BTAN3012MA04: Topics in North American Political Culture:
The Challenge of Diversity in the US
Spring 2013
TUE 8-9.40, Rm. 121
5-credit seminar, 2 hrs, graded, for MA students
Tóthné Dr. Espák Gabriella
Office: Main Bld 116/1 ( 22152)
Office hours: TUE 14-15, WED 10-11
E-mail: gespak@unideb.hu
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course is designed to broaden students’ understanding of US “multiculturalism,” with a refinement of the
term through its predominantly multiracial character. We will introduce contemporary (post-civil rights era)
approaches to race and ethnicity in US society. Our aim is to generate informed critical opinion about
contemporary ethno-political issues, and provide for a better understanding of today’s political calamities and
debates as well as of various (often stereotypical) cultural representations. Main topics: (1) the post-civil
rights era; (2) social constructions of race; (3) African Americans; (4) American Indians; (5) new immigrants;
(6) multiculturalism; (7) the terminology of social diversity; (8) racism and white male supremacy; (8)
affirmative action; (9) the construction of identity.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
[WHAT] ] to provide an overview of US societal and cultural diversity from multiple aspects;
[HOW] by raising controversial questions rather than providing answers;
[WHY] to increase critical thinking and to generate informed critical opinion about the challenge of diversity
in the US as well as globally.
REQUIREMENTS:
Attendence: Please observe the rule that no more than three absenses can be tolerated.
Participation in discussion: Contribution to discussions will take you towards a better grade.
Presentation: It is part of the course requirements to present a scholarly essay in class, in about 10 minutes.
Please prepare a handout (an outline of your presentation) to help your fellows follow you and take notes (cf.
Week 9-10: Student Presentations)
Essay: written out-of-class, 8-10 printed pages (cf. Week 6: Essay Tutorial).
End-term paper: You will write this in class, full time; definitions+essays (cf. Week 12).
ASSESSMENT:
Grades will be granted as 90% up: excellent; 80% up: good; 70% up: average; 60% up: poor.
Your coursework contributes to your grade (max.100 points) as
End-term paper 30% + Essay 30% + Presentation 20% + Participation 10% + attendance 10%
READINGS:
Required readings will be provided in a course packet at our first meeting in Week 1, and will be collected at
the end of the course (Week 15). Please note that you cannot get a grade unless you have returned the course
packet. Optional readings will be made available in the library.
SCHEDULE OVERVIEW:
Week 1 (02/12) Multicultural America in the Post-Civil Rights Era: An Overview
Week 2 (02/19) TEACHING BLOCK I/1: RACE Racial Fault Lines
Week 3 (02/26) TB I/2: Gains, Losses, Contests: African Americans since the 1960s
Week 4 (03/05) TB I/3: Affirmative Action
Week 5 (03/12) TB I/4: Representations of Race and the Politics of Identity
Week 6 (03/19) Essay Tutorial
Week 7 (03/26) TEACHING BLOCK II/1: ETHNICITY New Immigrants and the Dilemmas of Adjustment
Week 8 (04/02) Consultation Week
Week 9 (04/09) TB II/2: Student Presentations 1 (Guided)
Week 10 (04/16) TB II/3: Student Presentations 2 (Guided)
Week 11 (04/23) TEACHING BLOCK III/1: RELIGION/GENDER Religion (+Essay submission deadline)
Week 12 (04/30) End-Term Paper
Week 13 (05/07) TB III/2: Gender: Women’s Liberation
Week 14 (05/14) TB III/3: Identity formation: LGBT
Week 15 (05/21) Evaluation
2
SCHEDULE AND READINGS:
Week 1 (02/12)
Orientation
Multicultural America in the Post-Civil Rights Era: An Overview (lecture)
Rationale: to set the stage for what follows by offering a brief historical overview of changes in race relations since the
1960s, thereby providing the student with a framework that contextualizes the readings.
Themes/problems addressed: (1) Diversity vs unity; (2) Terminology; (3) The advent of the post-civil rights era; (4)
Demographic shifts; (5) The social construction of European Americans; (6) African Americans and the
enduring dilemma of race; (7) American Indians: the first of this land; (8) New immigrants in an advanced
industrial society; (9) Multicultural America
Required readings:
Glazer, Nathan. “We Are All Multiculturalists Now.” Multiculturalism in the United States. Ed. Peter Kivisto and
Georganne Rundblad. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge, 2000. 445-53.
