Southern
HON 251 Race and Ethnicity in the 20th
Century
Spring 2006
MW 2 to 3:15
Classroom: EN B 118
Professors:
Rex Gilliland and Rafael Hernández
Office:
EN D 210 and EN D 154
Phone Number:
(203) 392-6783 and (203) 392-6202
E-mails:
gillilandr1@southernct.edu and hernandezr3@southernct.edu
Office Hours:
Gilliland: MW 3:15 to 4:45, TR 12:15 to 1:15
Hernandez:
Course Description: In 1903, W.E.B Du Bois wrote with foresight that “The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color-line.” Even if race is only one of many predominant social divisions, it has been at the center of many of the domestic and international tensions that emerged in the previous 100 years. But what exactly is it? Is race something biological, in contrast to cultural phenomena like ethnicity? Is race ‘real’ and permanent, or is merely a misconception that has taken on a life of its own? And what do these competing views imply about how best to deal with the problem of racial discrimination? We will address these questions while considering the relation of race and ethnicity to concepts such as religion, nationality, class, and gender. The objective of this course is to develop the students’ understanding of the history of the idea of race and the continuing debates about the nature of race and racial discrimination.
Texts:
1. Robert Bernasconi and Tommy L. Lott, eds., The Idea of
Race (
2. W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (New York: Dover, 1994).
3. Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage,
1978).
4. Set of Xerox Copies (Tyco)
5. Other readings will be placed on electronic reserve in the library.
Grading: Attendance and
Class Participation 20%
Long
Papers (2) 40%
Short Papers (4) 40%
A+ 97-100; A 93-96; A- 90-92; B+ 87-89; B 83-86; B- 80-82; C+ 77-79; C 73-76; C- 70-72; D+ 67-69; D 63-66; D- 60-62; F 0-59
The majority of your grade will be based on two long papers (midterm and final) and approximately 4 short papers (including book reports and movie reviews). Attendance and class participation will also have a significant affect on your grade. Prompt and consistent attendance and informed participation in class discussion is expected: You are required to do the reading before class and to bring it with you to class. After the second absence, your final grade will be reduced. (Tardies, leaving early, and excused absences will count as half-absences.) Those students with more than 5 absences will fail the class.
We strongly encourage students with disabilities, including invisible disabilities like chronic diseases and learning disabilities, to discuss with us after class or during our office hours appropriate accommodations that might be helpful to them.
For guidelines on writing a philosophy paper, see: www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/humanities/philosophy.shtml or www.princeton.edu/~jimpryor/general/writing.html.
Key to Writing Errors and Abbreviations
Tentative Schedule
M 1/23 Introduction to the course
Familiar
Cases of Race and Ethnicity
W 1/25 Pojman, “The Moral Status of Affirmative Action”
And choose one of the following: Hettinger, “What is Wrong with Reverse Discrimination?”; Aleinikoff, “A Case for Race-Consciousness”; Velasquez, “The Ethics of Job Discrimination”
Topic: Affirmative Action
M 1/30 Topic:
Illegal immigration Paper #1
W 2/1 Topic: The Palestinian / Israeli conflict
Biological
Conceptions of Race
M 2/6 Kant, “Of the Different Human Races” (IR); Herder, “Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Humankind” (IR)
Optional: Wikipedia article on Race <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race>
Topic: The Classification of Races
W 2/8 Gobineau, “The Inequality of the Human Races” (IR); Galton, “Eugenics: Its Definition, Scope, and Aim” (IR)
Wikipedia article on Eugenics up to “Modern eugenics and genetic engineering” <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics>
Optional: Wikipedia articles on Race and Intelligence <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence>, and Miscegenation < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscegenation>
