Sociology/AAS 247 -- Race and Ethnic Relations
Spring 2008
TuTh 5:30-6:45pm
Tarbutton 218
Dr. Regina Werum
Tel: 727-7514 or 727-7510 (messages)
Email: rwerum@emory.edu
Office Hours: TuTh after class or by appointment
Course Requirements:
1)
Regular attendance in class. If you miss classes during the semester, please talk to me
as soon as possible. Regular attendance will help your academic standing, especially if
you are "borderline" (e.g. between a B- and a C+). If you know in advance that you will
miss a class, please tell me beforehand. At the same time, I reserve the right to lower your
grade for poor attendance. It is your responsibility to obtain lecture notes from your
fellow students. If you are taking this class pass/fail, you must have a "D" (=65) average
in all aspects of the course--including attendance.
2)
Active participation in class. Please come to class prepared, take notes, be attentive, and
participate in class discussions. I expect all of us to be punctual. I welcome and
encourage input from a wide range of viewpoints. However, I will not tolerate disruptive
behavior or discourteous manners and speech in class. Please turn off pagers, cell
phones etc. before you enter the classroom. Anything else, even silent mode, is
inconsiderate and unprofessional, and you will be penalized. Please consult with me
before using a laptop or recording device.
3)
Three exams, plus one 5-8 page research paper. The quizzes/exams consist of multiple
choice and short-essay questions and will be weighted equally, each contributing 25% to
your final grade (exams are on February 21 and April 1; the final exam is on Friday, May
2, from 4:30-7pm). Make-up exams are possible in unusual circumstances, but even then
only if you have notified me prior to the exam that you cannot take it at the regularly
scheduled time.
Please tell me the topic of your paper by February 19. Paper drafts (voluntary) are due on
April 8 and the final paper is due by April 22 at 5pm. Together with your attendance and
participation record, the paper contributes the final 25% percent of your course grade. I
highly encourage you to turn the paper in on time. Your paper grade will be docked
by one step for each additional day (e.g., if it's one day late and would have been an Apaper, you would get a B+; you'd get a B if it were two days late, etc.). I will pass out
more detailed research paper guidelines in a few weeks.
4)
Student Code of Honor: I expect all students to follow the Code of Honor – please sign the last
page attached to this syllabus and turn that page in to me. Violations of the student code of honor
will result at least in a failing grade for the class and may have further disciplinary
consequences. For further details please come see me, consult the Emory College honor code, or
go to: http://www.college.emory.edu/current/standards/honor_code.html. This applies to all
components of the course: attendance/participation, quizzes, exams, papers. To ensure proper
citation practice in your research paper, please use standard ASA style (See e.g. American
Sociological Review or Sociology of Education journals) or MLA style. Clearly indicate your
sources within and at the end of the paper, as outlined in those guidelines.
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5)
Accommodating Disabilities: If you have or acquire any sort of condition that may require
special accommodation(s), please inform me AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (i.e., not the day of an
exam) so that we may make the appropriate arrangements. Proper documentation from the
Office of Disability Services will be required. Please contact their office to get more information
on available services and accommodations, as well as documentation requirements. They can be
reached at 404-727-1065 or via the web at http://www.emory.edu/EEO/ODS/.
6)
I expect you to do the readings for this course on your own. Most readings are required, and
extra-credit readings are clearly marked in the syllabus (in italics). Before each exam, I will hand out
step-by-step study guides to help you with the readings. As a rule,
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we do not discuss the readings in class -- unless I announce it prior to the day the material will be
discussed. However, I urge you to do the readings for each week ahead of class, as this
will facilitate discussion and lower exam anxieties.
I reserve the right to give "pop-quizzes" if I get the impression that, as a group, you are not
keeping up with the course material on your own. If you have trouble understanding the readings
or the lecture material, please feel free to talk to me any time before class, after class, during
office hours, or make a special appointment if none of these times suit your schedule.
7)
Please purchase the following books as soon as possible, available at the university
bookstore. Additional copies of the books are placed on 2-hour reserve at the library.
