Please note that this syllabus should be regarded as only a general guide to the course. The instructor may have changed
specific course content and requirements subsequent to posting this syllabus. Last Modified: 12:49:55 12/27/2009
SC303.01: The Social Construction of Whiteness
Spring 2010, Carney 005
Mondays and Wednesdays 4:30-5:45 p.m.
Prof. Deborah Piatelli
McGuinn 519B
millerdp@bc.edu
Office hours:
Mondays 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Thursdays 4:30-6:00 p.m.
Course Description
This course explores the social construction of race through the lens of whiteness. Why talk about
whiteness? Contrary to popular belief that we are now living in a post-racial society, systemic racial
discrimination and inequality persists. By considering whiteness as both a race and historical system of
privilege, we can gain a deeper understanding of the persistence of racism that can better inform our
strategies to end it. Over the course of the semester, we will examine the distribution of privilege within
American society at both the interpersonal and institutional levels, as well as consider how whiteness
operates within the social constructs of class and gender. Through writing and in-class group discussion,
you will examine your own identities and lived experiences and consider how consciously or
unconsciously they are affected by these processes, as well as consider strategies for challenging racism
and privilege at the individual and structural levels. Since this course deals with topics that are emotional
at a gut level, it is important that we respect and listen to each other’s views. I try to encourage and
maintain a classroom dynamic that is conducive to honest, open discussion. Although these topics may be
uncomfortable to talk about, it is important to realize that we can learn a great deal from each other
through active listening and dialoguing.
Course Objectives
*Gain a deeper understanding of the historical relationship between white privilege and inequality.
*Be able to clearly define and differentiate the concepts of prejudice and racism.
*Describe privilege and racism in its individual and institutional forms in contemporary society.
*Identify and articulate your personal feelings, fears, attitudes and behaviors about the issues of privilege
and racism by exploring your own experiences and identity development.
*Conduct a mini-sociological research project on how whiteness operates in everyday discourse.
*Develop specific strategies designed to challenge racism on individual and structural levels.
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Required Texts (available in bookstore and on reserve)
*Lehr, Dick. (2009). The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston’s Racial Divide. New York:
HarperCollins Publishers. (PLEASE READ ENTIRE BOOK BY APRIL 7TH)
*Rothenberg, Paula S. (2008). White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism. Third
edition. New York: Worth Publishers.
*Tatum, Beverly Daniel. (2003). Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? New
York: Basic Books.
*Trepagnier, Barbara. (2006). Silent Racism: How Well-Meaning White People Perpetuate the Racial
Divide. Boulder, Colo.: Paradigm Publishers.
*Wise, Tim. (2008). White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son. Berkeley, Calif.: Soft
Skull Press. (PLEASE READ ENTIRE BOOK BY MARCH 8TH)
Course Requirements
Class participation (25% of your grade)
Class participation is required as much of the learning will take place in the classroom through
participation in class discussions. It is expected that when you are in class you will participate. Students
are expected to come to each class session having completed the assigned readings and prepared to
discuss the material. I will take note of the frequency of your participation as well as excessive absences
and lateness as this has an effect on group discussion.
Seven (7) Reflection Papers (25% of your grade)
I am asking that you submit a reflection paper to me at the end of each week as noted on the syllabus (for
a total of 7 reflection papers). Note that the frequency of these papers will decrease as you begin to write
your thematic papers (see below for a description of those papers). These papers should be a maximum of
three (3), double-spaced pages and emailed to me no later than Friday at 4:00 p.m. for the week they
are due. In these papers, you may discuss how you are interacting with the course material and
discussions (the ideas presented by the authors, the way that you are integrating the readings into your
thinking, they way your personal experiences may/may not related to the issues raised by the
readings/discussions). The writing can be informal, but should be thoughtful, reflective and connected to
the readings and discussion. These papers should NOT simply be a summary of a reading or film, but
rather enable you to relate the readings/film/class discussion to each other, to readings from other weeks,
and/or your own life. You may also explore ideas that may not be covered in class or that you may be
hesitant to assert verbally. These papers can focus on one class session or both class sessions for that
particular week.
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Possible questions to think about when writing: How do the readings, films, and/or discussions make me
feel? Do I sometimes feel uncomfortable? Why? Do the readings make me think differently about my
own life experiences? Does the author raise issues I have not thought about before? Is there something
that has been bothering me that I have felt reluctant to bring up in class? Is the class raising issues I want
to learn more about? Is this class making me think about things in new ways?