Topic: Eugenics and Race Mixing
M 2/13 Video: “I am my own Twin”
Article on Chimerism and Mosaicism <http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/july29/snt13.asp>
Wikipedia article on the Validity of Human Races <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Validity_of_human_races>
Article arguing that race has no basis in genetics <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-1331319,00.html>
Article arguing that race has a genetic basis <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9500E3DE1E3DF933A15751C1A9649C8B63> (NY Times – May require registration)
Optional: Various articles on the debate <http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/>
Wikipedia articles on Chimerism <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_%28genetics%29>, Mosaicism <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_%28genetics%29>, Race in the U.S. Census < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_%28U.S._census%29>, and Race in Biomedicine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_in_biomedicine>
Article arguing that race is a legitimate medical category <http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=00055DC8-3BAA-1FA8-BBAA83414B7F0000>
Article
on the racial genetics of
Technical article on Chromosomal Mosaicism <http://www.medgen.ubc.ca/wrobinson/mosaic/mosaicism.htm>
Topic: Genetics and Race: The current debate about whether genetics undermines or supports the biological conception of race
The
Politics of Multiculturalism in the
W 2/15 Kymlicka,
“Ethnicity in the
M 2/20
W 2/22 Yanow
“Color, Culture, Country: Race and Ethnicity in the
M 2/27 Michaels, “Race into Culture: A Critical Genealogy of Cultural Identity”
Cultural
and Political Conceptions of Race
W 3/1 Du Bois, “The Conservation of Races” (IR); and selection from The Souls of Black Folk
Topic: Race and History
M 3/6 Boas, “Instability of Human Types” (IR); Locke, “The Concept of Race as Applied to Social Culture” (IR)
Topic: Race and Culture
W 3/8 Omi
and Winant, “Racial Formation in the
Topic: The Political Conception of Race
Race and
Cultural Identity in Other Parts of the World
M 3/13 Vasconcelos, “The Cosmic Race”; Chanady, “Identity, Politics, and Mestizaje”; Stam, “Brazilian Cinema: Reflections on Race and Representation”
Topic:
W 3/15 Said, Orientalism; Bilgrami, “What is a Muslim? Fundamental Commitment and Cultural Identity”; Spivak, “Acting Bits/Identity Talk”
Topic:
M 3/20 Spring Break
W 3/22 Spring Break
M 3/27 Chen, “Occidentalism as Counterdiscourse:
‘He Shang’ in Post-Mao
Topic: Other Regions / Ethnicities
The
Dynamics of Social Inclusion and Exclusion
W 3/29 Beauvoir,
Introduction to The Second Sex; Sartre,
selection from Anti-Semite and Jew
M 4/3 Dyer,
selection from White Long Paper #1
Topic: The Invisibility of Whiteness
W 4/5 Lipsitz, selection from The Possessive Investment in Whiteness
M 4/10 Bernasconi, “The Invisibility of Racial Minorities in the Public Realm of Appearances”; Larsen, selection from Passing
Topic: The Invisibility of Racial Minorities
Ethnic
Conflicts
W 4/12 Brown,
“Causes and Implications of Ethnic Conflict” Paper #4
M 4/17 Marty,
“Cultural Foundations of Ethnonationalism. The Role of Religion”; Bennett,
“Ethnic Cleansing in Former
W 4/19 Lechte, “Ethnocentrism Racism, Genocide…”; Discussion of a Selected Movie
The
Mixture and Transformation of Race
M 4/24 Alcoff, “Mestizo Identity” (IR); Zack, “Alienation” from Race and Mixed Race
Topic: What affect do mixed races have on the conception of race?
W 4/26 Fichte, selection from Addresses to the German Nation; Senghor, “Negritude and Modernity,” and “What is Negritude?” (IR)
Topic:
The Formation of Group Identities
M 5/1 Fanon, “The Lived Experience of the Black”
Topic: How should whites address the issue of race?
Globalization
and Ethnicity
W 5/3 “Globalization and Localization: Nation making and citizenship”
M 5/8 “Citizenship and the Other in the Age of Migration”
W 5/10 “The Racism of Globalization”