As I announced in class yesterday, we'll take time out to see a video that I also plan to show in my criminology class on an episode in the war on drugs that clearly has racial overtones. In fact, as I noted, I believe the documentary has more relevance for this class than my criminology class. It is entitled "Tulia," after the small town in the Texas panhandle where it took place. You may earn 3 extra credit points by seeing it and writing a one-page response in which I want you to discuss at least one aspect of the film which has relevance for anything we've covered in this class. If you decide to do this, it will be due on our first class after the break.
Also, let me take this opportunity to remind you that ESSAY III is due Next Tuesday (or before, if you are planning to leave early for the Thanksgiving break). Please DO NOT LEAVE TOWN BEFORE TURNING IN THIS ASSIGNMENT, because you will lose many points if you turn it after the break. Finally, you should start reading Institutional Racism (Preface thru p. 89 & pp. 125-133). We will cover that in some fashion after the break.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Amendments to Institutional Racism & ESSAY III
In my description of ESSAY III, I singled out Chapter 2 of Institutional Racism as most relevant to the topic. Actually, she begins to draw that distinction between individual and institutional racism in Chapter 1. In fact the Chapter 1 discussion may be even more helpful. Also, as I noted yesterday, I want you to also read (in addition to pp. 1-89) Case Study: A Perfect Storm: The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (pp. 125-133). It is an excellent example of what she calls the "web of institutional racism."
See you tomorrow, when I will try to wrap up Dr. Tatum's book.
See you tomorrow, when I will try to wrap up Dr. Tatum's book.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Institutional Racism & ESSAY III
As I have been mentioning in class, I do plan to cover at least some of Institutional Racism before the end of the semester, and I have also come up with an essay topic in connection with this book. First, I want you to read through Chapter 4 (or p. 89), which will be all we will try to cover in this book. Our first opportunity to talk about it in class will come on the class period before Thanksgiving Break (Tues. 11/25). Below is a description of our third (and last) out-of-class essay. I will not be handing out a hard copy of this, so refer to this blog post for a description of this assignment.
___________________________
Sociology 240
Essay III
11/17/08
A. A key to understanding Shirley Better's argument in Institutional Racism is the distinction she makes between INDIVIDUAL and INSTITUTIONAL racism. In this final essay, I want you to discuss this difference (which she brings out in Chapter 2) and give an example of it. Finally, I want you to generally address the question of why it is so important that we be concerned with institutional racism.
B. Your essay should be roughly 3 pages. Please indicate the page number(s) of any passage(s) from the book which you quote in your essay.
C. This is due on or before TUESDAY, NOV. 25TH, which is our last class before Thanksgiving Break.
_____________________
Finally, let me remind you again that your Interview papers are due tomorrow (Tues. 11/18) and that all of you will be expected to give a BRIEF presentation highlighting some of the things you found.
___________________________
Sociology 240
Essay III
11/17/08
A. A key to understanding Shirley Better's argument in Institutional Racism is the distinction she makes between INDIVIDUAL and INSTITUTIONAL racism. In this final essay, I want you to discuss this difference (which she brings out in Chapter 2) and give an example of it. Finally, I want you to generally address the question of why it is so important that we be concerned with institutional racism.
B. Your essay should be roughly 3 pages. Please indicate the page number(s) of any passage(s) from the book which you quote in your essay.
C. This is due on or before TUESDAY, NOV. 25TH, which is our last class before Thanksgiving Break.
_____________________
Finally, let me remind you again that your Interview papers are due tomorrow (Tues. 11/18) and that all of you will be expected to give a BRIEF presentation highlighting some of the things you found.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Passage From Killing the White Man's Indian by Fergus Bordewich
I quoted the following passage in connection with Dr. Tatum's observation about the importance of preserving and strengthening Indian identity. This appears in Chapter 8 of Killing the White Man's Indian, which is very appropriately entitled: "The Hollowness of a Person Needs to be Filled."
