Email: santos_class@csub.edu

 

• Joseph F. Healey, 1998. Race, Ethnicity,Gender, and Class . The Sociology of Group Conflict and Change.2nd. ed..Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.

 
[Available at the bookstore]
 
• Rodney D. Coates & Vincent N. Parrillo, 1998. Webquester. Race and Ethnic Relations, A Guide to Your Internet Journey. New York: Dushkin.

Webquester web site: http://www.mhhe.com/webquester

[Available at the bookstore. You need to buy the Webquester brochure to obtain a key to access the Webquester site. Once you have it, you may access Webquester by pressing the "Webquester" frame button  to your left, clicking the above URL, or by adding Webquester's URL address above to your web browser's "Bookmarks" ]
 
• Various Authors. Web Readings on Dr. Santos' World Wide Web Site.

[To access Dr. Santos' web readings click above or press the frame button "Web Readings" to your left.]

 

This course provides the student with a broad introduction to the field of race & ethnic relations, mostly as it has developed and exists in the United States, but also as it exists elsewhere in the world, especially in the Americas. We seek to understand the history and dynamics of modern peoplehood, as mediated by sociological concepts. The historical and contemporary experiences of various ethnic and panethnic groups in the United States -- the so-called European Americans, Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos/Hispanics, and Asian Americans -- are analyzed, using various theoretical perspectives and tracing their historical evolution. We also look at contemporary ethnic conflict around the world.

Emphasis is placed on how race, ethnicity, & nationhood were and are socially (re)constructed, and how they relate to other social constructs such as gender, native/immigrant status, and social class. We seek to reveal and understand the context in which these modern social categories originated and evolved, how they were affected by and in turn affected the broader political, economic, and cultural processes of the five-centuries-old modern world-system.

Attention is also given, via a large selection of readings placed in Dr. Santos' website and at the Webquester web site, to various current controversial issues in the United States and worldwide related to peoplehood . Students will be asked to select, read, and respond to these readings by emailed reports and interactive quizzes.

 

Attendance & Lectures:

Attendance to classes is mandatory. The lectures will be based partly on the Healey textbook, partly on original notes. Outlines of these lectures will uploaded to Dr. Santos' web site as they are produced, in the form of PowerPoint slides; they may be perused by clicking here, or by pressing the frame button "Presentations" to your left.

Activities Based on the Textbook

Students will file two types of email reports in relation to the Healey textbook:
 

1. Chapter Reports: Submit a "critical thinking" report on each of the first 12 chapters of the Healey textbook, with an emphasis on analyzing the main sociological concepts used, the historical process described, and the interplay or "fit" between the two.  Do you agree with Healey's explanations? Why or why not? What would be an alternative explanation or approach? How can you extend, illustrate,  or amplify the main points in the chapter? To write and send your reports press the "Chapter Reports" frame button to your left.

 
2. Debate Reports: At the end of each chapter of the Healey textbook, there is a section entitled "Current Debates", accompanied by a few questions. Answer these questions using the "Debate Reports" frame button to your left. If a chapter contains more than one debate, choose one and only answer the questions pertaining to it.

Activities Based on the Webquester Site

Students will be assigned to read on their own a a number of  web readings on Race & Ethnic Relations located in Webquester (click here, on the "Webquester" frame button to your left, or in the schedule below) and to write e-mail essays and do email quizzes on them. Each module assigned has a number of links and attached multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions, and essay questions. Students answer and submit all the answers from within the module itself, and receive instant grading for the multi-choice section. Dr. Santos' T.A. will receive the scores and will evaluate the essays by email.

Students must submit their Webquester quizzes at the latest by the Friday of the week assigned, no later than 11:00 am. Students do not receive copies of all the Webquester reports they submit.

Activities Based on Dr. Santos' Web Readings

Students will file one report a week on a web reading found from a reading list assembled by Dr. Santos. To access the web reading lists, click here, or press the frame button "Readings" to your left. To file a web reading report, press the frame button "Reading Reports" to your left. Students are free to choose which reading within an assigned reading list they will read and file a report on.

Students must submit their web reading reports at the latest by the Friday of the week assigned, no later than 11:00 am. Students receive copies of all the reports they submit.

Exams

There will be a mid-term exam on Monday, October 19. There will be a final exam on Wednesday, December 2, 11:00 am - 1:30 pm. Both exams will be based on the lectures and the Healey textbook (the final will also include the web readings on Canada and Brazil). Both exams may consist of two parts: a multiple choice part and an essay part. Please bring pencils and a large blue exam notebook to each test. The final exam will only cover the second half of the course.

Extra Points for Exploring New Web Sites or Dr. Santos' Links

There are two frame buttons to your left labelled "Web Links" and "Link Reports." The former button connects you to a large depository of web links collected by Dr. Santos, many of which are related to the course's subject matter. The latter button is a form (so-called "cgi" form) that feeds into itself: in it you may file a report on either one of Dr. Santos' links or on a new link you found on the web, with the advantage that when you "send" it, it is automatically appended to the bottom of the form itself. This acumulating, sausage-like form allows other students to explore the links you reported on, and perhaps "bookmark" them or file their reports on them as well. Students are not required to file any link reports, but those that do will receive extra points. Students must submit all their link reports, as they wish, by the day of the final exam. No copies of these reports are sent to anyone.

Other Frame Buttons

"Other Notes" has extensive files with the key concepts and definitions per chapter; "Research Papers" offers guidelines on how to do a good research paper (not operational for this term); and "Student Projects" list some of the extra web work done in the past by students in this course.

Grading:

Each exam is worth 30 points. The accumulated scores of Webquester multiple-choice quizzes are worth 10 points, and the essays and short answers are worth another 10 points. The Chapter Reports are worth 5 points, the Debate Reports 5 points, and the weekly Web Reading Reports another 10 points. Up to 10 extra points may be obtained by contributing to the Link Reports. The final letter grade will be assigned, on a scale of 0 to 100, as follows:

Office Hours/E-Mail to Dr. Santos:

Dr. Santos will generally be available at his office from 3:40 pm to 5:40 pm  on Monday, Wednesday, and (until 5:00 pm) Friday. Students are also encouraged to come see him or call during this time. Alternatively students may communicate with Dr. Santos via email  (his email address is above). Please be advised, though, that email communication has to be very brief; for longer than a paragraph or two, please call or visit during his office hours.