Instructor: Dr. Gonzalo Santos   santos_class@csub.edu

Teaching Assistant: Ms. Tina Agrelius   tina@netxn.com

• Joseph F. Healey, 1998. Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class . The Sociology of Group Conflict and Change. 2nd. ed.. London: Verso.

 

• John Kromkowski, 1999. Annual Editions. Race and Ethnic Relations 99/00. Guilford, CT: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill.

[Both books are available at the bookstore. Students who can't come to the bookstore may go to this site http://www.csubak.edu/~csub/ermcourse/csub.htm to obtain a book -order form to print and fax to the store to mail order the two books. The bookstore, in turn, will call them with the shipping charges and confirm their credit card number.]
 
• 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. These readings are password controlled and only enrolled students will receive the password via email; they must send their email addresses to Dr. Santos at their earliest convenience to receive it.]

This course is designed to provide the independent learner type of student with a broad 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 and explored in the Healey textbook, using various sociological concepts and tracing the groups' historical ethnogenesis and mutual interactions from colonial times to the present. In short, the book attempts to explain the history and dynamics of modern peoplehood in the United States as mediated by sociological concepts. It does so with various degrees of success, which is fine: there has been and is no consensus for a framing theory of peoplehood yet, nor is there much agreement over the history of racial, ethnic, and national  groups in most "case studies," such as the United States - even less on the global history of peoplehood in the modern world-system. But Healey's texbook is an excellent illustration of a good attempt at analyzing the historical sociology of race and ethnicity in the United States.

The emphasis then is 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 migration, class stratification, the law & the state, cultural dynamics, and gender relations. We seek to reveal and understand the contexts in which all these modern social categories originated and have evolved, how they were affected by -- and in turn contributed to making possible -- the broader political, economic, and cultural stages in U.S. history.

Explorations of various panethnic groups and of various contemporary issues and trends of peoplehood in the United States (and worldwide) are also pursued via the Annual Editions anthology of articles and the large selection of readings and links placed in the course's website.
 
 

Physical attendance and time requirements:

Attendance to campus sessions is mandatory only for the single session which will be held on Thursday, July 29th, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, in room DDH-K101, for the purpose of administering the final exam. Otherwise, the course is entirely web-based and requires no physical attendance to any meeting or even to be involved in any form of synchronous learning. Each student works at his/her own pace and pretty much on his/her own. The only time requirements that exist are the weekly assignment deadlines: students may move ahead of schedule -- even weeks ahead -- but are not allowed to fall behind those weekly deadlines.

Activities Based on the Healey Textbook

Each week has two chapters assigned, except for the last week (one only). Students will be asked to file two types of email reports in relation to the Healey textbook, both of which are generated at the course website, using forms activated by the frame buttons to the left:
 

1. Chapter Reports: Submit a "critical thinking" report on each of the first 11 chapters of the Healey textbook, with an emphasis on analyzing and evaluating the main sociological concepts used, the historical process described, and the interplay or "fit" between the two, between theory and history.  Do you agree with Healey's historico-theoretical explanations? Why or why not? What would be an alternative explanation or approach? How can you extend, illustrate,  or amplify the main conceptual points or historical experiences found in the chapter? The length of each Chapter Reports should be about two printed pages long, double spaced. To write, edit, and send your reports it is highly recommended that you (a) first do it on a word processor and when you are done copy the text, (b) toggle to the course website and press the "Chapter Reports" frame button to your left and, after the form appears on screen, paste your text within the report field, and (c) fill out the other information in the form and send it. Always keep your original text files and always fill out all the form fields before you send it, especially your correct email address and chapter number. A copy of your report will automatically be sent to Dr. Santos' email address and to yours as well. The deadline for each chapter report is the Sunday midnight at the end of the week it is assigned, except for the single chapter assigned for the last week, Chapter 10, the report deadline for which is Wednesday midnight, July 28.

 
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 (Chapters 8 & 9 have two such sections; please choose the first Current Debate section and ignore the second one). Answer the questions using the "Debate Reports" frame button to your left. The length of the answers should be no more than a couple of paragraphs long -- no need to create text files first, just enter your answers directly, fill the form entirely, and send. You will receive a copy on your email address. The deadline for each chapter debate report is the Sunday midnight at the end of the week it is assigned, except for the single chapter assigned for the last week, Chapter 10, the debate report deadline for which is Wednesday midnight, July 28.

