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The Latino Experience in the United States
SOC 335       Fall 2005

VillaraigosaCeliaChavez
sarapes

Instructor: Dr. Gonzalo Santos

email

santos_class@csub.edu

Office: DDH-AA205     Phone: 664-2191

Office Hours:  3:30 pm - 5:30 pm, Tue. & Thur.

Classroom:   DDH - 102G   Class time: 10:30 am - 12:35 pm, Tue. & Thurs.


braceros ayer y hoySalinas
sarapes

TEXTBOOKS

COURSE CONTENT

This course explores the historical sociology of Latino peoples in the United States at three levels: First, we survey the history of annexation, migration, and changing social conditions of Mexicans in the United States, from their 19th-century conquest and incorporation into the U.S. Southwest, to their racialized/alienized working class experiences in the first six decades of the 20th century; to their ethnic rebellion in the late 1960s and early 1970s - the Chicano Movement -, to their present day dual, contradictory evolution as a domestic, "entitled," valued and increasingly successful component of the emerging Latino panethnicity, yet ceaselessly replenished by a growing "un-entitled," stigmatized, and increasingly persecuted immigrant component, the product of fast North American integration.

Then we explore the ethnogenesis of Latinos as an evolving pan-ethnicity in the four decades since the Civil Rights Movement, focusing on the demography and political sociology of the State of California since the 1980s, and what current trends portend for the future of Latinos and of U.S. ethnic relations in general - no less than the remaking of the American identity.

Lastly, we explore the contemporary condition of Latinos in the U.S. in relation to, and in close correspondence with, the fast pace of Latin American - U.S. regional integration in the era of globalization, unleashing massive migration flows while causing major and repeated national developmental crises throughout the region.

COURSE STRUCTURE

Grupos: The course will rely on intense student class participation, organized around group ("grupo") presentations and class discussions. The students will therefore form grupos of five to six students at the beginning of the course and engage in collaborative & participatory learning throughout the quarter.

Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. Unauthorized absences, tardiness, and/or early departures will be penalized (especially for those that miss or are late to their own scheduled presentations!). If you need to be excused (or need to leave early/arrive late), please call or talk to Dr. Santos ahead of time. 

Lectures, grupo presentations, and class participation: Dr. Santos will usually lecture on the first hour of class. The grupo presentations and class discussion will take up the second hour. Whenever there's a video presentation, the order will be reversed. All students - not just those scheduled to present - are expected to come to class fully prepared to discuss the assigned readings for each session - pop quizzes will be randomly given. Student who, for whatever reason, did not read the assigned readings for the day, should preferably first abstain from initially indulging in purely spontaneous  responses ahead of others and focus instead on listening -- the policy on class participation is "no investigation, no right to speak first." Informed, frequent student participation, on the other hand, is encouraged and will be noted and subsequently generously rewarded by Dr. Santos, at the time of giving final grades.

Each grupo will be assigned two class presentations during the term, on a purely rotational basis (see schedule below). Every session, the presenting students will take turns summarizing, critically responding to various parts or aspects of the assigned readings for that day. When a grupo presents, each student in it will be given the opportunity to make a brief presentation (no more than five minutes, please) based on a written one-page outline -- divided into sections (I, II, III) and subsections (a, b, c) -- to be turned in to Dr. Santos afterwards; cards, PowerPoint files, or overhead projector transparencies may be used for the presentations themselves, but students are responsible for testing the files and equipment earlier, before class starts! All individual presentations should end with at least one or two topics or questions for discussion. Following the individual presentations, there will be a brief grupo discussion on each other's presentations, followed by full class discussion.

It is the responsibility of the grupos to meet beforehand to plan and divide up the portions, specific topics, or approaches each student will cover, to avoid duplication, and to organize the order of the individual presentations. It is strongly advisable for the groups to first read the entire material early on, then schedule to meet to divide up the topics or approaches. The students may also chose a debate format, if they wish.

Students are encouraged to create their own overhead transparencies, but if they do, please make sure they use BIG FONT and the slides are SIMPLE & CLEAN - not cluttered with too much information or tiny text no one can read.

A good individual presentation will (I) identify a major, significant aspect or issue or fact brought out in the readings (frame a question or two, or an assertion or two, explicitly); (II) fully summarize what the author claims or argues in relation to it; and (III) respond to (b) with a critical assessment, supplemented by further analysis, and relevant information (IV are the topics for discussion).

The individual presentations will be graded based on organization & clarity, relevancy of topic selection, accuracy of coverage, and strength of critical analysis. The grupo presentations will also be assessed a grade based on the quality of the division and organization of topics/approaches, and the critical thinking quality of the follow-up discussion.

Grupo Term Paper Research Projects:

Students in each grupo will also be asked to select a pertinent historical/sociological topic relating to the Latino experience in the United States, and design, organize, and carry out a written group research project on it. The subject may be panethnic (all Latinos) or ethnic (one Latino ethnic group); the period covered may be historic (19th. & 20th. Centuries), or contemporary (1990s to 2000s); the spatial dimension may be as small as a city or local area, and as large as the entire North America & Caribbean area; the topics may focus on the social, political, economic, demographic, and/or cultural conditions, trends, institutional dynamics, social movements, and burning issues affecting Latinos or affected by them. There are literally hundreds of possible interesting topics. The students must obtain approval from Dr. Santos for both their overall grupo topic and for their individual subtopics no later than October 13. Grupo delegates may visit Dr. Santos to accomplish this.

Though the final research volume should reflect the grupo effort, each student will individually write his or her own contributing paper, and be between 6 and 8 pages in length (apart from the bibliography), double-spaced, font 12, with one-inch margins. Students will submit their individual papers electronically (in Word, please) and their research volume in paper. The volume should be bound, have a title page, a table of contents listing each individual title and student author, and the actual papers; continuous page numbering between papers and a single, common volume bibliography are actually discouraged - don't waste time; each paper should start with the paper title and author at the top, be independently numbered, and have a bibliography at the end.