Steinberg, S. 2001. The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America. (henceforth TEM)
Higginbotham, E. & M. Andersen. 2006. Race and Ethnicity in Society: The Changing
Landscape. (henceforth RES).
All other readings have been placed on reserve, either in electronic or paper format. Simply
check Euclid and look for our course (SOC/AAS 247, Dr. Werum). All you need to do is
download or copy them, depending on the article. I recommend doing this from an on-campus
location (library, dorm, cluster). Off-campus downloading efforts tend to be cumbersome.
8)
Join me in becoming a newspaper junkie by ordering the New York Times or another daily.
Special semester rates are available; online registration a snap! The NYT will constitute a regular
part of the lectures, plus it will be incorporated into each exam. I also encourage you to use the
NYT or an equivalent newspaper as one of the sources for your research paper. I will offer
intermittent extra credit options involving newspaper articles.
9)
I reserve the right to change the syllabus, including quiz/exam dates. Please stay tuned.
10)
If you have questions, please contact Dr. Werum at 7-7514, rwerum@emory.edu. Or contact my
teaching assistant, Celeste Lee, at cnlee@emory.edu.
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Tentative Class Schedule
Date
Topic
Readings
PART I: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
Jan 16
first day of classes
Jan 17, 22
Introduction
NYT “Tough Task on New Test: Defining ‘American’”
9/28/07
Steinberg pp. xiii-xiv and chapter 1 (pp. 3-43) in TEM
Feagin, "The Continuing Significance of Race"
Oboler, ch. 23 in RES
extra credit:
Jan 24, 29, 31, Theor. Perspectives
Feb 5
extra credit:
Feb 7, 12, 14, 19 Culture & Ideology
extra credit:
Feb 19
NYT “ A Daughter Discovers Branches of the Family
Tree Pruned by Her Father” 11/7/07
Du Bois, “The Conservation of Races”, p. 19-23
Zuckerman (ed.)
Van den Berghe, "Race and Ethnicity: A Sociobiological
Perspective”
Glazer, "Emergence of an American Ethnic Pattern"
Steinberg, pp. 77-81, chapter 4 (pp. 106-127) in TEM
King, "Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness"
Wilson, "The Declining Significance of Race"
Blauner, "Racial Oppression: Colonized and Immigrant
Minorities"
Bobo, ch. 11 in RES
Pescosolido et al., “Culture and Conflict”
Margolis, “Ethnicity, Race and Gender” in An Invisible
Minority: Brazilians in NYC, pp. 99-112
Steinberg, ch. 3 (pp. 82-105) & 5 (pp. 128-150) in TEM
Brodkin, ch. 8 in RES
Zhou, ch. 29 in RES
NYT “In a Suburb of Atlanta, A Temple Stops Traffic”
7/5/07
PAPER TOPIC DUE – at start of class, one paragraph, typed
SPECIAL REVIEW SESSION, TIME AND LOCATION TBA
Feb 21
EXAM 1 -- PLEASE BRING #2 PENCIL
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PART II: HISTORICAL TRENDS AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Feb 26, 28
Immigration
Mariner, ch. 22 in RES
Portes, ch. 28 in RES
Passel & Fix, "Myths about Immigrants"
Daniels, “US Policy Towards Asian Immigrants”
Estrada et al., "Chicanos in the United States"
extra credit:
Mar 4, 6
NYT “Wide Disparities Found in Judging of Asylum
Cases” 5/31/07
Cohen, “Negro Involuntary Servitude”
Garroutte, “The Racial Formation of American Indians”
Daly, "Neither Conflict nor Labeling nor Paternalism
Will Suffice"
Bonilla-Silva, ch. 47 in RES
Burnham, ch. 39 in RES
Daniels, ch. 50 in RES
Law
extra credit:
NYT “In Professor’s Model, Diversity=Productivity”
1/8/08
Mar 10-14
SPRING BREAK
NO CLASS
Mar 18, 20
Education
Steinberg, chapter 9 (pp. 222-252) in TEM
Steelman & Powell, “Doing the Right Thing”.
Grant, "Helpers, Enforcers, and Go-Betweens"
Saporito & Sohoni, “Coloring Outside the Lines.”
