Office: Gladfelter 744 (7th Floor)
Office Phone: (215) 204-7766 [X1-7766]
Home Phone: (347) 563-6174 (only for emergencies)
Email: dkidd@temple.edu
Course Purpose: By the end of this course you should be knowledgeable about the many ethnicities that compose American identity and American history. We will frequently discuss race and ethnicity as sociological concepts, and we will also discuss additional concepts that help sociologists to make sense of these important issues. Additionally, we will engage in a set of debates that will help us all to see the variety of perspectives that one might take on racial and ethnic issues.
Books:
Additional articles will be posted on Blackboard, including:
Assignments:
Tests: The three tests are not cumulative. They will occur in class, and they are closed-book exams. These tests will include a combination of objective questions (multiple choice, true/false, short answer) and essay questions. You must plan to be in class on each exam date!
Attendance: You are expected to attend all classes. Tests are designed to benefit
students with perfect attendance. Your attendance grade is calculated in GPA
units. You receive a 4 for each class that you attend and are on time for. Whenever
you arrive late or leave early, you receive a 3. If you are absent, you receive
a 0. Whenever you miss class, you are invited to write a short paper on the
day's readings, which can earn you up to a 3 for that class. You may only do
this up to 4 times. No distinction is made between excused or unexcused absences.
Please do not submit doctor's notes or other paperwork regarding your absence.
Instead, do the make-up assignment and hand it in at the next class meeting.
For classes where there is not a reading, contact the instructor for an alternative
(proposals are welcome).
Policies
Enrollment: Enrollment is solely the responsibility of the student. I will not
expand the course size or sign students in
Classroom Community: We learn better when we know and trust each other. Please try to get to know some of your classmates and your instructor. I will try to learn your names. Please visit my office hours. Also, I encourage you to exchange phone numbers and email with one or more of your classmates. Finally, intellectual community is best built when you contribute to classroom discussion.
Food: Eating and drinking is allowed and (if it helps you concentrate) encouraged.
Extra Credit: No extra credit will be given in this course.
Prerequisites: No Prerequisites are required for this course.
Learning Needs and Disabilities: Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible (by week three). Contact Disability Resources and Services at (215) 204-1280 in 100 Ritter Annex to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.
Communication: I may occasionally contact you by email for class purposes. For issues pertinent to a particular class meeting, I will email no later than 5pm on the previous day of class and will expect you to have received the email before class. That means that if I need to tell you something for Thursday, I will send it by Tuesday at 5pm and expect you to have received it by class time on Thursday. In most circumstances, greater notice will be given. Please check email regularly and be responsive when I contact you individually. Also, make sure that I have a phone number for you so that I can reach you in emergencies.
You may communicate with me by email, telephone, in office hours, in informal meetings on campus, and in class. Sending me an email with a question about an assignment does not absolve you from completing the assignment by the due date, even if I do not get a chance to reply. Please do not call later than 9pm and please do not assume I will always answer my phone or be able to get back to you immediately. If I am traveling or otherwise not available, I may not get back to you until the next Tuesday or Thursday.
It is important for you to become familiar with the course website on Blackboard, know how to navigate it and how to access all of the available resources, and be able to submit assignments on the site.
Late Papers: No late papers will be accepted for any assignment. That includes tests. You must plan to be in class on the day of the tests and you must make arrangements to submit papers on time.
Honor Policy: I expect you to uphold the University's Code of Conduct at all times (http://www.temple.edu/assistance/udc/coc.htm). Regarding specific assignments, here's what that looks like:
Papers: You are encouraged to workshop your papers with other students, in and out of class. That means that you may have another person read the paper and discuss its strengths and weaknesses with you. They should not provide the actual ideas of the paper. You must cite any facts or ideas you receive from other sources, even if they are not in the form of quotes. Use quotation marks for any phrase over three words long that appears in another source. Shorter phrases should be given citations if they are unique to a particular scholar (such as, Bryson's concept of "multicultural capital"). The paper you hand in must be your ideas in your words, except where you are citing or quoting.
Discussion: Cheating in discussions is hard to do, but it is possible. I would consider it cheating if you presented the ideas of another student as if they were your own. For instance, if you were to have a conversation with another student outside of class, and then come to the next discussion and share the ideas of that student as if they were your ideas.
Tests and quizzes: Tests and quizzes will be taken in class. They are closed-book and closed-notes. Obviously, looking at your neighbor's paper is forbidden. You should, however, study with your classmates. This is a beneficial form of test preparation. If you have questions about the exam as you are taking it, please address those questions to the professor. If, in a pre-arranged agreement (rare cases), you take an exam at a different time or location, you are expected not to discuss the exam with other students until everyone has taken the exam and all tests have been collected.
Grades: I use grades to compare your performance to the ideal performance. Ideal performance is something just above an A. An 'A' for an assignment in this class requires consistent and satisfactory attention to all requirements plus a substantial demonstration of creativity and originality. A 'B' for an assignment in this class requires consistent and satisfactory attention to all requirements and some indication of creativity and originality. A 'C' for an assignment in this class would either 1) have consistent and satisfactory attention to all requirements, but no creativity and originality, or 2) have some creativity and originality but an inconsistent attention to the details. A 'D' for an assignment would lack creativity and originality and miss several of the requirements. An 'F' for an assignment would fall short on all points.