"Like most junior colleges, Little Big Horn offers two-year degrees in conventional subjects such as business administration, data processing, mathematics, psychology, science, nursing, industrial arts, home economics, and "office systems." Uniquely, however, it also requires that students, nearly all of whom are members of the Crow Tribe, take courses in Crow language, oral literature, tribal history, "Indian Identity," Indian philosophy and law, and "American Indian political science," among others. The college's mission statement promises:
1. To develop Crow and American Indian adults in paraprofessional and professional areas that reflect Crow Indian reservation personnel needs and career development.
2. To assist Crow and American Indian adult academic and personal development, for self-empowerment, workplace preparation or transfer to a senior institution; centering on respect for Crow and American Indian scholarship and bilingual capacities, across the disciplines.
3. To build the Crow Indian family, community and tribe, through understanding and knowledge pertinent to local issues, promoting and participating in community building activities.
4. To actively strive for Crow Indian cultural preservation and protection, vitalizing Crow Indian scholarship across all disciplines; to recognize that tribal tradition separates Crow and American Indians from mainstream American society; to appreciate culture and tradition as the foundation of strength and wellbeing for the Crow and American Indian community; and to strengthen the unique, self-governing Crow Tribe of Indians.
"The jargon belies a shift of tectonic proportions that is taking place in the way that education is increasingly shaping Indians' sense of place in American society. The vast federal system of Indian education that Theodore Roosevelt once ferociously termed "a colossal, pulverizing engine" was designed explicitly to destroy tribal loyalty and to force Indians into mainstream American life. Increasingly, Indian educators such as Little Big Horn's president, Janine Pease-Windy Boy, perceive education as a tool capable of reviving tribal identity and of simultaneously molding a new kind of Indian able to make his way in the modern world. They also bluntly challenge the traditional American belief that one of the primary duties of education in the United States is to assimilate every child to a common history and sense of place in the larger national culture." (pp. 273-274)
___________________________
Don't forget that Tuesday (11/18) will be devoted to hearing from each of you regarding your interviews, and remember you need to prepare what you plan to say because each of you will only have 5-10 minutes. The paper is also due on that day. Next week I will also post a final out-of-class essay in connection with Shirley Better's book, Institutional Racism. I should have that posted by Monday. Finally, check out the extra credit opportunities listed in the previous post.
"Like most junior colleges, Little Big Horn offers two-year degrees in conventional subjects such as business administration, data processing, mathematics, psychology, science, nursing, industrial arts, home economics, and "office systems." Uniquely, however, it also requires that students, nearly all of whom are members of the Crow Tribe, take courses in Crow language, oral literature, tribal history, "Indian Identity," Indian philosophy and law, and "American Indian political science," among others. The college's mission statement promises:
1. To develop Crow and American Indian adults in paraprofessional and professional areas that reflect Crow Indian reservation personnel needs and career development.
2. To assist Crow and American Indian adult academic and personal development, for self-empowerment, workplace preparation or transfer to a senior institution; centering on respect for Crow and American Indian scholarship and bilingual capacities, across the disciplines.
3. To build the Crow Indian family, community and tribe, through understanding and knowledge pertinent to local issues, promoting and participating in community building activities.
4. To actively strive for Crow Indian cultural preservation and protection, vitalizing Crow Indian scholarship across all disciplines; to recognize that tribal tradition separates Crow and American Indians from mainstream American society; to appreciate culture and tradition as the foundation of strength and wellbeing for the Crow and American Indian community; and to strengthen the unique, self-governing Crow Tribe of Indians.
