AMST 155D 01/ American Dreams, American Realities: The Multicultural United States
American Studies Department
Stetson University
MW 2:30-3:45 pm/Flagler Hall 334
Fall 2010
Dr. Emily Mieras
Office: Sampson 218/386-822-7532
emieras@stetson.edu
Office Hours: M 4-5pm, W noon-2pm, Th 1-2 pm
Other times by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course studies the experiences of various immigrant, racial and ethnic groups in the United States, taking a
multicultural approach to American history and culture. Our goal is to determine what those experiences can tell
us about American ideals and realities and how these stories might change existing historical narratives. We will
also learn about how different cultural, racial, and ethnic groups have experienced the process of becoming
American, formed their own social institutions, cultural rituals, and support networks, and helped shape and
build American society.
As we read different accounts of the American experience, we will deal with several key questions: What does it
mean to be an American? Who decides who qualifies as an American? How have these definitions changed over
time? How do attitudes about race and ethnicity interact with ideas about national identity? How do work,
family, and school experiences, among others, contribute to multicultural identities and to shaping American
identity? How important are these perspectives to our overall understanding of U. S. history and culture?
My goals for you include:
--gaining an understanding of the patterns of immigration, assimilation, and cultural pluralism in American
culture
--gaining an understanding of the histories of the different racial, ethnic, and immigrant groups we study
--learning how this multicultural history connects to other historical narratives
--honing your critical reading, writing, and speaking skills
COURSE TEXTS:
These books are on reserve in the library and available for purchase at the Bookstore.
1) Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror: a History of Multicultural America, Rev. Edition
2) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, ed. David Blight)
3) Hasia Diner, Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration
Additional Reading
Additional readings for the class will be posted on Blackboard or available via e-book as indicated on the Course
Schedule in this syllabus. I suggest you print out these readings OR take very good notes OR annotate on line, if
e-book.
Films:
We will watch a few films outside class time; I will schedule screenings outside class time for your convenience
or let you know how you can access this material on your own. Please see Blackboard for details.
AMST 155D/Fall 2010/Mieras/2
COURSE FORMAT
This course will be very interactive, requiring your participation every day. You are responsible for absorbing
material covered during class lecture and discussion as well as the material you read outside of class. Each of
you is an important part of making this class a success. You do so by coming to class prepared and remaining
actively engaged throughout the class period.
Blackboard:
The Blackboard course site is an integral part of this class. I will post readings, handouts, announcements, and
occasional discussion points to the site. It is your responsibility to check the site regularly so you are up-to-date
on class news and assignments. You will also post some assignments to Blackboard. It is up to you to work
with Information Technology (IT, 822-7217) to make sure you can access Blackboard. Problems with
Blackboard do not exempt you from meeting deadlines for course assignments.
Please note that you should treat your Blackboard posts as serious writing. You can be informal (you may use “I”
or colloquial terms if necessary), but you must write in grammatically correct sentences, check your spelling, and
make an effort to develop and support your ideas.
EVALUATION
My evaluation of your work in this class will be based on several different areas: class participation and
preparation, informal written work, formal course papers, and exams. These different forms of evaluation will
give you different ways to demonstrate your knowledge of course material.
I. Reading, Film, and Event Responses (8 total) (15 percent)
You will write five responses to course readings during the semester. Reading responses should be at least 150
words each and should identify important themes and ideas in the texts, rather than merely summarizing or
asking factual questions. You should make connections between the readings if there is more than one due on
the day you are responding, but if there are many short readings, you need not address all of them. Think of
them as a starting point for class discussion. Reading Response due dates are indicated by RRA/RRB/RRC/RRD
on the course schedule (you will be divided into these groups for organizational purposes only, no group work
required). See Blackboard for Reading Response Group Assignment by 8/20.
You will also write responses to two of the course films. The two film responses are your choice and are also
due when we discuss the film. Film responses should be at least 150 words each and should identify important
themes and ideas in the films that connect to course material, rather than merely summarizing or reviewing the
films.
