized identities in the US, and how did this evolve over time?  How did race intertwine with economics to determine the shape of slavery, how has this evolved into the present relationship between class and race?

Second, the course explore the particular historical and contemporary forces that have helped shape the experiences and identities of a number of different ethnically distinctive groups in the United States. Our focus will be primarily on four groups:  Native Americans (they have also been called and call themselves American Indians), African Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos or Hispanic Americans.  The exploration of the historical and contemporary experiences of each of these groups requires that we examine the issues that they have in common, and issues that are unique to each group.  Among the questions we will be asking are: how conquest and territorial expansion of the state shaped the identity of Native Americans and Latinos?  how did the structure of the labor force at different periods help shape ethnic identity (how is the issue of race related to political economic issues)?  what forces drove peoples from different parts of the globe to immigrate to the U.S.?  how did institutional and other forms of racism shape the experiences of these ethnic groups, and what kinds of factors help explain such racism?  how have individuals and groups of different ethnic groups responded to institutional and attitudinal discrimination?  how can we explain the economic success of failure of different groups, and how is economic well being shaped by ethnic identity?  how have religion, community, family, cultural tradition helped in responding to pressures of assimilation and marginalization that members of these groups experience?

Finally, we want to focus particularly on the experience of one particular group (we need to discuss as well why we would identify it as a group, particularly since it is such a diverse population), Latinos in the U.S.  Latinos, also called Hispanics or Hispanic Americans, are an extremely diverse group.  Some Latino groups have lived in what is today territorial U.S. for generations, in communities that were settled long before English speakers set foot in the region.  Others are first generation newcomers from Latin American and the Caribbean, driven to immigrate by a complex variety of economic and political forces.  Latinos vary in national origin, in socio-economic level, in race.  We will explore in greater detail some of the issues that face the growing Latino community in the U.S.: why Latinos immigrate to the U.S., the challenges of adapting to American society, the difficulties of obtaining employment and education, the experience of living socially marginalized and invisible, the dilemma of bilingualism, and the stress on Latino children in growing up in a multicultural environment.

I also hope that we can also explore how the issues of race have affected our personal lives.  How would our experience have been different had we grown up in a different group?  How has racism shaped our perceptions of others in our society?  What forms, both overt and not so obvious, of racism have helped shape our own identities?  What is anti-racism, and how can we practice it?

 
Readings

I’ve designed the class to follow the format of an upper class seminar.  As such, our emphasis will be on readings and informal discussions, among other things.  Due to this, I’ve selected a fairly substantive bibliography. The topics and issues that we will be looking at in this class has an extremely rich bibliographic legacy, written by a wide variety of authors from many perspectives.  I will be suggesting some of those books over the course of the semester for you to read further.
 


A number of other bits and pieces of writing will be shared in class.

Requirements

The requirements of this class are designed to not only measure your progress in the class, but to promote interaction among ourselves, and to examine how the analytical and conceptual tools we learn in the class relate to current issues being debated in our society about race, class, language, economic and legal equal opportunity, and the like.

1. Participation: (10 points)

While this category includes things normally associated with participation, like class attendance and speaking up in class, it also includes being prepared to engage in discussion of reading materials on the days they are assigned, raising questions which arise from the readings and discussions, and taking some ownership of the class.   I find that all students in a class benefit greatly when its individual members are engaged in the course material and readings.  There will be many different kinds of opportunities to participate in class.

Since attendance is critical in this class, and because our actual meeting times are so few, I will be requiring attendance.  You will be allowed two absences (although I say that with great hesitation) without suffering penalties; every absence beyond that will lower your class grade half a grade.

2. Discussion leadership:  (10 points of your grade)

Each week one of two students will be leading part of the class discussion, focusing on the readings for that week, the questions I will be handing out in class, and the most important issues and topics that emerge from that week's readings.  My purpose is to decentralize and democratize discussion in the class.  In grading your leadership of discussion, I will look at a number of criteria, including familiarity with the readings, ability to identify key issues in the readings, ability to draw out discussion from the class.  You can think creatively about ways to begin to open and carry forward discussion.  It is also critical that you bring to class some of the points you think need to be addressed.