Each paper will be evaluated based on its thoughtfulness, insight, and engagement with the course
material and discussion. Statements will be evaluated on a weekly basis, and I may email you brief
comments. While your grade will be computed at the end of the semester, you can see me to inquire about
your grade to date at any time. I will draw on your reflections (anonymously) in the classroom to foster
discussion. I also encourage you to share your reflections either in small group discussions or in the larger
classroom discussion.
Four (4) Thematic Papers (50% of your grade)
I am asking you to complete four (4) short papers (approximately 5-7, double-spaced pages) on a
particular theme discussed in class. These papers are more formal than the reflection papers and MUST
draw on readings from the course syllabus. Thematic papers #3 and #4 also include presentations. See
Blackboard Vista for further descriptions on these assignments.
Thematic paper #1 (10%)
Thematic paper #2 (10%)
Thematic paper #3 and informal presentation (15%)
Thematic paper #4 and formal presentation (15%)
Due Wednesday, February 24
Due Wednesday, March 17
Due Monday, April 5
Due Wednesday, May 5
Late work. If you have extenuating circumstances, you must come see me BEFORE the due date to
discuss a possible extension; otherwise you will lose 5 points each day the assignment is late.
A note on academic integrity
Sharing of information and ideas are encouraged. However, when working on individual assignments, it
is expected that you do your own work. In cases where you are required to use published work, you must
cite the work. If you plagiarize or cheat in some other form, you will fail the assignment; repeated
episodes will result in failure of the course. If there are any questions on proper method of citing, please
see me. For more information on Boston College’s academic integrity policy, please visit:
www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/academic/resources/policy/#integrity.
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Course Schedule
Wednesday, January 20
How do we talk constructively about race?
Reflection Due Friday
Monday, January 25
(continued)
Readings:
* Tatum, Chapter 2 (The Complexity of Identity)
* Tatum, Chapter 10 (Embracing a Cross-Racial Dialogue)
I: THEORIZING RACE AND WHITENESS
Wednesday, January 27
Why study race and whiteness?
Reflection Due Friday
Readings:
* DuBois, W.E.B. (1920). “The Souls of White Folk.” Pp. 17-29 in Darkwater: Voices from
within the Veil. New York: Dover Publications, 1999. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Rothenberg, Introduction; Chapter 1 in Part one (Richard Dyer, The Matter of Whiteness)
* Wellman, David. (1993). “Introduction to the Second Edition.” Pp. 1-26 in Portraits of White
Racism. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Wilson, William Julius. (1980). “From Racial Oppression to Economic Class Subordination.”
Pp. 1-23 in The Declining Significance of Race. Second Edition. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press. LIBRARY RESERVE
Monday, February 1
(continued)
Wednesday, February 3
Social construction of race
Researching race
Reflection Due Friday
Reading:
* Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. (2007). “Racialized Social Systems Approach to Racism.” Pp. 46-55
in Rethinking the Color Line: Readings in Race and Ethnicity, edited by Charles A.
Gallagher. Second Edition. New York: McGraw Hill. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Gallagher, Charles A. (2008). “The End of Racism as the New Doxa: New Strategies for
Researching Race.” Pp. 163-178 in White Logic, White Methods: Racism and Methodology,
edited by Tukufu Zuberi and Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. New York: Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. (2007). “Racial Formations.” Pp. 21-28 in Rethinking the
Color Line: Readings in Race and Ethnicity, edited by Charles A. Gallagher. Second Edition.