In addition to posting these films and reading responses on Blackboard by 10 am on the day class meets,
please BRING A COPY TO CLASS so you can refer to it and share it with other students.
You will attend at least ONE event on Stetson’s campus this semester that is related to the issues we are
discussing in class and post a 150-word response to Blackboard by one week following the event. This response
should make connections to course material and analyze the event, not merely report on it. List of events
forthcoming on Blackboard.
II. Written Response to Stetson Town Meeting on Diversity (5 percent)
You will write a short (1-2-page) informal essay responding to the events you attend for Stetson’s Town Meeting
on Diversity (October 27). Details forthcoming when the schedule for this day is publicized.
AMST 155D/Fall 2010/Mieras/3
III. Papers
Paper One (5 percent): Reflection on first week of course reading; due FRIDAY, Aug 27, to BLACKBOARD
by 5pm. This essay will be a short (2-3-page) essay in which you identify what you see as the important
ideas from our first week of reading and discuss your response to those ideas. You should use
and cite specific examples from the course texts. See Blackboard by 8/20 for more details.
Paper Two (15 percent): The second paper is a CHOICE between two topics. You will pick your topic by
the second week of class.
A. Personal Connections. Due 10/20. Discuss in class. For this 5-6-page paper, you will reflect on
the ways race, ethnicity, or immigration have affected you or people close to you (i.e. family
members or friends). You will interview at least two people who can give you insight into this
issue and write an essay in which you discuss their experiences, using some of the
concepts, issues, and ideas from our course reading. You should use at least three outside
sources to support your work, and you must cite all your sources appropriately in your essay.
See Blackboard for more details.
B. Contemporary Issues. Due11/17. Discuss in class. You will write a short (5-6 page) paper on
contemporary issues related to one of the ethnic and racial groups we are studying in class. You
should use at least four outside sources to help you discuss this topic, as well as using course
texts when applicable, and you will write a paper that sums up your findings AND makes an
argument (interpretation) about what you’ve discovered. See Blackboard for more details.
Paper Three (15 percent): Analytical Response to Course Reading. You will write an essay analyzing and
commenting on readings from ONE of our course units. You will have a choice of topics (and
therefore a choice of deadlines). All these papers will be completed before the Thanksgiving break.
Details forthcoming; see Blackboard.
IV. Exams
Mid-Term Exam (15 percent) This exam will be a take-home essay exam due to Blackboard by 11:59 pm, Oct. 13.
Final Exam (20 percent)
This exam will be a take-home essay test due in hard copy the day of the scheduled exam for the course (12/8.)
V. Participation (10 percent)
Your active participation and thorough preparation are very important to making the class a success. Good
participation involves: being in class, being prepared for class (you have read the texts, you have thought about
the reading, you have notes, you have your materials with you), being articulate about your opinions on course
material, helping move discussion in new directions, engaging other students’ points, being alert, and taking
responsibility for how the class goes. Posting to Blackboard as indicated above also counts toward your
participation grade. From time to time, you may have quizzes or short in-class essays on the day’s reading.
Sometimes these will be announced, sometimes not. These assignments will count toward your participation
grade. Missing more than three class meetings will severely affect your participation grade.
AMST 155D/Fall 2010/Mieras/4
Grade Breakdown
Reading, Film, Event Responses
Town Meeting Response
Paper One
Paper Two
15 percent
5 percent
5 percent
15 percent
Paper Three
Mid-Term Exam
Final Exam
Participation
15 percent
15 percent
20 percent
10 percent
Course Policies
Deadlines
Course work is due on the date indicated on this syllabus. I will take off three points for each day a paper is late
up to two weeks late; after that, I will no longer accept the paper. But NOTE: I will accept only one late paper
from any student this term in any case. Obviously, if severe personal circumstances interfere with your
completing your work on schedule, you can discuss those circumstances with me and we can negotiate options.
