The Latino Experiences in the United States SOC 335       Fall 2006

Instructor: Dr. Gonzalo Santos santos_class@csub.edu Office: DDH-AA205     Phone: 664-2191 Office Hours:  11:00 am - 12:30 pm, MW Classroom:   DDH - K107   Class time: 9:30 am - 10:55 pm, MWF

• Manuel Gonzales, 1999. Mexicanos. A History of Mexicans in the United States. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

• David E. Hayes-Bautista, 2004. La Nueva California. Latinos in the Golden State. Berkeley: University of California Press. 
  

• David Gutiérrez, ed., 2006. Columbia History of Latinos in the U.S. Since 1960. New York: Columbia University Press.
  

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 US-Mexico integration.

Then we explore the dramatic role played by Latinos in California in the four decades since the Civil Rights Movement, focusing on their demography, cultural contributions, and political sociology since the 1960s, and what current trends in this State portend for the future of all Latinos in the U.S. and U.S. ethnic relations in general -- no less than the remaking of the American identity.

Lastly, we explore various Caribbean/Central American Latino communities in the U.S. since the 1960s, with an emphasis on their historic and contemporary modes of annexation/integration to the U.S. political economy & culture.

Grupo structure of student participation: The course will rely on intense student class participation, effected through group ("grupo") presentations, class discussions, and research projects. The students will therefore form grupos of up to four 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 typically lecture either all by himself or after the grupo student presentations. There may be a video documentary after the student presentations as well. All students - including those not presenting - are expected to come to class fully prepared to discuss the assigned readings for each class session - several pop quizzes will be randomly given (including on the videos previously seen).  The policy on class participation is, on the one hand, "no investigation, no right to speak - at least not first." Informed & frequent student participation, on the other hand, is highly encouraged and will be rewarded by Dr. Santos at the time of giving final grades.

Each grupo will be assigned two class presentations during the term (see rotational schedule below). Each time, the presenting students will take turns summarizing and critically assessing the various significant issues or aspects contained in the assigned reading for that day. Each presenting student in it will be given the opportunity to make a presentation for roughly 6 to 8 minutes. Each presentation should be delivered as a PowerPoint presentation (print it for Dr. Santos; please do not CLUTTER slides with too much text - make more slides if needed!). Alternatively, follow a written one-page outline -- divided into sections (I, II, III) and subsections (a, b, c) -- to be turned in to Dr. Santos -- or use overhead projector transparencies (turn them in). Students are responsible for uploading and pre-testing the files and transparencies earlier, before class starts! (If you use transparencies please use VERY BIG FONTS!) All individual presentations, regardless of format, should end with at least one or two questions for discussion. Following the individual presentations, there will be full class discussion focused on the questions raised, led by the presenting grupo, then Dr. Santos will speak.

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 overall organization of the themes or aspects covered, and the communication abilities displayed during 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 obtain this.

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.

Extra credit:

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.

Grading:

Each grupo class presentation is worth 20 points each (15 points for the individual oral presentation, 5 points for the overall group effort). The research project is worth 35 points (30 points for the individual paper and 5 points for the quality of the conceptual and physical organization of the grupo volume as a whole). Pop quizzes and other class participation are worth 25 points (includes not just quiz scores but attendance, punctuality, and informed active participation in the class discussions). Each absence is worth minus one point (tardiness/leaving early = minus half-point). 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 3 extra points per course). The final letter grade will be assigned, on a scale of 0 to 100, as follows:
 

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

All students are encouraged to visit Dr. Santos regularly during posted office hours just after class on Mondays & Wednesdays (see above), or by appointment, especially to ensure their group research project topics 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 topic, 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 his email address above:

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

My Own Research Subtopic:___________________________________________________________

My  GRUPO members are:

___Name__________________Phone_____________________Email___________________________

1.___________________________________________________________________________________

2.___________________________________________________________________________________

3.___________________________________________________________________________________

4.___________________________________________________________________________________