The deadline for turning in the research volume is Tuesday, November 29 at noon at Dr. Santos' office. The deadline for each student to submit his/her paper electronically to Dr. Santos email address is the same

Each paper should have a well-stated, sharply focused research hypothesis, a summary of the literature read and the key descriptive data on it, and a critical analysis section leading to a conclusion. Papers will be graded for clarity and organization, quality of analysis, and accuracy and relevance of assembled data.

For guidelines on how to write a good research term paper, citations & bibliographic styles, etc., please go to the following URL: http://www.csub.edu/~gsantos/Guide-Paper.html.

There are two general studies courses that students are strongly encouraged to take if they wish to develop their research skills, and if they do will receive extra credit in this course:

GST 126 - Researching the Electronic Library (2 units)
Introduces students to effective research techniques using Library electronic resources. Emphasis will be placed upon skills necessary for the identification, retrieval, and evaluation of information for general and specific topics. Students will acquire the competencies necessary to develop an effective search strategy and find research materials, including references to journal articles, full text articles in electronic format, government publications, books, and Internet resources.

 GST 153 - Research on the Internet (2 units)
Introduces students to the information resources available on the Internet for research purposes Students will develop general knowledge of the Internet, navigation skills, effective search strategy skills, familiarity with Internet finding tools, evaluation methodologies and other Internet research skills.

Contact: Ms. Christy Gavin
Librarian, Walter W. Stiern Library
cgavin@csub.edu
661-664-3237

Plagiarism: To prevent students from wittingly or unwittingly engaging in plagiarism, Dr. Santos strongly recommends students to carefully read and abide by the document CSUB Classifications of Plagiarism found at: http://www.csub.edu/tlc/options/resources/plagiarism/4plagiarimclassifications.htm.

Furthermore, students are advised that all papers will be submitted to TurnItIn.com, a professional web site that some CSUB faculty subscribe to and now routinely use to quickly detect plagiarism. Anyone found guilty of engaging in plagiarism will automatically fail the course and be reported to the Office of Student Discipline and Judicial Affairs for further disciplinary action.

Grading:

The grupo class presentations are worth 15 points each (10 points for the individual oral presentation, 5 points for the overall group effort). The research project is worth 50 points (45 points for the individual paper and 5 points for the quality of the grupo volume as a whole). Class participation and pop quizzes are worth 20 points (includes attendance, punctuality, and informed active participation in the class discussions). The extra credit students receive for taking the suggested General Studies courses will depend on their final grade in those courses, and may range from zero to ten points (up to 5 per course). The final letter grade will be assigned, on a scale of 0 to 100, as follows:
 

94-100 = 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-

Office Hours & Private E-Mail to Dr. Santos:

All students are encouraged to visit Dr. Santos regularly during posted office hours (see above), especially to ensure their group projects are approved and organized into well chosen subtopics, their individual research papers are well focused, or to discuss any question from the class lectures, the textbooks, or their grupo class presentations. Approval/consultation of the grupo research topics must be done in person at Dr. Santos office by representatives of each grupo - no emails on that topics, please. 

Dr. Santos prefers students either come to his office during office hours or call him by phone, rather than to receive e-mail messages that require more than a one-line reply, due to his large email traffic, and the ease of talking as opposed to typing! But if you wish to send Dr. Santos a brief, to the point, personal message, you may do so at:

santos_class@csub.edu

Schedule of Reading Assignments & Grupo Presentations

Tuesdays /Grupo #
Tuesday Readings
Thursdays /Grupo #
Thursday Readings
Week 1
September 13
Introduction to the class
September 15 /I
Mexicanos:
 Chapters 1 & 2
Week 2
September 20 /II
Mexicanos:
 Chapters 3 & 4
September 22 /III
Mexicanos:
 Chapters 5 & 6
Week 3
September 27 /IV
Mexicanos:
 Chapters 7 & 8
September 29 /V
Mexicanos:
 Chapter 9
Week 4
October 4 /VI
Nueva California:
Intro. & Chapter 1
October 6 /VII
Nueva California:
Chapters 2 & 3
Week 5
October 11 /VIII
Nueva California:
Chapter 4
October 13 /IX
Nueva California:
Chapters 5
Week 6
October 18 /X
Nueva California:
Chapter 6
October 20 /I
Nueva California:
Chapters 7 & 8
Week 7
October 25 /II
Borderless Borders:
Chapters 1 & 2
October 27 /III
Borderless Borders:
Chapters 3 & 4
Week 8
November 1 /IV
Borderless Borders:
Chapters 5 & 6
November 3 /V
Borderless Borders:
Chapters 7 & 8
Week 9
November 8 /VI
Borderless Borders:
Chapters 9 & 10
November 10 /VII
Borderless Borders:
Chapter 11 & 12
Week 10
November 15 /VIII
Borderless Borders:
Chapters 13 & 14
November 17 /IX-X
Web Readings:
To be announced
The grupo research projects are due by noon, Tuesday, November 29,  electronically and at Dr. Santos' office

 My GRUPO #:_____     We present on these dates: ________  and ___________

My First Presentation consists of:_________________________________________________

My Second Presentation consists of:_______________________________________________ 

My GRUPO  Research Topic:___________________________________________

My Own Research Subtopic:____________________________________________

My GRUPO members:

    Name_____________________Phone_________________Email_________________

1._______________________________________________________________________


2._______________________________________________________________________

3._______________________________________________________________________

4._______________________________________________________________________

5._______________________________________________________________________

6._______________________________________________________________________

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