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Advanced Theories of Race, Nation & Ethnicity

SOC 527 Fall 1997

Dr. Gonzalo Santos


Dr Santos's Office: DDH - AA205

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Class Meetings: Time: 6:00 pm - 8:05 pm, Tu & Th Room: DDH-E101

Office Hrs: 3:30 - 5:30 pm, T & Th, or by appointment

Phone: (805) 664-2191 Fax: (805) 665-6909

Dr. Santos's Website:

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Email button

Sociology & Anthropology Department Web Site (click here)

Room: DDH-AA209 Phone: (805) 664-2368

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TEXTBOOKS

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COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is a graduate seminar on advanced theories of race, nation, and ethnicity. Students will present, one per session, on a rotational basis, readings placed in Dr. Santos's web site and at the Library Reserve, for the duration of the seminar. They will also read and do mini-presentations (all students, on every session) on the nature, history, and complexities associated with the phenomenon of ethnicity, as variously explored in the Hutchinson and Smith's large anthology.

In the first part of the course we will analyze the main theoretical traditions in the field: the weberian, marxist, symbolic interactionist, resource competition, plural society, rational choice, and world-systems' perspectives. Students will simultaneously and independently study a case study in the history of race, the evolution of the idea of the "Black race" in the United States in the century between 1817 and 1914, as analyzed in the Fredrickson book. They will write their first paper on this book's many insights, doing extra, independent research and using the seminar's web readings as its theoretical foundations. That paper is due October 16.

In the second part of the course, we will analyze the ongoing crisis of nation-stateness as the universal paradigm of peoplehood, emphasizing how human migration, the end of the great ideological antinomy of the twentieth century - Liberalism/Socialism - and increasing global economic and telecommunications integration are fast eroding the bases for the system of nation-states. Students will separately explore the historical origins and evolution of nationalism as analyzed in the classic Anderson book, and will write a second critical paper on the book's key theses, drawing again on the seminar's web readings and independent research. The second paper is due on November 25th.


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COURSE POLICIES

Attendance: Attendance to the seminar is mandatory and most important. Please avoid at all costs arriving late or leaving early. If you cannot attend a session please make arrangments with Dr. Santos ahead of time, especially if you are presenting a web assignment that day.painting

Class Reading & Presentation Assignments: Students are expected to come to class fully prepared to discuss the assigned readings for each session. All of these readings are located in Dr. Santos's web site; for those without easy access to the web, hard copies of all the web readings have been placed in the library's reserve section. NOTE: To access the web readings at Dr. Santos's website, you need to enter the following two password codes at the begining of every web session: for "username" enter [see instructor], and for "password" enter [see instructor].

Again: Students will rotate giving MAJOR class presentations on the assigned web readings, which will be routinely followed by general discussions. Subsequent to that, all students will report on, and discuss, the Hutchinson & Smith book selections chosen previously. Students doing web presentations ought to always prepare and distribute copies of a presentation outline (no more than two pages, organized in titles and subtitles, with minimum narrative). These outlines should generally follow the following format:

I. Brief description of the reading:

    * key topics covered: a, b, c, etc.

II. Critical assessment of the reading:

    * Identify and critique the key points made or claimed: a, b, c, etc.

III. Key issues/questions to discuss in the seminar:

    * Choose the top two or three questions to discuss/answer

Students may bring, if they choose, a single page outline on their mini-presentations. Students should plan to spend 20-30 minutes or so for a web presentation, 5-10 minutes on a mini-presentation.painting

Comparative Papers: Each student will write two critical, comparative papers, analyzing and comparing full textbooks with the web readings, as described above. For the size and guidelines on how to write the papers, click here . Students will be granted the opportunity to re-submit a corrected/improved version of the first paper only, based on the instructor's comments (and to be turned in when the second paper is due).

Grading: Each (final version) paper is worth 30 points. The web presentations are worth 20 points overall, the mini-presentations & participation in discussions, another 20 points. 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/E-Mail to Dr. Santos: All students are encouraged to visit the instructor regularly during posted office hours (see above) or by appointment, especially to ensure their individual presentations and critical papers are well focused and organized, or to discuss any question they may have from the seminar, the textbooks, or the web readings.

Private but very brief and infrequent e-mail messages to Dr. Santos (but NOT as a substitute for office visits, please) may be sent to: gsantos1@academic.csubak.edu

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Schedule of Reading & Presentation Assignments

Dates

Textbook or

Web Readings

Student Presentors

September 9

September 11

[Introduction - no text]

Race, Ethnicity, and the Weberian Legacy - John Stone

______________________________

September 16

September 18

Marxism, Racism, and Ethnicity - John Solomos and Les Back

Symbolic Interaction Theories - Barbara Ballis Lal

______________________________

______________________________

September 23

September 25

Resource Competition Theories - Joane Nagel

Pluralism: The Evolution of a Nebulous Concept - Jacqueline Simpson

______________________________

______________________________

September 30

October 2

Rational Choice Theories - Michael Banton

The Modern World System, Selections from Vol. I - Immanuel Wallerstein

______________________________

______________________________

October 7

October 9

Ideological Tensions of Capitalism: Universalism versus Racism and Sexism - Immanuel Wallerstein

The Insurmountable Contradictions of Liberalism - Immanuel Wallerstein

______________________________

______________________________

October 14

October 16 Paper on Fredrickson's book due

One Drop of Blood - Lawrence Wright, and

Panel Rejects "Mixed-Race"s Category - Elizabeth Shogren

Migration in the Tropical World - Philip Curtin

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

October 21

October 23

The Geometer of Race - Stephen Jay Gould, and

Racial Restrictions in the Law of Citizenship - Ian F. Haney Lopez

The Problematic of Multinational and Multicultural Societies - John Rex

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

October 28

October 30

The Ambivalent Quest for Immigration Control - Wayne Cornelius, Philip Martin, and James Hollifield, and

A Renewed Debate in Red, White, and Blue Citizenship - Patrick McDonnell

Citizenship, Ethnicity, and Multiculturalism - Marco Martinello

______________________________

______________________________

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November 4

November 6

Liberalism and the Legitimization of Nation-States - Immanuel Wallerstein

The End of What Modernity? - Immanuel Wallerstein

______________________________

______________________________

November 13

(Tuesday 11th is a holiday)

Anti-Anti-Multiculturalism - Jack David Eller

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November 18

Global Singularities, Repetitive Diversities - Gonzalo Santos

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November 25

Paper on Anderson's book & re-writes due by 5:00 pm

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