RACE & ETHNIC RELATIONS
SUMMER 2004 Web Course
Course web site: http://www.csub.edu/~gsantos/courses.html
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Phone: (661) 664-2191 before June 27  santos_class@csub.edu |
Ms. Gabriela Arce de Smith
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Texts, Readings Web Site, Email Communications:
COURSE CONTENT
This course is designed to provide the independent learner-type of student with a broad, yet solid, introduction to the field of race & ethnic relations in the United States. 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 systematically analyzed in the Healey textbook. Various sociological concepts are defined to explain the origins and history of the interactions between these groups from colonial times to the present. In short, we attempt to understand -- mediated by sociological theory -- the history and dynamics of modern peoplehoods in the United States . The Healey book does so with various degrees of success, which is fine: there has been and currently is no consensus for a universal theory of modern peoplehood, at least not yet; nor is there even agreement over the historical record of racial and ethnic relations in countries such as the United States -- much less on the history of peoplehood in all its forms everywhere in the modern world-system. But Healey's textbook is an excellent attempt at analyzing in some depth the broad historical sociology of race and ethnicity in a single country, the United States.
The emphasis will then be placed on how race, ethnicity, & nationhood were and are socially (re)constructed in the U.S., and how these categories relate to various social structural processes such as free and forced migrations, conquest and imperialism, class stratification and struggle, the role of the state, patterns of cultural dynamics, and gender relations. We seek to elucidate the contexts in which the modern social categories of peoplehood originated and how they have evolved, how they were affected by -- and in turn affected -- the broader political, economic, and cultural processes of U.S. history.
The exploration of various topical issues and trends of peoplehood in the United States are will be pursued via the Annual Editions anthology of articles, and the large selection of readings and links placed in the course's web site.
COURSE STRUCTURE
Self-learning, Pace and Deadlines:
This course is designed for the mature, independent learner, one already acquainted with the World Wide Web and email, and one with easy access to a computer well connected to both. It presupposes all enrolled students are willing and able to trade the time they would have otherwise spent in the classroom doing instead extensive reading, testing, and writing short essay reports on their own. Students should reserve at least a couple of hours a day for this course during the six weeks it lasts. The course is entirely web based and requires no physical attendance to any meeting, class, or scheduled testing site; each student is allowed to work at his or her own pace, pretty much on his or her own, but there are serious weekly deadlines for the workload (posted at the end of this syllabus); students may move ahead of schedule -- even weeks ahead -- but will not be allowed to fall behind those weekly deadlines.
Activities Based on the Healey
Textbook
EXTRA: If you wish to improve a possible low chapter test score, you may take a second chapter test, so long as you do so before the assigned chapter deadline. The final chapter score that will be recorded will be the average of the two test scores.Activities Based on the Annual Editions Anthology of Articles
Extra Points Activities Based on Dr. Santos' Web Readings
Students may select a web reading and submit a single Web Reading Report per week - for an extra point! -
from an article selected from the assigned list of web reading each
week; the readings are found at the course's web site. A web reading
report ought to be a roughly one-page-long critical assessment
of what you read: its strong/weak points, what you thought was
most/least interesting or surprising or informative or useful aspects
or arguments or facts. Students are free to choose which reading within
the assigned reading list to read and file a report on, so long as the
report is sent before the assigned reading list deadline (posted
below).
To access the web reading lists, click here,
or click the frame button "Readings"
to your left.
To generate and file a web reading report, click the frame button "Reading Reports" to your left or click here,
or go directly to the form at: http://www.csub.edu/~gsantos/readreport.html.
The deadline for each extra-point Web
Reading Report is the Sunday midnight at the end of the week
that reading was assigned, except for the web readings assigned the
last week: the deadline for that last Web Reading Report is Friday
midnight, July 30.
To access the web readings: To access the web readings, you will be prompted to enter a username and a password -- only once per session; these two access codes are generic (the same for everyone) and will be revealed to all students in class via an email. (Note that these access codes are different from the WebCT ID and Password you have been individually assigned for access to WebCT testing -- read below for information on those codes.)