Completion of Work
Work is complete when it contains all the required elements (for example, if I ask you to turn in fieldwork notes
with your essay, it is incomplete if you do not include them). Incomplete work will lose points. In-class work
cannot be made up.
Academic Integrity
I will not tolerate cheating and/or plagiarism in this course. I will refer suspected cheating to the Honors Council,
and penalties may range from failing an assignment to failing the course.
Stetson’s honor pledge applies to all work done in this course.
As a member of Stetson University, I agree to uphold the highest standards of integrity in my academic work. I
promise that I will neither give nor receive unauthorized aid of any kind on my tests, papers, and assignments.
When using the ideas, thoughts, or words of another in my work, I will always provide clear acknowledgement of
the individuals and sources on which I am relying. I will avoid using fraudulent, falsified, or fabricated evidence
and/or material. I will refrain from resubmitting without authorization work for one class that was obtained from
work previously submitted for academic credit in another class. I will not destroy, steal, or make inaccessible any
academic resource material. By my actions and my example, I will strive to promote the ideals of honesty,
responsibility, trust, fairness, and respect that are at the heart of Stetson's Honor System.
************************
Possessing academic integrity does not mean you learn in a vacuum. Learning is a shared venture. Thus, I expect
and hope that you will discuss the course and your work with your classmates. HOWEVER, all final work that you
submit in this class must be your own, and you must follow Stetson’s Honor System, as well as this course’s
guidelines for citing and using research materials. I expect you to consult me if you have any questions about
whether your methods of study, research, or writing fit these guidelines for academic integrity. You can consult
any style manual (the Henry Holt Guide; The Chicago Manual of Style; the MLA Handbook, for example) on the
proper way to cite your sources and avoid plagiarism.
Academic Support Resources
Stetson has both a Writing Center (Flagler Hall) and an Academic Resources Center (in the CUB) to support and
assist you.
AMST 155D/Fall 2010/Mieras/5
Academic Accommodations
If you determine that disability-related accommodations are necessary for you to succeed in this course, please
register with the Academic Resources Center (822-7127; www.stetson.edu/arc), which will then notify me of
your eligibility for reasonable accommodations. We can then plan how best to coordinate your
accommodations.
Common Courtesy
Come to class on time. Turn off cell phones and other forms of technological communication in class. If they ring
by accident, turn them off; do not answer them. Hide them somewhere where I never have to see them.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Why Think Multiculturally? Definitions and Key Themes
W 8/18 Introduction
M8/23 RRA Reading Due: Takaki, Chapt. One (A Different Mirror)
Eric Foner, “Who is An American?” (BLACKBOARD)
Lillian Rubin, ‘“Is This a White Country or What?”’ (BLACKBOARD)
(Both from Paula Rothenberg, Ed., Race, Class, and Gender in the United States, 4th edition)
W 8/25 RRB
Reading Due: Michael Omi and Howard Winant, “Racial Formations,”
(BLACKBOARD; from Paula Rothenberg, Ed., Race, Class, and Gender in the United States, 4th
edition)
Listening Assignment: http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/07/new-white-racial- anxieties?
Due: 8/27 on BLACKBOARD: Paper One responding to first week of course readings.
What Happens When Original Peoples Become Others?
