Advanced Theories of Race, Nation, Ethnicity

Soc 527        Dr. Gonzalo Santos       Fall 2008

Office:         DDH - AA205

Office Hrs:  11:00 am - 12:00 pm MWF, or by appointment

Phone:         (661) 664-2191

Email:        santos_class@csub.edu

Website:      http://www.csub.edu/~gsantos/

Textbooks

• Sinisa Malesevic, 2004. The Sociology of Ethnicity. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. ISBN: 0761940421.

• Nancy Foner & George M. Fredrickson, eds., 2004. Not Just Black and White: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in the United States. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. ISBN: 0-87154-270-6.

• Aristide R. Zolberg, 2006. A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN: 0674022181.

This course attempts to advance our understanding of the complex historical trajectories & contending theories of the social constructs of race, nation, and ethnicity in the modern world-system. There are many ways to do this. In our case, we will first take a critical look at the various competing theoretical perspectives on the nature and dynamics of ethnicity (Malesevic book). Then we will go more in-depth on various historical and contemporary perspectives on immigration, race, and ethnicity in the United States (Foner & Fredrickson book). We conclude with an in-depth case study of the crucial role of immigration policy in nation-building, focusing on the United States from colonial times to today (Zolberg book).

Class Presentations: The course will be run as a seminar based on the three textbooks chosen. At every session two or three students will prepare and make, on a rotational basis, a formal class presentation on their assigned reading, each followed by Dr. Santos comments and open discussion. The individual presentations will be on PowerPoint and should aim to be a summary and critical assessment of the text, ideally 20 minutes long. A one-to-two page outline (just titles & subtitles) of each presentation must be distributed in class. Although at each particular session the assigned students will have the responsibility for presenting and leading the discussions, Dr. Santos will expect everyone to come to class fully prepared to discuss the assigned texts. Please be on time, especially the presenters. Presenters should bring enough copies of their presentation outlines to hand out to all in class.

Research Papers: Students will write two research papers, the first due on Thursday, October 30 in class, and the second due on Tuesday, November 25, before noon, at Dr. Santos' office. Students must submit their research papers in two ways: (a) electronically in Word format, via email to Dr. Santos; and (b) in paper, bound and paginated.

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

Private but brief and to the point e-mail messages to Dr. Santos (NOT a substitute for office visits, please) may be sent to: santos_class@csub.edu. Expect a one-line response. Finally, students may email or leave messages at Dr. Santos' phone if for any reason they will be absent or have any other urgent matter to communicate to him.