"The jargon belies a shift of tectonic proportions that is taking place in the way that education is increasingly shaping Indians' sense of place in American society. The vast federal system of Indian education that Theodore Roosevelt once ferociously termed "a colossal, pulverizing engine" was designed explicitly to destroy tribal loyalty and to force Indians into mainstream American life. Increasingly, Indian educators such as Little Big Horn's president, Janine Pease-Windy Boy, perceive education as a tool capable of reviving tribal identity and of simultaneously molding a new kind of Indian able to make his way in the modern world. They also bluntly challenge the traditional American belief that one of the primary duties of education in the United States is to assimilate every child to a common history and sense of place in the larger national culture." (pp. 273-274)
___________________________
Don't forget that Tuesday (11/18) will be devoted to hearing from each of you regarding your interviews, and remember you need to prepare what you plan to say because each of you will only have 5-10 minutes. The paper is also due on that day. Next week I will also post a final out-of-class essay in connection with Shirley Better's book, Institutional Racism. I should have that posted by Monday. Finally, check out the extra credit opportunities listed in the previous post.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Results of Secret Ballot & EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES
The results of the secret ballot on the Teaching Tolerance exercise are as follows:
RED - 6
YELLOW - 4
BLACK - 2 So, the Red family earns 2 bonus points for this exercise.
______________________________________
EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES:
There are actually TWO upcoming programs that are pertinent to this class, so you may earn 3 extra credit points for each program by attending EITHER ONE or BOTH and posting a couple paragraph reflection as a comment on this blog post. These programs are:
I. Diversity Matters: Race and Politics (an open discussion) Anna Todd Wofford Center, Thursday (11/13) at 7PM. Free Food. Contact Sammie Clowney for further info.
II. "Plugged-In" on Affirmative Action, Tuesday (11/18) from 11-12 in Olin 114. Contact Millicent Lann for further info.
RED - 6
YELLOW - 4
BLACK - 2 So, the Red family earns 2 bonus points for this exercise.
______________________________________
EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES:
There are actually TWO upcoming programs that are pertinent to this class, so you may earn 3 extra credit points for each program by attending EITHER ONE or BOTH and posting a couple paragraph reflection as a comment on this blog post. These programs are:
I. Diversity Matters: Race and Politics (an open discussion) Anna Todd Wofford Center, Thursday (11/13) at 7PM. Free Food. Contact Sammie Clowney for further info.
II. "Plugged-In" on Affirmative Action, Tuesday (11/18) from 11-12 in Olin 114. Contact Millicent Lann for further info.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Reminders & Passage from Yellow
Remember when we get back together again next Tuesday, 11/11, your essay on the Leonard Pitts commentary will be due and I also want to hear from each family regarding the Teaching Tolerance exercise. Below is part of the passage I read in class yesterday regarding affirmative action. The analogy with being vaccinated against disease is, I believe, the best of the two Frank Wu offers ---
"Analogies may augment the arguments for affirmative action. Affirmative action may be likened to inoculation against contagious disease. We vaccinate ourselves by accepting tiny dosages of the very causes of the illness. The shot alerts our bodies to the problems and stimulates us to build up antibodies as a preventative measure. Similarly, affirmative action relies on race, which is admittedly hazardous. However, it does so with a prescribed amount of the toxin. Thus, it prepares our society for racism and helps to develop interracial relationships as a protective measure. It is well established that contact among people of different racial backgrounds on equal terms, as with students in a classroom, is the single best means of eliminating racial prejudice." (pp. 170-171)
See you next Tuesday, 11/11.
"Analogies may augment the arguments for affirmative action. Affirmative action may be likened to inoculation against contagious disease. We vaccinate ourselves by accepting tiny dosages of the very causes of the illness. The shot alerts our bodies to the problems and stimulates us to build up antibodies as a preventative measure. Similarly, affirmative action relies on race, which is admittedly hazardous. However, it does so with a prescribed amount of the toxin. Thus, it prepares our society for racism and helps to develop interracial relationships as a protective measure. It is well established that contact among people of different racial backgrounds on equal terms, as with students in a classroom, is the single best means of eliminating racial prejudice." (pp. 170-171)
See you next Tuesday, 11/11.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)