M 8/30 RRC Reading Due: Takaki, Intro to Part I (“Before Columbus: Vinland”);
Chapt. 2 (“’The Tempest…’”); Intro to Part II (“The Rise of the Cotton Kingdom”);
Chapt. 4 (“Toward the Stony Mountains”)
W 9/1 RRD Reading Due: Takaki, Intro to Part III (“The End of the Frontier”); Chapt. 9 (“The Indian Question”)
M 9/6 LABOR DAY HOLIDAY
W 9/8 TBA
Africans in America: National Transformations, Racial Binaries, and the Color Line
M 9/13 RRA
Reading Due: Takaki, Chapt. 3 (“The Hidden Origins of Slavery”); Chapt. 5 (“No More Peck o’
Corn”)
AMST 155D/Fall 2010/Mieras/6
W 9/15 RRB
Reading Due: David Blight’s Introduction to Frederick Douglass’ Narrative (“A Psalm of
Freedom,” 1-23)
View by Today: Ethnic Notions
M 9/20 RRC and RRD Reading Due: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, all (41-126)
Cultural Practice, Ethnic Identity, and Shifting Definitions of Whiteness
W 9/22 RRA
Reading Due: Takaki, Chapt. 6 (“Fleeing the Tyrant’s Heel: Exiles from Ireland”)
M 9/27 RRB
Reading Due: Diner, Hungering for America, Chapts. 1 (skim) and 4
W 9/29 RRC
Reading Due: Diner, Chapt. 5
M 10/4 RRD
Reading Due: Karen Brodkin, “How Jews Became White” (BLACKBOARD; From Paula
Rothenberg, Ed., Race, Class, and Gender in the United States, 5th edition ;)
Takaki, Chapt. 11 (“The Exodus from Russia”)
W 10/6 RRA
Reading Due: Diner, Chapts. 6 and 7
M 10/11 RRB Reading Due: Diner, Chapt. 2 and 3
Reading Race: Beyond Black and White
W 10/13
Reading Due: Takaki, Chapt. 8 (Searching for Gold Mountain)
MIDTERM EXAM DUE TO BLACKBOARD BY 11:59 pm
FALL BREAK
M 10/18 RRC Reading Due: Takaki, Chapt. 10 (“Pacific Crossings”);
Eric Liu, The Accidental Asian (Excerpt, BLACKBOARD);
Listening Assignment Due: Talk of the Nation 10 January 2002
(discussion with Frank Wu, author of Yellow)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1136071 (or see Blackboard for link)
Contested Identities: Mexican Americans in the United States
W 10/20 RRD Reading Due: Takaki, Chapt. 7 (“Foreigners in Their Native Land”)
PAPER TWO OPTION A DUE in class: PERSONAL CONNECTIONS (DISCUSS IN CLASS)
M 10/25 RRA
Reading Due: Takaki, Chapt. 12 (“El norte”)
20th and 21st Century Dilemmas and the Problem of the Color Line
W 10/27 TOWN MEETING; NO CLASS; Attend Events and do submit response paper to Blackboard by 11/1
AMST 155D/Fall 2010/Mieras/7
M 11/1 RRB Reading due: Takaki, Chapt. 13 (“To the Land of Hope”)
View by today: Film, Goin’ to Chicago
W 11/3 RRC
Reading Due: Takaki, Chapt. 14
Film: Rabbit in the Moon
M 11/8 RRD Reading Due: Takaki, Chapt. 15
W 11/10 RRA Reading Due: 1) Haddad, “Inventing and Re-inventing the Arab American Identity,”
From Kathleen Benson and Philip M. Kayal, Eds, A Community of Many Worlds: Arab Americans
in New York City (BLACKBOARD)
M 11/15 RRB Reading Due: Steven Salaita, “Ethnic Identity and Imperative Patriotism: Arab Americans Before
and After 9/11,” College Literature (Spring 2005), 146-68. Access via EBSCOHost.
W 11/17 RRC Reading Due: Takaki, Chapts. 16 and 17
PAPER TWO OPTION B DUE in class: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES (DISCUSS IN CLASS)
M 11/22 RRD
Reading Due: excerpt from Judith Adler Hellman, The World of Mexican Migrants: The Rock and
the Hard Place (BLACKBOARD)
Possible Film Assignment, TBA
W 11/24
NO CLASS, THANKSGIVING BREAK
M 11/29 RR make-up option for all!
Reading Due: Excerpt from William Perez, Ed., We ARE Americans: Undocumented
Students Pursuing the American Dream (BLACKBOARD)
W 12/1
LAST DAY OF CLASS
FINAL EXAM DUE: WED, Dec. 8, by 5pm, at my office in hard copy