MINORITY CULTURES IN AMERICA

AMST 411—SPRING 2010

Colin S. Cavell, Ph.D. Course Room No.: S17-229

Class MW: 9:30-10:45 INTERNET: ccavell@gmail.com

Office Hours: By appointment Office No.: S17-263

VOICE: 17438775 (W) 39631156 (H)

An examination of the questions of race, ethnicity and identity in the United States with special emphasis on minorities.

Grading Policy: 20% for the Class Presentation; 20% for the Midterm Exam; 20% for the Research Paper; and 40% for the Final Exam. A Guidelines sheet will be distributed outlining the requirements for your Class Presentation and for your Research Paper.

Grading Scale: 93-100=A; 90-92=A-; 88-89=B+; 83-87=B; 80-82=B-; 78-79=C+; 73-77=C; 70-72=C-; 68-69=D+; 63-67=D; 60-62=D-; 0-59=F

Attendance Policy*: Attendance in class is mandatory. It is the student’s responsibility to sign the attendance sheet each day of class; failure to sign the attendance sheet—even if in attendance—will be counted as an absence. If your unexcused absences exceed 25% of the total number of lectures of the course in this semester, you will be automatically withdrawn from the course and be given a grade of (WF) which will be counted towards your GPA. As well, you are expected to follow the syllabus and accordingly be prepared for each day's class. This means that you must read the pre-assigned readings before class so that you will be prepared to discuss and debate in class the subject matter scheduled for that day and answer questions related to the issues being covered.

* Absence from class may be made up by preparing a two-page, typed (i.e. using maximum 12 point font size and maximum double-spaced text with one-inch margin on all sides), summary on the missed material scheduled to be covered the day(s) of your absence. The summary must be in your own words and must not be copied material from the text(s), the internet, or any other source(s). All summaries must be turned in to me by the last day of classes if you want credit for your absences.

Cell Phone Policy: TURN OFF all cell phones during class. Any student whose cell phone rings, sounds alarm, or makes any noise whatsoever during class must immediately leave the classroom for that day. This policy applies to any electronic device students carry with them.

Supplemental Readings: [Readings from the texts below to be supplied as handouts by the professor]

Cain, Kathleen Shine. 1994. Living in the USA: Cultural Contexts for Reading and Writing. Boston & London: Allyn and Bacon.

Lyman, Staford M. 1994. Color, Culture, Civilization: Race and Minority Issues in American Society. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois.

Naff, Alixa. 1985. Becoming American: The Early Arab Immigrant Experience. Carbondale and Edwardsville, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Pedraza, Silvia and Ruben G. Rumbaut. 1996. Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race, and Ethncity in America. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

NOTE: Additional class readings can be printed from the AMST 411 class webpage: [http://userspages.uob.edu.bh/cscpo/amst411.htm]

Feb. 22: Introduction to Minority Cultures in America: What Does It Mean To Be A Minority?

Feb. 24: Civil Rights & Civil Liberties

Readings: “Civil Rights.”  From Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy; “What Is The Difference Between Civil Rights and Civil Liberties? ”  From Yahoo! Answers; “Civil Rights:  An Overview.”  From Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute. [on the AMST 411 class webpage]

Feb. 26: Prophet’s Birthday—Holiday

Mar. 1: Civil Rights & Civil Liberties

Readings: “Civil Rights:  A Chronology,” From InfoUSA:  Information USA [CD-ROM] [on the AMST 411 class webpage]

Mar. 3: Assimilation Versus Pluralism

Readings: Lyman, Introduction, pp. 1-15

Mar. 4: [Last day for dropping courses]

Mar. 7-Apr. 29: [Withdrawal period with a “W”]

Mar. 8: Assimilation Versus Pluralism

Readings: Lyman, Introduction, pp. 15-40

Mar. 12-14: Bahrain Grand Prix/Formula One [Holiday—No classes]