Takaki, Ronald. “Multiculturalism: Battleground or Meeting Ground?” Kivisto and Rundblad 481-90.
Optional readings:
Takaki, Ronald. “America’s Dilemma.” A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston: Little,
1993. 399-428.
Week 2 (02/19)
TEACHING BLOCK I/1: RACE
Racial Fault Lines (discussion)
Rationale: This teaching block examines questions about the salience of racism and the new kinds of racial divisions
that have emerged recently, it takes stock of what was achieved for African Americans by the civil rights
movement, and deals with issues related to the social construction of racial identities, from both cultural and
political perspectives
Themes/problems addressed: This class considers how serious a problem racism actually is and how it most typically
manifests itself. It proposes a critique of white supremacist thought. It also discusses re-structured race
relations in an increasingly multiracial society.
Required readings:
Jaynes, Gerald Darwin and Robin M. Williams, Jr. “Changes in White Attitude.” Kivisto and Rundblad 7-18.
Winant, Howard. “Racism Today: Continuity and Change in the Post-Civil Rigths Era.” Kivisto and Rundblad 1928.
Warrior, Clide. “We Are Not Free” (1967). ). Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy. Ed. Melvyn I. Urofsky.
Washington: USIA, 1994. 395-400.
Optional readings:
Ferber, Abby L. “Mongrel Monstrosities.” Kivisto and Rundblad 57-70.
Sears, David O. “Urban Rioting in Los Angeles: A Comparison of 1965 with 1992.” Kivisto and Rundblad 81-92.
Week 3 (02/26)
TEACHING BLOCK I/2: RACE
Gains, Losses, Contests: African Americans since the 1960s (discussion)
Themes/problems addressed: This class looks at the status of African Americans three decades into the post-civil rights
era. It assesses whether the legacies of a racist past could be overcome, and discusses whether the split
between middle class and poorer blacks is bridgeable by a common racial belonging or will continue to grow
due to different class locations.
Required readings:
Hochschild, Jennifer. “Rich and Poor African Americans.” Kivisto and Rundblad 193-207.
Lincoln, C. Eric and Lawrence H. Mamiya. “The Black Church and the Twenty-First Century.” Kivisto and
Rundblad 259-68.
Optional readings:
Wilson, William Julius. “When Work Disappears: Societal Changes and Vulnerable Neighbourhoods.” Kivisto and
Rundblad 219-28.
Collins, Sharon M. “Black Mobility in White Corporations: Up the Corporate Ladder but Out on a Limb.” Kivisto
and Rundblad 245-58.
Week 4 (03/05) TEACHING BLOCK I/3: RACE
Affirmative Action (discussion)
Themes/problems addressed: This class overviews the origin of affirmative action plans and examines their reception
and legal plausability today. It asks what the proper role of government ought to be in dealing with issues of
civil rights in the present.
Required readings:
Skrentny, John David. “The Origins and Politics of Affirmative Action.” Kivisto and Rundblad 269-86.
Steinberg, Stephen. “Affirmative Action and Liberal Capitulation.” Kivisto and Rundblad 287-94.
Optional readings:
Research resource! See especially the Supreme Court on affirmative action, June 23, 2003:
Anderson, Elizabeth S. “Race, Gender, and Affirmative Action: Resource Page for Teaching.” Updated June 2003.
Access: July 2005. <http://www-personal.umich.edu/~eandersn/biblio.htm>
3
Week 5 (03/12)
TEACHING BLOCK I/4: RACE
Representations of Race and the Politics of Identity (discussion)
Themes/problems addressed: This class will argue that racial identities are socially constructed It will see shat tools are
used to claim, revise, or challenge an identity, if there are limits on the construction of identity, and if there is
an “authentic” identity at all. Part of this class will be devoted to discussing your proposed essay topics.
Required readings:
Davis, F. James. “Black Identity in the United States.” Kivisto and Rundblad 101-12.
Lewis, Justin and Sut Jhally. “Television and the politics of Racial Representation.” Kivisto and Rundblad 149-60.
Optional readings:
Nagel, Joane. “The Politics of Ethnic Authenticity: Building Native American Identities and Communities.” Kivisto
and Rundblad 113-24.
Rhea, Joseph T. “Race Pride, Mexican Americans, and the Alamo.” Kivisto and Rundblad 125-34.
