Course Description
The causes and consequences of race and ethnic discrimination in America, with a focus on ethnic competition and conflict.
Athena Title
Race and Ethnicity America Hon
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in SOCI 2820, AFAM 2820
Prerequisite
Permission of Honors
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course is designed to help students begin to develop their own informed perspectives on American racial problems by introducing them to the ways that sociologists deal with race, ethnicity, race relations and racism. The course will also introduce students to the history, cultures and issues faced by some of the racial and ethnic groups in the US. The objective of this is both to learn more about these groups and also to consider what their experiences reveal with respect to the challenges racial and ethnic formations present for conventional understandings of citizenship, group membership and social justice. Throughout, our goal will be to consider race both as a source of identity and social differentiation as well as a system of privilege, power and inequality affecting everyone in the society albeit in different ways.
Topical Outline
The following topics may be covered in this course: 1. Theoretical Approaches: The Problematic of Race and Ethnic Formations in Post-Civil Rights America 2. Constructionist Approaches to US Race Relations 3. Contemporary Socio-Economic Trends 4. Understanding Racism 5. Mechanisms of Racial Formation and Reproduction: Institutional Racism 6. Race and Representation: Media, Images, and Stereotypes of African Americans 7. Race and Representation: Native Americans 8. Black Resistance to the US Racial System 9. New Immigrants and Other Communities of Color 10. The Asian American Experience 11. The Mexican Migrant Experience 12. Inequality, Diversity, Multiplicity and America: Broader Impacts and Implications 13. Now What: Anti-Racist Strategies
General Education Core
CORE V: Social Sciences