Precautionary note on all email formatted reports: Due to campus web system freezes and malfunctions, it is highly recommended for students to first write and edit their email reports using a word processor, save their original text files in their own computers or disks, and only then open the email report form, copy and paste text onto it, then send it; do not worry about how "pretty" or "clean" the text is pasted! Before or after you paste your report text onto the form, always fill out all the other form fields with information before you send it, especially your official email address. Two copies of your report will automatically be sent: one to Dr. Santos' email address and the other to your "official" email address. Your backup files are your proof of having done the work on time and it is your responsibility to create and manage them. Also, always end your reports with your full name.
Instructions on Taking Quizzes and Tests at CSUB's WebCT
To access and
take a chapter test: go to the CSUB WebCT site: click and bookmark the
following URL address:
If you are doing it from an off campus computer, make sure your browser is properly configured (click around WebCT support links and read how you can ensure your browser is properly configured).
You will need to know your WebCT ID and password. All CSUB enrolled students have a "Runner" email account. Your WebCT ID is the same as your Runner Mail Logon ID -- that is, whatever prefix goes before the "@runner.csub.edu" domain. For example, the WebCT ID for John Smith (jsmith4@runner.csub.edu) would be jsmith4. Your initial WebCT password is the last five digits of your Social Security Number. Once logged on to WebCT, you will be asked to change it immediately (if you have used WebCT before you'll need to enter your old password). Choose an easy to remember, easy to type new password. We also suggest that you set up your login hint immediately - and write all these codes somewhere where you will not loose them, nor expose them to theft by others.
If you need help: If you don't know your CSUB RunnerMail Logon ID or if you've changed your password and have forgotten it, contact the Student Help Desk at 664-2307, or the Student Technology Help Desk in the library at (661) 665-6677 or go to Lower Level Room 1 during office hours.
Be prepared! The maximum duration for each chapter
test is 60 minutes. After
each weekly deadline, access to any given chapter test will be closed
and no late testing will be possible. So make sure you have prepared
well, chosen a day, time & place well, and have ample time and
tranquility (with no
distractions) to begin testing; take time to read carefully
each question before you answer it - do not rush! (a common
mistake). You may take the test with the open book, but exclusively on
your own, please. Never plan to take a test in two or more
sittings; plan always to take
each test in a single session
(the computer usually freezes incomplete tests).
Save your answers. If you change your mind on a specific answer, don't forget to save it again! And don't forget to send your quiz/test to grade when you are done (lots of students forget this last step and their scores are not computed!).
Security precaution: If you are using a public computer always quit both the WebCT site and the browser (Netscape or Explorer) after you are done with testing -- otherwise, someone may access your own WebCT account and "try out" some tests! This is because your access codes stay active until you quit the browser. And remember, never share your testing access codes with anyone!
Grading:
The Healey Chapter Tests taken together are worth 44 percent (4
points per test) of the final grade. The Healey Chapter Debate Reports
taken together are worth 12 percent of the final grade (about 1 point
per report). The Annual Editions Quizzes taken together are worth 44
percent (2 points per quiz). All this adds up to 100 points. Extra
points: Web Reading
Reports combined are worth up to 6 extra
points. The final letter grade will be assigned, on a scale of 0 to 100
points (or a theoretical maximum of 106 with the extra points), as
follows:
| 94-106 = A | 87-89 = B+ | 77-79 = C+ | 65-69 = D |
| 90-93 = A- | 84-86 = B | 74-76 = C | < 65 = F |
| 80-83 = B- | 70-73 = C- |
Communications with Dr. Santos & Teaching Assistant Ms. Arce:
Students are encouraged to communicate with Dr Santos and/or Ms.
Gabriela Arce de Smith via email to Dr. Santos class email address
above. Ms. Arce may also be reached directly at her email address
above.
Please be advised, though, that usually email communication has to be very
brief and
to the point. As Dr. Santos will be traveling in July while the
course
is
going on, telephone communications with him at the number above are not
going
to be possible after June 27 or so. But if you send an email message,
Ms. Arce might call you.
Web page frame buttons to the
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