Sociology 214A
Fall, 2009
Professor Howard Winant
Time:
Monday, 4:00PM-6:50PM
Place: SSMS 3017
Winant's Office Hours:
Social Sciences 3308, Monday, 2:00-4:00PM
Winant’s Website:
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/winant/
Soc. 214A: Race, Ethnicity, Nation
INTRODUCTION
The "sociology of race and ethnicity" has traditionally been a subfield of the discipline. Almost all US graduate students have some exposure to the subject, perhaps as the subject of a specific course or two, perhaps as a set of seemingly straightforward topics that popped up in theory or methods classes, perhaps as a series of variables in a data set somewhere: in a course on social stratification, education, the family, or social movements.
The themes of race and ethnicity have usually been presented as social problems, but not as problematic, so to speak. The "nation" theme is also in this situation. Not that there is NO critical lit, but the material existence and social meaning of these concepts are still taken largely for granted, still highly ideologized, still "commnsense." They are generally not seen as constructed, unstable, contested concepts. Indeed so much is assumed about racial (and ethnic, and national) matters, that it is impossible to summarize all of it in a brief space. The dynamics of racial inequality, the construction of racial identity, biologistic notions of race (“intelligence,” etc.), as well as the relationships between race and nation, race and sex/gender, and race and class, all require rethinking. That's much of what this course is about.
Today the approaches of earlier decades seem rather out-of-date, although of course many of them remain in use. The concepts "race" and "ethnicity" are still often used interchangeably. Race is still frequently treated as a dummy variable (present/absent; 1/0). Racism and ethnocentrism (largely unconscious) still permeate the discipline, although there have always been dedicated opponents of these tendencies within the field as well.
In this course we consider race and ethnicity -- and that deeply related third topic, nation (all together now: "REN") -- quite differently. We treat these concepts and the social realities they designate as contested and dynamic. We see their meanings as uncertain, or at least subject to significant debate and conflict; and we recognize that their significance as social structures and as systems of inequality, identity, and power is both immensely consequential and profoundly unstable.
Of course, this may not be the best way to learn about REN. Perhaps it is better to be taught under the old approach, and then to call those teachings into question. That was certainly the way I arrived at my sociological viewpoint on race. But whether it is your good fortune or misfortune to have come along now, in the early 21st century, and to be taught from a different angle, such is definitely your fate, at least in this class. I can hardly pretend , and I would never seek, to be teaching from a viewpoint I question.
So what we shall do here is introduce the concepts of REN, examining their problematic qualities and situating them in the concrete world, both contemporary and historic. To study REN from this viewpoint is, I think, not only to encounter a given sociological subfield, but to contemplate much of the broad field of sociology, for these are hardly "neat little concepts." They are world-historical, simultaneously micro- and macro-sociological, global and domestic, matters of social structure and identity.
Our approach is thus a graduate-level survey of REN. We shall be touching quickly on themes that you will very likely explore in greater depth later in your graduate or postgraduate career. Very broadly speaking, we shall consider the meaning of race, ethnicity, and nation, the theme of racism, the political sociology of REN, and some of the dynamics of race/class/gender intersectionality, mainly (though not totally) with a focus on the contemporary US. We shall rush in our ten weeks through a great deal of material, knowing that it will return again and again in our future studies.
READING
Books are available at the UCSB (UCen) bookstore; or online through such outlets as http://www.powells.com.
Readings are divided into required and recommended categories. Required readings are the foci of class discussions and the subjects of reaction papers (see below). Recommended readings are not just for the masochistic, but useful supplements both in the course and beyond it. In respect to REN, any list of recommended books is necesssarily partial and indiosyncratic, since the topic is so vast. So by including a brief recommended list, I am just trying to alert you to some high-quality material that is out there.