New York: McGraw Hill. LIBRARY RESERVE
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Monday, February 8
Historical constructions of whiteness
Film in class: Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 2: The Story We Tell (56m)
Readings:
* Horsman, Reginald. (1997). “Race and Manifest Destiny: The Origins of American Racial
Anglo-Saxonism.” Pp. 139-144 in Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror, edited
by Richard Delgago and Jean Stefancic. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. LIBRARY
RESERVE
* Rothenberg, Chapter 7 in Part two (Charles Mills, Global White Supremacy)
* Winant, Howard. (2006). “Race and Racism: Towards a Global Future.” Ethnic and Racial
Studies, 29, no. 5, 986-1003. LIBRARY RESERVE
Wednesday, February 10
(continued)
Reflection Due Friday
Monday, Feburary 15
Fluidity of whiteness
Readings:
* Abdulrahim, Sawsan. (2008). “ ‘Whiteness’ and the Arab Immigrant Experience.” Pp. 131146 in Race and Arab Americans Before and After 911: From Invisible Citizens to Visible
Subjects, edited by Amaney Jamal & Nadine Naber. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University
Press. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Huntington, Samuel P. (2004). “Forward.” Pp. xv-xvii and “Components of American
Identity.” Pp. 37-58 in Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity. New
York, NY: Simon & Schuster. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Rothenberg, Chapter 4 in Part two (Neil Foley, Becoming Hispanic: Mexican Americans and
Whiteness)
* Yancey, George. (2003). “How to Become White.” Pp. 27-62 in Who Is White? Latinos,
Asians, and the New Black/Nonblack Divide. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
LIBRARY RESERVE
Wednesday, February 17
Prejudice, racism and privilege
Reflection Due Friday
Film in class: Tim Wise on White Privilege: Racism, White Denial & the Costs of Inequality
(57m)
Monday, February 22
(continued)
Readings:
* Rothenberg, Chapter 3 in Part three (Peggy McIntosh, White Privilege)
* Tatum, Chapter 1 (Defining Racism)
* Trepagnier, Chapter 1 (Rethinking Racism) and Chapter 4 (The Production of Institutional
Racism)
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Wednesday, February 24
Heterogeneity of whiteness
Thematic Paper #1 Due
Readings:
* Gallagher, Charles. A. (2003). “White Reconstruction in the University.” Pp. 299-318 in
Privilege: A Reader, edited by Michael Kimmel and Abby Ferber. Boulder, Colo.: Westview
Press. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Lew, Jamie. (2006). “Burden of Acting Neither White Nor Black: Asian American Identities
and Achievement in Urban Schools.” The Urban Review, 38, 5, 335-352. LIBRARY
RESERVE
* Rothenberg, Chapter 1 in Part three (Stephanie M. Wildman and Adrienne D. Davis,
Making Systems of Privilege Visible)
* Twine, France Winddance. (1999). “Brown Skinned White Girls: Class, Culture, and the
Construction of White Identity in Suburban Communities.” Pp. 214-243 in Displacing
Whiteness: Essays in Social and Cultural Criticism, edited by Ruth Frankenberg. Durham:
Duke University Press. LIBRARY RESERVE
SPRING BREAK MARCH 1-5
II.
RACISM AND PRIVILEGE IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Monday, March 8
Exploring our racial identities
Readings:
* Rodriguez, Clara E., Castro, Aida, Garcia, Oscar, and Torres, Analisa. (1991). “Latino Racial
Identity: In the Eye of the Beholder?” Latino Studies Journal, 3, 33-48. LIBRARY
RESERVE
* Tatum, Part II (Understanding Blackness in a White Context, all chapters); Part III
(Understanding Whiteness in a White Context, Chapter 6); Part IV (Beyond Black and
White, all chapters)
* Trepagnier, Chapter 5 (Race Awareness Matters)
* Wise, Tim. Entire book
* Wong, Freida and Richard Hagin. (2006). “The ‘Model Minority’: Bane or Blessing for
Asian Americans? Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 34, 38-49.
LIBRARY RESERVE
Wednesday, March 10
(cont.)
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Monday, March 15
White talk
Readings:
* Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. (2006). “The Central Frames of Color-Blind Racism.” Pp. 25-52 and
“The Style of Color Blindness: How to Talk Nasty about Minorities without Sounding
Racist.” Pp. 53-74 in Racism without Racists: Colorblind Racism and the Persistence of
Racial Inequality in the United States. Second Edition. New York: Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Simpson, Jennifer S. (1996). “Easy Talk, White Talk, Back Talk: Some Reflections on the
Meanings of Our Words.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 25, no. 3:372-389.
LIBRARY RESERVE
* Trepagnier, Chapter 2 (Silent Racism)
Wednesday, March 17
(cont.)
Thematic Paper #2 Due
Monday, March 22
Whiteness, interracial relationships and the family
Readings:
* Feagin, Joe, and Eileen O’Brien. (2003). “Issues of Interracial Dating and Marriage.” Pp.
131-154 in White Men on Race: Power Privilege and the Shaping of Cultural Consciousness.