The Annual Editions book contains 43 articles organized in 10 "Units."  Each week, two Units will be assigned, except for the last week, when only one Unit will be assigned. On any given assigned Unit, students will need to freely select two articles and take a quiz on each of them. To access and take a quiz, press the button "Quizzes" to your left (also at Dr. Santos' initial webpage; alternatively, you may simply bookmark the URL address  http://www.csubak.edu/QuizSystem/ of the CSUB Quiz Center - which holds the quizzes - and henceforth go directly to it to take a quiz.

The quiz labels are numbered with the corresponding article, e.g., "soc327-41" corresponds to the quiz for article 41. To take a quiz, the student must log on first by entering his/her social security number, then by selecting the chosen quiz. The quizzes are brief and entirely made up of multiple choice questions. A student has 10 minutes per question and is presented one question at a time. A student may "suspend" the quiz by pressing the right button, log off the quiz program, and return to the quiz at a later time -- never quit the quiz or the quiz program abruptly; always complete or suspend a quiz and always log off the quiz program. The program scores the quiz automatically after each question and at the end of the quiz as well. Students may look at their accumulated record of scores from past quizzes.

A given quiz, corresponding to a given article, can be taken only once and only before the corresponding Unit's deadline. The deadline for each Unit is the Sunday midnight at the end of the week it is assigned, except for the single Unit assigned for the last week, Unit 6, the deadline for which is Wednesday midnight, July 28.

If you wish to improve a low score, you may select and read extra article(s) from any assigned unit and take the corresponding quiz(zes), so long as the extra quizzes meet their corresponding Unit deadlines. You may take as many extra quizzes as you wish (but only once). The low scores will not be erased, but the average score may improve.

Activities Based on Dr. Santos' Web Readings

Students will file a one-page reading report per week from a freely selected web reading chosen from within an assigned web reading list among those assembled by Dr. Santos at this website. To access the web reading lists, click here, or press the frame button "Readings" to your left. To choose and access a specific reading, click on the assigned reading list and then click on the readings to browse. You will need, at the beginning of each session, enter a username and a password, which will be supplied to all enrolled students via an email message to their email addresses.

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, so long as the report is sent before the assigned reading list deadline. The deadline for each web reading list is the Sunday midnight at the end of the week it is assigned, except for the list assigned for the last week, Readings on Asian Americans, the deadline for which is Wednesday midnight, July 28.

To write, edit, and send your web reading reports it is highly recommended that you (a) first do it on a word processor and when you are done copy the text, (b) toggle to the course website and press the "Reading Reports" frame button to your left and, after the form appears on screen, paste your text within the report field, and (c) fill out the other information in the form and send it. Always keep your original text files and always fill out all the form fields before you send it, especially your correct email address and assigned web reading list. A copy of your report will automatically be sent to Dr. Santos' email address and to yours as well.

Final Exam

There will be a final exam, exclusively based on the Healey textbook, given on campus (room DDH-K101) on Thursday, July 29, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm. NO EARLY OR LATE EXAMS WILL BE GIVEN! Please make all necessary arrangements to be on time. The exam will be multiple-choice test. Bring a # 2 pencil.

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

There are two frame buttons to your left labeled "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. You are also encouraged to seek out and explore on your own new links related to the course's subject matter. The latter button is a form (a so-called "cgi" form) that feeds into itself: in it you may file a report on one of Dr. Santos' links or on a new link you found on the web, with the advantage that when you "send" it, the information is automatically appended to the bottom of the form itself. This accumulating, 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 required to file one link report  only, and do so anytime during the entire course, but those that do more than one will receive extra points so long as they submit them no later than Wednesday midnight, July 28. No copies of these reports are sent to anyone, since they remain visible in the Link Report form itself.

Other Frame Buttons

There are other frame buttons to the left that are to be ignored for this term: "Presentations," "Other Notes," "Research Papers," and "Student Projects."

Grading:

The Healey Chapter Reports are worth 22 points in the aggregate. The Healey Debate Reports are worth 11 points in the aggregate. The Annual Editions quizzes are worth 40 points in the aggregate. The Web Reading Reports are worth 6 points in the aggregate. The final exam on the Healey book is worth 20 points. Up to 10 extra points may be obtained by contributing to the Link Reports (the first one is worth 1 point). The final letter grade will be assigned, on a scale of 0 to 100, as follows:
 
 

E-Mail to Dr. Santos & Teaching Assistant Ms. Tina Agrelius:

Dr. Santos and Ms. Tina Agrelius will not be available for office visits or phone consultations this Summer. Students are encouraged to communicate with either of them via email at Dr. Santos' email address above. Ms. Agrelius may also be reached directly at her email address above. Please be advised, though, that email communication has to usually be brief and to the point.