Required:
Back, Les, and John Solomos, eds. THEORIES OF RACE AND RACISM: A READER, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge 2009. ISBN: 0-415-41254-4
Glenn, Evelyn Nakano. UNEQUAL FREEDOM: HOW RACE AND GENDER SHAPED AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP AND LABOR. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002. ISBN: 0-674-01372-7
Guinier, Lani, and Gerald Torres. THE MINER'S CANARY: ENLISTING RACE, RESISTING POWER, TRANSFORMING DEMOCRACY. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002. ISBN: 0-674-01084-1
Eley, Geoff, and Ronald Grigor Suny, eds. BECOMING NATIONAL: A READER. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN: 0195096614
Recommended:
Allen, Danielle S. TALKING TO STRANGERS: ANXIETIES OF CITIZENSHIP SINCE BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
Bakalian, Anny, and Mehdi Bozorgmehr. BACKLASH 9/11: MIDDLE EASTERN AND MUSLIM AMERICANS RESPOND. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
Bernasconi, Robert, and Tommy L. Lott, eds. THE IDEA OF RACE. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishers, 2000.
Bulmer, Martin, and John Solomos, eds. RACISM. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Butler, Judith. THE PSYCHIC LIFE OF POWER: THEORIES IN SUBJECTION. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.
Cooper, Frederick and Ann Laura Stoler. TENSIONS OF EMPIRE: COLONIAL CULTURES IN A BOURGEOIS WORLD. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
Chavez, Leo. THE LATINO THREAT: CONSTRUCTING IMMGRANTS, CITIZENS, AND THE NATION. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008
Davis, Mike, and Roman de la Campa. MAGICAL URBANISM: LATINOS REINVENT THE US CITY. New York: Verso, 2001.
Du Bois, W. E. B. BLACK RECONSTRUCTION IN AMERICA: AN ESSAY TOWARD A HISTORY OF THE PART WHICH BLACK FOLK PLAYED IN THE ATTEMPT TO RECONSTRUCT DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, 1860-1880. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999 (1935).
Feagin, Joe R. RACIST AMERICA: ROOTS, CURRENT REALITIES, AND FUTURE REPARATIONS. New York: Routledge, 2000.
Mamdani, Mahmood. CITIZEN AND SUBJECT: CONTEMPORARY AFRICA AND THE LEGACY OF LATE COLONIALISM. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.
Payne, Charles M. I'VE GOT THE LIGHT OF FREEDOM: THE ORGANIZING TRADITION AND THE MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM STRUGGLE. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
Kiernan, Ben. BLOOD AND SOIL: A WORLD HISTORY OF GENOCIDE AND EXTERMINATION FROM SPARTA TO DARFUR. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
Wu, Frank H. YELLOW: RACE IN AMERICA BEYOND BLACK AND WHITE. New York: Basic Books, 2001.
Winant, Howard. THE WORLD IS A GHETTO: RACE AND DEMOCRACY SINCE WORLD WAR II. New York: Basic, 2001.
Zolberg, Aristide. A NATION BY DESIGN: IMMIGRATION POLICY IN THE FASHIONING OF AMERICA. New York: Russell Sage Foundation/Harvard University Press, 2006.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Course requirements are summarized here in terms of readings and reaction papers, in-class presentations, and midterm/draft and final papers.
READINGS AND REACTION PAPERS: Students must read all the assigned texts, and are encouraged to read as widely as possible among the recommended texts and the course reader. If you figure that there are eight weeks of reading assignments, and about 1600 pp of required reading, you're looking at 200pp/week. A lot, but not undoable.
To facilitate careful reading and analysis of the required texts, students will prepare a reaction paper of 1-2 pages (250-500 words), double-spaced and word-processed, on each assigned text. The reaction paper should address the text that will be discussed in class briefly summarizing and commenting upon what you see as the essential points contained in the reading. Note that coherence is indispensable for any summary or critique, and that critical comments require argumentation based on the texts. Reaction papers are not graded, but do receive critical comments from Howie.
After the first session of the class I will send out a list of email addresses for everyone in the class. Please email your reaction paper to the whole list 48 hrs before class will begin, ie by 500PM on the Saturday before each Monday's class.
CLASS PRESENTATIONS/MID-TERM PAPERS: Students have one ongoing project in the class. You will select a topic -- something related to your key research interests -- and frame it in respect to one of the course's areas of specialization. You will prepare an in-class presentation, a draft research paper (your midterm), and a final research paper on this topic.