Dorow, Sara K. “Narratives of Race and Culture in Transnational Adoption.” Kivisto and Rundblad 135-48.
Deloria, Vine, Jr. and Clifford Lytle. “The Future of Indian Nations.” The Nations Within: The Past and Future of
American Indian Sovereignty. New York: Pantheon, 1994. 244-64.
Week 6 (03/19)
Essay Tutorial (discussion, abstract writing)
Themes/problems addressed: Part of this class is devoted to assistance with student research. Essay guidelines will be
discussed and handed out. Students are to come prepared with a topic, be ready to revise it in class and
present in 3 minutes.
Required preparation:
Preparation for this class involves mapping up library and internet resources, identifying a topic and a problem, and
linking it to at least 3 of the sources read for previous classes. A resume of the outcome of the class (no
longer than one page) is to be submitted to the tutor in email within three days of class.
Week 7 (03/26)
TEACHING BLOCK II/1: ETHNICITY
New Immigrants and the Dilemmas of Adjustment (discussion)
Rationale: This teaching block addresses the impact on the nation of the wave of new immigrants who have come to the
United States since 1965 and examines the ways the nation has had an impact on these newcomers.
Themes/problems addressed: This class observes that recent immigrants come chiefly from three regions: Latin
America, the Caribbean, and Asia. This means that a majority of the newcomers are non-white. Thus, the
reconstruction of racial identities addressed at the end of the previous teaching block is in no small part an
outgrowth of this fact.
Required reading:
Portes, Alejandro and Min Zhou. “Should Immigrants Assimilate? Kivisto and Rundblad 317-28.
Mahler, Sarah J. “Immigrant Life on the Margins.” Kivisto and Rundblad 343-54.
Optional reading:
Waldinger, Roger. “Who Gets the ‘Lousy’ Jobs?” Kivisto and Rundblad 329-42.
Glazer, Nathan. “Individualism and Equality in the United States.” Making America: The Society and Culture of the
United States. Ed. Luther S. Luedtke. Washington: USIA, 1995. 226-40.
Week 8
Consultation Week
Week 9 (04/09) TEACHING BLOCK II/2: ETHNICITY
Student Presentations 1 (guided presentation, discussion)
Themes/problems addressed: In this class students will demonstrate their ability to sum up representative essays in an
(oral) argumentative way, within a time limit (10-15 minutes), using a handout and the board. Their minilectures are part of the course, therefore have to be delivered in a followable way. Making an abstract of the
paper delivered is a must and should be placed on a handout. On today’s agenda: case studies of ethnicities.
Required preparation:
Students are required to prepare a handout with abstract, deliver a free (not read) presentation, and use the board.
They should also be ready to answer question after presentation.
Optional readings (required choice of 1 for presentation):
Moore, Joan and James Diego Vigil. “Barrios in Transition.” Kivisto and Rundblad 355-68.
Fong, Timothy P. “The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterrey Park, California.” Kivisto and
Rundblad 369-80.
Tizon, Orlando P. “ ‘Destroying a Marriage to Save a Family’: Shifting Filipino American Gender Relations.”
Kivisto and Rundblad 381-94.
Erdmans, Mary Patrice. “Stanislaus Can’t Polka: New Polish Immigrants in Established Polish American
Communities.” Kivisto and Rundblad 395-408.
Gold, Steven J. “Israeli Americans.” Kivisto and Rundblad 409-20.
Faist, Thomas. “Social Citizenship for Whom? Young Turks in Germany and Mexican Americans in the United
States.” Kivisto and Rundblad 421-36.
4
Week 10 (04/16) TEACHING BLOCK II/3: ETHNICITY
Student Presentations 2 (guided presentations, discussion)
Themes/problems addressed: Presentations continued. On today’s agenda: theoretical approaches to problems of
ethnicity.
Required preparation:
Students are required to prepare a handout with abstract, deliver a free (not read) presentation, and use the board.
They should also be ready to answer question after presentation.
Optional readings (required choice of 1 for presentation):
Hollinger, David A. “Democracy and the Melting Pot Reconsidered.” In the American Province: Studies in the
History and Historiography of Ideas. Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 1985. 92-102.
San Juan, E.Jr. “Ethnicity and the Political Economy of Difference.” (Chapter 4) Racism and Cultural Studies:
Critiques of Multiculturalist Ideology and the Politics of Difference. Durham: Duke UP, 2002. 132-164.