3. Class assignments:  (50 points)

Each week I will be handing out a number of questions I would like you to consider as you read.  The answers will be short (one or two paragraphs), and will be handed in on the day that they are due.  The purpose of the questions is to stimulate thinking about the readings, and to provide a base from which our class discussions can evolve.  Each week's assignment will be worth 5 points; I will select 10 of your best sets of answers in calculating your final grade.

4. Research paper:  (30 points)

A research paper focusing on an issue related to the topics in the class.  I will provide a list of possible topics that you might consider, although you may choose one that is not on the list.  While you may, and are encouraged, to explore the news and popular media in investigating your paper, you must also include at least five sources that are "academic"  (these can include books and journal articles; academic sources are usually more careful about the methodology they use to collect data, reflexive about the conclusions they come to, and critically analytical about other points of view).  News journals are often not rigorous in their collection of data, nor reflexive about their conceptual framework.  Among the topics you may explore are affirmative action, welfare reform, immigration reform, Native American treaty rights and casino gambling rights, the criminalization of ethnic groups and police violence, sweat shop labor and unauthorized immigration, toxic racism, and many others.  Your paper doesn't need to be any required length, but a ball park estimate is that you would need between 10 and 15 pages to cover any of these topics thoroughly.  Your writing will be based on your attention to sources, critical reflection of the sources and their theoretical positions, the quality and selectivity of your bibliography (are the sources pertinent to your topic; could there be better sources), the solidity of your argument (do you consider alternative perspectives, and how do you respond to them), a sense of ownership and familiarity with your topic, the emergence of your own voice or reflection in your paper, the care with which you write (papers must be edited and spell checked), and the clarity of your argument.  We will each be giving a 10-minute presentation of your research paper at the end of the semester.

I should mention that all assignments are due on the dates specified to ensure that we all stay on a common schedule.  Late assignments will not be accepted unless you have a valid medical reason for not having it done on time and have contacted me before the assignment is due to set up a schedule for turning work in.

Readings and class schedule:

Sept. 1  Introduction:  Anthropology and Race
  McIntosh
  Video:  Rosewood
 
Sept. 8  The Archeology of Race in Western Thought
  Shanklin (all the book)
  Sanjek

Sept. 11  Hispanic celebration in downtown Sherman

Sept. 16  Racism: the history of an idea
  Jordan:  Section I:  Genesis
  Section II:  Provincial Decades (read chpts. 4, 5 & 6 lightly)
  Video:  Amistad

Sept. 16 Fran Huckaby and Brian Glenn:  Third World Community Development: Papua New Guinea  (11:00 am)

Sept. 22  Separation and Inequality: the origins of segregation
  Jordan:  Section III: The Revolutionary Era
  Section IV: Society and Thought
  Section V:  Thought and Society
  Epilogue

Sept. 29  Becoming Nations: The Native American Experience
  Crow Dog chpts. 1-9
  Video:  Smoke Signals

Oct. 1 & 2 Dr. Clyde Snow visit  (Friday night and Saturday)

Oct. 6  Crow Dog chpts. 10-16 and Epilogue
  Video:  Surviving Columbus

Oct. 13  The African American Experience
  Freedman chpts. 1-6
  Video:  Eyes on the Prize

Oct. 20  Freedman chpts. 7-12
  Video:  Malcom X
 
Oct. 27  Asian Americans and the immigrant experience
  Freeman pp. 1-68
  Video:  Joy Luck Club

Oct. 28  Bob Schminkey:  Investing in the New South Africa

Oct. 31  Inter-Tribal Gourd Dance Powwow, Norman OK

Nov. 3  Transitions:  Vietnamese or American
Freeman pp. 69-132

Nov.  10  Immigration and the Latino experience
  Mahler chpts.

Nov. 17  Living capitalism, learning racism
  Mahler chpts.
  Video:  Zoot Suit

Nov. 24  Thanksgiving break:  no class

Nov. 29  Dilemmas of identity
  Rodriguez

Dec. 8  Student presentations