There are five broad thematic areas that we address in the seminar:
--theories of race and racism;
--theories of ethnicity and the nation;
--race/class/gender intersectionality
--US racial identities;
--political sociology of REN.
An effort will be made to encourage research in every area, but obviously this will depend on student interests.
Class presentations follow the panel form used in ASA or PSA meetings. Beginning in Week 3 (October 12) and continuing through Week 7 (November 9), the first half of each class will be allocated to a panel of 15-20 minute student presentations. I will serve as discussant for the panels.
Further discussion about research topics, in-class presentations, and thematic areas of interest will occur in the first session of the seminar. We will schedule the presentations and form panels based on the areas during the first session as well.
MIDTERM AND FINAL PAPERS:
Both the midterm and final papers should be double-spaced and word-processed. Be sure to keep a copy of each paper, either on disk or as a printout. It should go without saying that reasoned and documented arguments constitute the core of written papers. There is a presumption that the final paper will develop and deepen the argument and grounding provided in the midterm/draft version, and that it will acknowledge the criticisms and responses encountered in the in-class presentations and comments on the midterm/draft version as well.
The midterm paper is a draft version of the final research paper. It is due in class on Nov. 2 (Week 6). These drafts will be graded and constitute the mid-term paper for the course.
The final paper is due on Dec. 7 (one week after the final class). It is a research paper of approximately 15 double-spaced pages (3000 words) in length. Themes and problems relevant to the paper, it is presumed, will have been discussed in preliminary form during the in-class presentation, and developed in draft written form for the midterm. For the completed essay, however, it is expected that more extensive consultation of source materials will have been carried out. Of course, reasoned and documented arguments are expected throughout the paper.
GRADING
Grades in this course are determined as follows:
Class Participation: 10%. Engagement with the material and the class discussion is essential. Reaction papers are not individually graded but are monitored; their preparation and quality is the most central indicator of class particapation and engagement. They receive written comment from the instructor and thus afford an ongoing assessment of the student's performance.
Mid-Term Paper: 30%. The midterm is graded by the usual standards of coherence, logic in argumentation, and effective use of sources. Some consideration is given to the "trajectory" of each project up to and including the midterm: ie, when was the in-class presentation made, how much time did the student have to react to comments, etc…
In-Class Presentation: 20%. Because presentations will take place at different stages of the class's progress, expectations will be adjusted in terms of grading. As is logical, earlier presentations are expected to be more preliminary than later ones. By the time of the last presentations (Weeks 6 and 7) draft papers/midterms will already have been handed in. It ain't that easy to evaluate the presentations, but an effort is made to do this based on the framing of the problem and the coherence of the approach.
Final Research Paper: 40%. The final research paper is graded by the usual standards of coherence, logic in argumentation, and effective use of sources.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
Note: All reading assignments are due on the date listed. Reaction papers are due for every class, unless the student has an in-class presentation scheduled for that class:
Week 1
Sept. 28
Introduction to course structure and content; discussion of
student interests; setup of in-class presentation groups.
Week 2
October 5
Back and Solomos, eds., Parts One and Two
NOTE: Class does not meet this week. See makeup session Oct. 20.
Week 3
October 12
Back and Solomos, eds. Parts Three and Four
Panel of student presentations during first half of class.
Week 4
October 19
Back and Solomos, eds. Parts Five and Six
Panel of student presentations during first half of class.
October 20
MAKE UP SESSION, 500-750PM
No reaction papers due.
Week 5
October 26
Guiner and Torres, THE MINER'S CANARY
Panel of student presentations during first half of class.
Week 6
November 2
No assigned reading; discussion focused on readings thus far…
MIDTERM/DRAFT PAPERS DUE IN CLASS
Week 7
November 9
Eley and Suny, eds., Parts I and II
Panel of student presentations during first half of class.
Week 8
November 16
Eley and Suny, eds., Parts III and IV
Panel of student presentations during first half of class.
Week 9
November 23
Glenn, UNEQUAL FREEDOM
Week 10
November 30
No assigned reading; discussion focused on the tasks of REN
theory…
Course wrap-up
FINAL PAPER DUE: December 7 by 12 noon. Please give the paper directly to Howie, or have it in his mailbox before the deadline.