(POLS 0832) The Politics of Identity
Spring 2015
Alex Melonas
alexmelonas@msn.com
Gladfelter Hall 414
Monday, 10AM-12PM, and by appointment
In this course we will investigate a range of frameworks that have been employed to analyze
the relationship between identity and politics. We will begin and end with the deceptively
straightforward question: What is identity? We will also take up the following questions over
the course of the semester. What does identity have to do with politics and obligation? How do
our social identities shape our politics? What is and/or should be the relationship between
individualism and “group-ness”? How might we best portray the intersections that exist
between and among familiar modern identities such as race, sex, gender expression, nationality,
sexual orientation, and ethnicity? Are these identities real? What does “real” even mean (that
is, is it political, social, biological, some mixture)? Should we celebrate, i.e., acknowledge, or
downplay our differences in favor of “unity”?
Required Texts
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, 2009, Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence
of Racial Inequality in America (3rd Edition)
Joey L. Mogul, Andrea J Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock, 2012, Queer (In)Justice: The
Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States
Linda Alcoff, 2005, Visible Identities: Race, Gender, and the Self
Michelle Alexander, 2012, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color
Blindness
Requirements
Worth 15% of your grade, attendance and engaged participation are mandatory.
You should neither miss a class nor be late. Late arrivals and early departures are disruptive; if
you anticipate being late or having to leave early on a regular basis, please make other
arrangements. Merely attending class, however, is an approach to learning that I only modestly
reward (roughly 5%). I have a very strong conception of classroom citizenship. The classroom
is a social product, which will evolve and take shape according to our collective input.
Participation therefore is required. No exceptions.
Worth 10% of your grade, there will be a series of short reading responses, designed to encourage
reading and good note taking. Late work will not be accepted and will receive a
failing grade unless arrangements are made in advance.
There will be one exam in this course, which will ask you to draw on the themes that we have
explored the weeks prior to answer several short-essay questions. This assignment is worth 25%
of your grade. No
make-up exams unless arrangements are made in advance.
As part of the General Education curriculum, I would like you to get into the habit of finding,
on your own, useful books, scholarly articles, newspaper articles, and other sources. There will
be an information literacy assignment to help you develop these skills. This assignment will
come in two parts (developing an annotated bibliography and summarizing essential content
from sources) with due dates at various points throughout the semester. This research project is
worth 50% of your grade. Late work will not be accepted and will receive a failing
grade unless arrangements are made in advance.
Note on Academic Conduct: You are expected to abide by the University’s rules of academic
honesty. When you turn in someone else’s work under your own name, and/or paraphrase,
quote, or borrow ideas that are not your own without proper citation, you commit plagiarism, a
serious academic offense with consequences ranging from failing the course to disciplinary
action by the University.
Students with Disabilities: Any student who has a need for special accommodations due to
disabilities should speak with me as soon as possible to discuss the specific situation and
contact Disability Resources and Services, located in Ritter Annex, at 215-204-1280.
Statement on Academic Freedom: The University has adopted a policy on Student and
Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities (Policy #03.70.02), which can be accessed at
http://policies.temple.edu/getdoc.asp?policy_no=03.70.02.
Sessions and Assigned Readings
Week 1: Introductions, and class overview
Week 2: Must identities be visible to be real? Are familiar modern identities such as race and
sex “real”? How do those with denigrated public identities resist oppression? Do our
identities irredeemably divide the U.S. polity? Can or should we try to obliterate or preserve
them?
•
Chapter’s 2 and 4 from Linda Martin Alcoff’s Visible Identities
Week 3: A case study of how visible identities partially construct how we view others: what is
“implicit bias” and how does it challenge how we see ourselves?
•
Chris Mooney’s “The Science of Why Cops Shoot Young Black Men,” from
Mother Jones (BB)
Week 4: What is and/or should be the relationship between individualism and “group- ness”?
Do we have moral obligations that flow from our identities?
•
Michael J. Sandel’s “Dilemmas of Loyalty” (BB)
Week 5: Should we celebrate, i.e., acknowledge, or downplay our differences in favor of
unity? How does a “politics of universalism” fail to actually be universal?
•
Selections from Iris Marion Young’s Justice and the Politics of Difference
(BB) Week 6: What is a “politics of difference”?
•
Selections from Iris Marion Young’s Justice and the Politics of Difference
(BB) Week 7: Exam
Week 8: Spring break; no class
Week 9: How does the “sexual hierarchy” function as a caste system?
•
Gayle Rubin’s “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality”
(BB)
Week 10: Are certain people punished for their gender expressions, regardless of whether a
crime was ever committed? What is the process by which being queer is criminalized?
•
Chapter’s 1-4 from Mogul et al.’s Queer (In)Justice
Week 11: What is “mass incarceration”? Are we seeing a rebirth of a caste- like system in
the United State? According to Alexander, what is the “War on Drugs” really about?
•
Chapter’s 1-4 from Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow
Week 12: What is “color-blind” racism? Is it true: “we don’t see color, just people”?
•
Chapter’s 2 and 3 from Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s Racism without Racists
Week 13: Does President Obama represent a post-racial America?
•
Chapter 10 from Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s Racism without Racists
Week 14: How do race and gender intersect in the working lives of women faculty of color?
What does it mean to be “presumed incompetent”?
•
Selections from Presumed Incompetent (BB)
Week 15: Final Class