Barber, Benjamin R. from Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age. The Civil Society Reader. Eds.
Virginia A. Hodgkinson and Michael W. Foley. Hanover and London: UP of New England, 2003. 234-254.
hooks, bell. “A Revolution of Values: The Promise of Multicultural Change.” The Cultural Studies Reader. 2nd edn.
Ed. Simon During. London: Routledge, 1999. 233-40.
West, Cornell. “The Cultural Politics of Difference.” The Cultural Studies Reader. 2nd edn. Ed. Simon During.
London: Routledge, 1999.256-67.
Week 11 (04/23)
TEACHING BLOCK III/1: RELIGION/GENDER
Religion (discussion)
Rationale: This teaching block sees how aspects of religion and gender modify race and ethnicity-based approaches to
diversity in the U.S.
Themes/problems addressed: This class assesses the role of religion in contemporary US society through the clash of old
and new value systems.
Required readings:
Marty, M.E. “Religion in America.” 302-314. Making America: The Society and Culture of the United States. Ed
Luther S. Luedtke. Washington: USIA, 1995. 302-14.
Zimmerman, Jonathan. “School Prayer and the Conservative Revolution.” Whose America? Culture Wars in the
Public Schools. Cambridge, MASS: Harvard UP, 2002. 160-85.
Optional readings:
Lipset, Seymour Martin. “Economy, Religion, and Welfare.” American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword.
New York: Norton, 1997. 53-76.
Jhally, Sut. “Advertising as Religion: The Dialectic of Technology and Magic.” Cultural Politics in Contemporary
America. Ed. Ian Angus and Sut Jhally. New York: Routledge, 1989. 217-29.
Myers, D.G. “Faith and Society.” The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty. New Haven: Yale
UP, 2000. 256-91.
DEADLINE: essay submission
Week 12 (04/30)
End-Term Paper
Format: a combination of objective definitions and subjective (short essay-form responses to quotations) questions.
Week 13 (05/07)
TEACHING BLOCK III/2: RELIGION/GENDER
Gender: Women’s Liberation (discussion)
Themes/problems addressed: This class attempts to examine and answer E. San Juan Jr.’s proposition that “[o]ne of the
slogans of the initial phase of the women’s liberation movement in the United States condemned sexism —
male supremacy — as one of the major causes of racism. In what ways are sexuality, racial inferiorization of
people of color, and imperialism woven together in late capitalism?”.
Required readings:
San Juan, E.Jr. “Performing Race: Articulations of Gender, Sexuality, and Nationalism.” (Chapter 4) Racism and
Cultural Studies: Critiques of Multiculturalist Ideology and the Politics of Difference. Durham: Duke UP,
2002. 60-94. See especially 79-94.
NOW Statement of Purpose (1966). Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy. Ed. Melvyn I. Urofsky. Washington: USIA,
1994. 390-94.
Elshtain, Jean Bethke. “Cultural Conindrums and Gender: America’s Present Past.” Cultural Politics in
Contemporary America. Ed. Ian Angus and Sut Jhally. New York: Routledge, 1989. 123-34.
Optional readings:
Lott, Eric. “Racial Cross-Dressing and the Construction of American Whiteness.” The Cultural Studies Reader. 2nd
edn. Ed. Simon During. London: Routledge, 1999. 241-55.
Berlant, Lauren and Michael Warner. “Sex in Public.” The Cultural Studies Reader. 2nd edn. Ed. Simon During.
London: Routledge, 1999. 354-67.
Seyla Benhahib. “Multiculturalism and Gendered Citizenship.” The Claims of Culture: Equality and Diversity in the
Global Era. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2002. 82-104.
5
Week 14 (05/14)
TEACHING BLOCK III/3: RELIGION/GENDER
Identity Formation: LGBT (discussion)
Themes/problems addressed: different types of minority status, minority identity formation, traditional approaches to
homosexuality: sin, illness, shame, before and after Stonewall, the gay marriage debate
Video: •Before Stonewall (1994) • After Stonewall (1999)
Week 15 (05/21) Evaluation (individual assessment, concluding discussion)
Themes/problems addressed: No new themes discussed. This class evaluates students’ work on an individual basis and
concludes discussions.
Required reading:
Angelou, Maya. “On the Pulse of Morning” (1993). Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy. Ed. Melvyn I. Urofsky.
Washington: USIA, 1994. 401-4.