If you wish to request a re-grade, you must do so within a week of receiving the papers and you must have a clear reason of what should be reconsidered and why. After the week has passed, I will not reconsider the grade. Further, you cannot ask for a re-grade immediately after the assignment has been returned. You need to take a day and consider why the grade was given. For a paper returned on Tuesday, you cannot ask for a re-grade on Tuesday. You may ask starting on Wednesday, but not after the following Tuesday. For assignments returned after the term ends, you will have a period of three weeks to challenge those specific assignments.
Responsibilities of the Teacher:
" To facilitate an educational experience with high standards that will
provide fruitful knowledge to the students
" To be prepared for each class
" To grade consistently and fairly
" To return assignments promptly
" To treat all students with respect
" To abide by the Code of Conduct in the role of a faculty member, such
that students are trusted and the instructor is trustworthy
" To acknowledge, apologize for, and correct for any mistakes that might
be made
" To be available for outside meetings and discussions, so long as they
are arranged reasonably in advance
Responsibilities of the Student:
" To enroll in the class through the appropriate university mechanisms
at the start of the term
" To come to all classes, on time, prepared for discussion
" To manage her/his own time, so that all assignments are completed on
time
" To manage his/her own personal life so that all classes may be attended
and all assignments completed
" To attend all exams days and to give these days even greater respect
than the average class meeting. You must be present for all exams
" To treat the instructor and other students with respect
" To be an active member of the classroom community
" To communicate with the instructor about any special needs or concerns
" To abide by the Code of Conduct in the role of a student, trusting other
students and the instructor, and being a trustworthy member of the class
" To show up on time for any scheduled meetings with other students or
the instructor
Course Schedule:
*All Readings that say REG are in Race, Ethnicity, and Gender
Tuesday January 18th
" Introduction to the course
" The Nacirema
Thursday January 20th
" Setting the Ground Rules
" Read: REG pp. 4-7
Tuesday January 25th
" The Social Construction of Race: Racial Myths
" Read: "American Anthropological Statement on Race"; "Does
Race Exist? An Antagonist's Perspective" by C. Loring Brace; and "Races
as the Same Machine in Different Colors" by Linda Villarosa" (3 articles
total-posted on Blackboard)
Thursday January 27th
" The Social Construction of Race: Racial Realities
" Read: Michael Omi and Howard Winant "Racial Formation" (posted
on Blackboard)
Tuesday February 1st
" Prejudice
" Read: "Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism" (REG 8-20, with
discussion questions)
Thursday February 3rd
" The Sports Debate
" Read: Race and Sport (REG 43-47)
Tuesday February 8th
" Assimilation and Pluralism
" Read: "Divided Fates" (REG 52-70, with intro and discussion
questions)
Thursday February 10th
" Race and Ethnicity
" Read: "How Jews Became White" (REG 283-294, with discussion
questions)
Tuesday February 15th
" The First Americans
" Read: "Trends Among American Indians in the United States"
(REG 195-210, with discussion questions)
Thursday February 17th
" Test 1
Tuesday February 22nd
" Socialization
" Read: "Using Racial and Ethnic Concepts: Very Young Children"
(REG 20-30, with discussion questions)
Thursday February 24th
" Immigration: Pushes and Pulls
" Read: "A Different Mirror" (REG 70-82, with discussion questions)
Tuesday March 1st
" Ethnic Success
" Read: "The Success Image of Asian Americans" (REG 257-264,
with discussion questions)
Thursday March 3rd
" The Success Debate
" Read: Asian American "Success" (REG 274-278, with discussion
questions)
Tuesday March 15th
" Black/White Relations
" Read: "I am not a Racist, But..." (REG 148-169, with introduction
and discussion questions)
Thursday March 17th
" Black/White Friendships
" Read: "The Elephant in the Living Room" (REG 177-184, with
discussion questions)
Tuesday March 22nd
" White Identity
" Read: "White Privilege" and "Is This a White Country or
What?" (REG 294-310, with both sets of discussion questions)
Thursday March 24th
" Test 2
Tuesday March 29th
" White Ethnicity
" Read: "Not Quite White: Race Classification and the Arab American
Experience" by Helen Hatab Samhan (on Blackboard)
Thursday March 31st
" White Ethnicity continued
" Read: "The Racial Identities of Whites and Blacks" (REG 310-312,
with questions)
Tuesday April 5th
" Affirmative Action
" Read: "Distinguishing 5 Models of Affirmative Action" (REG
133-139, with discussion questions)
Thursday April 7th
" The Affirmative Action Debates
" Read: "Affirmative Action" (REG 139-142)
Tuesday April 12th
" Language
" Read: "Mock Spanish" (REG 230-242, with discussion questions)
Thursday April 14th
" The Language Debate
" Read: "Does Language Diversity Threaten National Unity" (REG
82-84, with questions)
Tuesday April 19th
" Gender
" Real Women Have Curves, part 1
" No reading
Thursday April 21st
" Gender continued
" Real Women Have Curves, part 2
" No reading
Tuesday April 26th
" Gender continued
" Read: "Angry Women are Building" (REG 217-220, with discussion
questions); "The Meaning of Macho" (REG 228-229)
Thursday April 28th
" Gender continued
" Read: "The Meaning of Emancipation According to Black Women"
(REG 126-132, with discussion questions)
Final Exam: Thursday, May 5th, 8:30-10:30am, in the usual classroom.