Mar. 10: The Test Case of Acculturation

Readings: Marx, Karl. 1844. On The Jewish Question. First published in Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher. Online version from Marxists Internet Archive. [on the AMST 411 class webpage]

Mar. 15: The Test Case of Acculturation

Readings: Marx, Karl. 1844. On The Jewish Question. First published in Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher. Online version from Marxists Internet Archive. [on the AMST 411 class webpage]

Mar. 17: Becoming American

Readings: Naff, “Introduction”

Mar. 22: The Syrian Immigrants to America

Readings: Naff, Ch. 2, “When They Came,” “Why They Came”

Mar. 24: The Syrian Immigrants to America

Readings: Naff, Ch. 2, “En Route: A Network of Services,” “The Immigrants”; Naff, Ch. 3, “Amrika”

Mar. 29: Behind the Veil

Readings: Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt.  1903.  The Souls of Black Folk.  “Chapter I:  Of Our Spiritual Strivings” & “Chapter II:  Of the Dawn of Freedom.”  Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library.

Mar. 31: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in America

Readings: Pedraza & Rumbaut, Acknowledgements, Preface, Prologue, & Ch. 1, “Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in American History”

Apr. 5: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in America

Readings: Pedraza & Rumbaut, Ch. 2, “Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in Contemporary America”

Apr. 7: Culture, Economy & Society

Readings: Darder, Antonia and Rodolfo D. Torres. 1998. The Latino Studies Reader: Culture, Economy & Society. “Introduction—Latinos and Society: Culture, Politics, and Class.” Malden, MA & Oxford UK: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. [on the AMST 411 class webpage]

Apr. 12: Color and Caste

Readings: Pedraza & Rumbaut, Ch. 3, “North American Indians and the Demography of Contact”

Apr. 14: Midterm Exam

Apr. 18-22: Mid-semester Break [No classes]

Apr. 26: Color and Caste

Readings: Pedraza & Rumbaut, Ch. 4, “From Sundown to Sunup: Slavery and the Making of the Black Community”

Apr. 28: Color and Caste

Readings: Pedraza & Rumbaut, Ch. 5, “Farewell—We’re Good and Gone: Black Migration from the PostBellum South”

May 1: International Labor Day [Holiday—No Classes]

May 2: International Labor Day [Holiday— No Classes, because of weekend holiday policy]

May 3: Latin Americans

Readings: Pedraza & Rumbaut, Ch. 6, “Mexican Americans: Their Civic and Political Incorporation”

May 5: Latin Americans

Readings: Pedraza & Rumbaut, Ch. 7, “Migration, Community, and Culture: The United States-Puerto Rican Experience”

May 10: The Watershed: The Civil Rights Movement and Its Aftermath

Readings: Pedraza & Rumbaut, Ch. 16, “The Civil Rights Movement: A Social and Political Watershed”

May 12: The Watershed: The Civil Rights Movement and Its Aftermath

Readings: Pedraza & Rumbaut, Ch. 17, “Que Viva la Raza: The Many Faces of the Chicano Movement, 1963-1971”

May 17: The Watershed: The Civil Rights Movement and Its Aftermath

Readings: Pedraza & Rumbaut, Ch. 18, “American Indians and Political Protest: The ‘Red Power’ Years”

May 19: Wealth & Class [Research Papers Due]

Readings: From Cain, Robert Coles “The Children of Affluence”

May 24: Generational and Cultural Clashes

Readings: From Cain, Amy Tan “Two Kinds”

May 26: Working Class Blues [Last Day for In-Class Presentations]

Readings: From Cain, Ben Hamper “At War with the Minute Hand”

May 31: Idealism & Capitalism

Readings: From Cain, Erik Larson “Forever Young”

June 2: Follow My Religion

Readings: From Cain, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn “A Visit from Reverend Tileston”

June 7: Last day of classes; Review

June 20: Final Exam 11:30-13:30

June 24: Last day for submitting grades