Lecture Material Catch Up

In order to show the first video presentation yesterday on the issue of racial classification, I had to skip over some lecture material. So, I am going to use my blog post for today to fill in that missing lecture material so I will not have to back-track in class tomorrow. This is material you will be responsible for studying for tests as well as possible in or out-of-class essays. I may do this in the future whenever I get behind in presenting important material in class. You do not have to respond to this, but you are certainly welcome to make comments or ask questions if you want.

A. Concluding remarks on relevance of this course

1. In terms of sensitivity training, I would encourage all of you to try to put yourself in a situation of being a distinct minority. For example, travelling abroad or even closer to home you may experience this by visiting an ethnic enclave such as "Little Havana" in Miami or "Little Saigon" in Orange Co., CA or any predominantly black community; and I believe you will find yourself becoming very conscious of your distinct racial or ethnic identity and very concerned with how you are perceived by those around you just as minorities are when moving in predominantly white environments.

2. Martin Luther King, Jr. was, of course, one of the great proponents of integration, but what he had in mind was more than just kids playing on a playground. He went far beyond that romantic vision conjured in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech to suggest that all groups needed to be integrated into the full economic, political, and cultural life of this society.

a. The sad fact is, however, that racial and ethnic minorities have historically been denied full access to the rights and opportunities this society has to offer, the rights and opportunities to develop as complete human beings.

b. In his last book, Dr. King spoke of all groups being "woven in a single garment of destiny" -- that even though we may not associate with each other all the time, we are all important to the current and future well-being of this society; we should all have the opportunity to contribute. That means EVERYONE, from the lowly janitor to the corporate CEO.


B. Basic Definitions: as I noted in class, we are going to spend some time discussing these definitions and some of the issues pertinent to them.

1. Culture: this is an important concept to grasp in the context of understanding what "multicultural" or "cultural diversity" entail. I purposely selected a broad definition which encompassed material objects, which I believe are important elements of culture along side values, beliefs, customs, etc.

a. Various metaphors have been used to describe American culture. Perhaps the most popular has been "melting pot", which implies a blending or assimilation of various cultures. There is certainly evidence of that, but not all groups' contributions have been blended equally. In fact, as we'll see, when this metaphor was first used it referred only to different white, European groups. More recently, metaphors such as: "salad bowl," "stew," "stir-fry," have come into use. These imply a mixing but also that each group maintains a distinct identity. This is the cultural pluralist ideal, and is usually what is meant by multicultural or cultural diversity.


This basically brings us up to the basic definition of race, which we will take up in the context of the three-part video series we began yesterday, "Race: the power of an illusion."