Lopez, ch. 45 in RES
extra credit:
Mar 25, 27
Economy and Work
extra credit:
Royster, ch. 35 in RES
Oliver & Shapiro, ch. 30 in RES
Steinberg, chapter 7 (pp. 173-200) in TEM
Thrupkaew, “The Myth of the Model Minority”
Portes & Zhou, “Gaining the Upper Hand: Economic
Mobility among Immigrant and Domestic Minorities”
NYT “Lawyers Debate Why Blacks Lag at Major Firms”
11/29/06
Mar 27
SPECIAL REVIEW SESSION, TIME AND LOCATION TBA
Apr 1
EXAM 2 -- PLEASE BRING #2 PENCIL
5
Apr 3
Cheng & Powell, “Under and Beyond Constraints: ...
Children from Biracial Families”
Thornton Dill, “Our Mothers’ Grief”
Brewster & Padavic, “No More Kin Care?”
Family
extra credit:
AJC “Law Would Aid Working Parents" 7/27/07
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PART III: COMPARATIVE/INTERNATIONAL VIEW: ETHNIC CONFLICT AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Apr 8
PAPER DRAFT DUE by 5 pm (voluntary)
Apr 8, 10
United States
Blee, Women of the Klan, ch. 6:"100% Cooperation:
Political Culture in the Klan"
Kelman, “Limits of Consensus: Unions & the
Holocaust”
McAdam and Moore, "The Politics of Black
Insurgency" (ch. 9 in Gurr, Violence in America)
Beale, “Double Jeopardy: To be Black and Female” in
Words of Fire , pp. 145-155
extra credit:
Hayden & King, "Sex and Caste: A Kind of Memo"
Washington Post “Protesters to Converge on
Louisiana Town” 9/20/07
Boston Globe "Discrimination Claims Up Among
Minorities” 7/18/04
Apr 15
South America
& the Caribbean
Chomsky, Noam. 1993. “The Tragedy of Haiti.” Ch. 8 in
Year 501: The Conquest Continues.
Tulchin, "The Formulation of U.S. Foreign Policy in
the Caribbean"
Lopez, ch. 45 in RES
Suggs, “Response of the African American Press..."
Apr 17
Eastern Europe
Du Bois, “The Negro and the Warsaw Ghetto” p. 45-46
in Zuckerman (ed.)
Sadowski, “Ethnic Conflict”
Denitch “Essential Background on Yugoslavia."
Massey et al. “Ethnic Enclaves and Intolerance”
Nikolic-Ristanovic, “Living Without Democracy and
Peace”
Apr 22
PAPER DUE by 5 pm
7
Apr 22
Africa & the Middle East
Extra credit:
Du Bois, “Africa and the Slave Trade” p. 30-32 in
Zuckerman (ed.)
Goose & Smyth, "Arming Genocide in Rwanda”
Isabiriye and Mahmoudi, “Rwanda, Burundi, and Their
‘Tribal’ Wars”
Jefremovas, “Contested Identities”
Mart, “Tough Guys and American Cold War Policy”
National Geographic “Bethlehem 2007 A.D.”12/ 2007
NYT “Israel’s Unexpected Spinoff from a Holocaust
Trial” 7/6/07
NYT “U.N. Tribunal ... Convicts Rwandan...” 9/3/98
Nagel, “Masculinity and Nationalism”
Bell-Fialkoff, ”A Brief History of Ethnic Cleansing”
Etzioni, "The Evils of Self-Determination"
Apr 24
Summary and Review
April 28
last day of classes (Monday)
April 28
SPECIAL REVIEW SESSION AT 6PM
May 2
FINAL EXAM -- 4:30 to 7:00 pm
PLEASE BRING #2 PENCIL
TARBUTTON ROOM 321
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Spring 2008
Sociology/AAS 247
Dr. Werum
By signing this statement, I acknowledge that I have received and read Dr. Werum’s syllabus. I
pledge to follow the rules and norms outlined therein, as well as amplifications explained verbally
in class. I understand that breaching the rules may affect my course grade, regardless of my
academic performance.
__________________________________
Signature
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Date
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