Boston: Beacon Press. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Tatum, Beverly Daniel. (2007). “What Kind of Friendship is That? The Search for
Authenticity, Mutuality, and Social Transformation in Cross-Racial Relationships.” Pp. 83104 in Can We Talk About Race? Boston: Beacon Press. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Fogg-Davis, Hawley. (2002). “ Introduction.” Pp. 1-13 and “Racial Randomization.” Pp. 7492 in The Ethics of Transracial Adoption. New York: Cornell Press. LIBRARY RESERVE
Wednesday, March 24
Whiteness on the college campus
Reflection Due Friday
Film in class: Some Place I Call Home: Racism on the Trinity College Campus (70m)
Readings:
* Feagin, Joe. R. (1992). “The Continuing Significance of Racism: Discrimination Against
Black Students in White Colleges.” Journal of Black Studies, 22: no. 4:546-578. LIBRARY
RESERVE
* Hurtado, Sylvia, Jeffrey Milem, Alma Clayton-Pedersen, and Walter Allen. (1999).
“Enacting Diverse Learning Environments: Improving the Climate for Racial/Ethnic
Diversity in Higher Education.” Pp. 89-110. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, V26, no.
8. Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, Graduate School of Education and
Human Development. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Lewis, Amanda E., Mark Chesler, and Tyrone Forman. (2000). “The Impact of ‘Colorblind’
Ideologies on Students of Color: Intergroup Relations at a Predominately White University.”
Journal of Negro Education, 69, 1, 74-91. LIBRARY RESERVE
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Monday, March 29
Whiteness on the college campus (continued)
Wednesday, March 31
Whiteness and affirmative action
Reflection Due Friday
Film in class: True Colors (18m)
Readings:
* Feagin, Joe, and Eileen O’Brien. (2003). “Views on Public Policy: Affirmative Action.” Pp.
189-225 in White Men on Race: Power Privilege and the Shaping of Cultural Consciousness.
Boston: Beacon Press. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Tatum, Part III (Understanding Whiteness in a White Context, Chapter 7)
* Williams, Walter E. and Clarence Page. (1999). “Has Affirmative Action Outlived Its
Usefulness?” Pp. 168-186 in Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Social Issues,
edited by Kurt Finsterbusch. Tenth edition. Guilford, Conn.: McGraw-Hill. LIBRARY
RESERVE
EASTER BREAK APRIL 1-5 (but we still have class on the 5th)
Monday, April 5
Thematic Paper #3 “presentations”
Thematic Paper #3 Due
Wednesday, April 7
Whiteness and racial profiling
Reading:
*Lehr, Dick. Entire book
Monday, April 12
Whiteness and the educational system
Film (on your own): The Problem We All Live With: Inequalities between Boston Urban and
Suburban Schools. (22m)
http://www.whatkidscando.org/archives/JUNE/school_as_subject/index.html
Readings:
*Easton, Susan E. (2001). “The Other Boston Busing Story.” Pp. 1-24 and “City Life and
Suburban Schools.” Pp. 218-258 in The Other Boston Busing Story: What’s Won and Lost Across
the Boundary Line. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. LIBRARY RESERVE
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Wednesday, April 14
What to do with whiteness
Readings:
* Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. (2001). “Conclusion: New Racism, New Theory, and New Struggle.”
Pp. 193-204 in White Supremacy & Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era. Boulder, Colo.:
Lynne Rienner Publications. LIBRARY RESERVE
* hooks, bell. (1995). “Overcoming White Supremacy: A Comment.” Pp. 184-195 in
Killing Rage, Ending Racism. New York: Owl Books. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Ignatiev, Noel. (1997). “The Point Is Not to Interpret Whiteness, But to Abolish It.”
BLACKBOARD
* Kivel, Paul. (2002). “Part V: Fighting Institutional Racism.” Pp. 172-218 in Uprooting
Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. Revised Edition. Canada: New
Society Publisher. LIBRARY RESERVE
* Rothenberg, Chapter 2 in Part four (Joe Feagin and Hernan Vera, Confronting One’s Own
Racism); Chapter 3 in Part four (Paul Kivel, How White People Can Serve as Allies to
People of Color in the Struggle to End Racism)
* Trepagnier, Chapter 6 (Antiracist Practice); Chapter 7 (Epilogue)
Monday, April 19
No Class, Marathon Monday
Wednesday, April 21
(continued)
Monday, April 26
Thematic Paper #4 presentations
Wednesday, April 28
Thematic Paper #4 presentations
Monday, May 3
Thematic Paper #4 presentations
Wednesday, May 5
Thematic Paper #4 presentations
Thematic Paper #4 Due
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