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Race & Ethnic Studies, Women Studies, & LGBT Studies
Fall 2010 Courses
American StudiesAMER0012 Race in AmericaBlock: 7+ W 1:30-4:30 Professor: Jean Wu AMER0083 Urban Borderlands Block: Arr W 4:30-7:00 Professor: Jennifer Burtner Cross-Listed: ANTH0183 AMER0088 America & the National Pastime Block: 6+ Tu 1:30-4:30 Professor: Sol Gittleman AMER0141 Innovative Non-Profits Block: L+ Tu/Th 4:30-5:45 Professor: Nancy Wilson PhilosophyPHIL0048 Feminist PhilosophyBlock: E+ MW 10:30-11:45 Professor: Kimberly Leighton AnthropologyANTH0149-06 Growing Up LatinoBlock: G+ MW 1:30-2:45 Professor: Jennifer Burtner ANTH0183 Urban Borderlands Block: Arr W 4:30-7:00 Professor: Jennifer Burtner Cross-Listed: AMER0083 Child DevelopmentCD0062 Childhood Across CulturesBlock: E+ MW 10:30-11:45 am Professor: Jayanth Mistry CD0155 Development of Language Block: H+ Tu/Th 1:30-2:45 Professor: Calvin Gidney CD0182 Social Policy for Children & Families Block:: 8 Th 1:30-4:00 Professor: Francin Jacobs SociologySOC0010 American SocietyBlock: I+ MW 3:00-4:15 Professor: James Ennis SOC0030 Sex and Gender in Society Block: L+ Tu/Th 4:30-5:45 Professor: Jeffrey Langstraat SOC0110 Racial and Ethnic Minorities Block: K+ MW 4:30-5:45 Professor: Women's StudiesWS0190 Doing Feminist ResearchBlock: 5 M 1:30-4:00 Professor: Modhumita Roy EducationED0162 Class, Race, Gender in U.S. EducationBlock: 10+ M 6:00-9:00 Professor: Linda Mizell AMER0012 - Race in AmericaIn 1903, the famous African American scholar and activist W.E.B. DuBois said, "The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line." Many people today believe that race will continue to be "the" issue of the 21st century. In this course, we will examine the meanings of race in modern America, analyze the root causes and consequences of racist ideologies, and discuss current and future activist approaches to the issues raised by racist theories and practices. Our study will be multicultural in focus, with attention being given to Asian American, Native American, African American, European American, and Latino/a perspectives. Questions we will ask will include: How is race defined in the USA? Who defines it? How is it experienced? Who experiences it? What is its role in our lives as individuals, members of groups and of society at large? The course will be interdisciplinary, emphasizing in particular social science and arts/humanities approaches; and active student participation will be an important component.AMER0088 - America & the National PastimeFrom the end of the American Civil War to the present, the emergence of baseball in the US reflected the evolution of urbanization, immigration, race, the labor movement, entrepreneurial capitalism, crime, and legal precedents that reached the Supreme Court. Baseball has been a mirror of the times; that reflection continued through the 2oth century in the Progressive Age, World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the Depression, World War II, the coming of Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, the shifting and expansion of franchises. In 1953, exactly fifty years afer the formation of Organized Baseball into two leagues with eight teams in each, the geographic and demographic revolution began that took major league baseball from coast to coast. Eventually, this led to the elimination of the Reserve Clause, the beginning of free agency, and the thirty professional teams today that represent "The National Pastime." We will examine baseball both inside and outside the lines: how it was played, who played it, and the place of this children's game in the American psyche. Finally, we will also survey the 160-year history of the US as the background for the forces that created this quintessential American game.AMER0141 - Innovative Non-ProfitsIn this course you will learn how to apply business skills to the solution of public problems. You will learn how to: find new solutions; communicate effectively with clients and funders; build a strong organization; turn idealism into action; and develop a business plan to address a public problem of your choosing. The course will feature case studies and meetings with prominent social entrepreneurs who will offer their perspectives on how to create revolutionary change.PHIL0048 - Feminist PhilosophyCurrent developments in medical, genetic, and reproductive sciences, as well as changes in global politics and ongoing legal debates, seem simultaneously to ground and destabilize the answer to the question: "what is the human body?" Responding to this double-movement, this course is motivated by the following questions: Are current technologies advancing our understandings of the human body and, if so, to what uses are these understandings being put? Is information about the body neutral or, following philosopher Michel Foucault, might we consider knowledge of the human body as not merely descriptive but also normative, i.e., as providing us with notions of what bodies should (and shouldn't) be or how we should (and shouldn't) act towards the bodies of others as well as towards our own? In other words, as we will ask throughout the semester, how might our conceptions of and knowledges about the body inform concepts of morality and ethics, and political structures and their enforcement?In this course we will trace the ways in which "the body" has figured in the discipline of philosophy and will examine how feminist philosophy in particular offers tools for critiquing and advancing discussions of the body. The aim of the course thus is multi-pronged: while we explore philosophical analyses of the body including its role in epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy, we will also be reviewing various developments in feminist philosophy. Using the body as our theme, we will review how feminist philosophers have challenged central tenets within the traditional canon of philosophy and have opened up the discipline to new modes of inquiry and new objects of analysis. Lastly, using as our philosophical test cases several pertinent topics in applied ethics such as surrogacy, cloning, and genetic identity, we will examine whether and how feminist philosophical approaches to the body might provide new critical normative resources. ANTH0149-06 - Growing Up LatinoWhat is it like to grow up Latino/a in the United States around the turn of the millennium, a time when Latino/as are the nation's largest and fastest growing `minority'? What are the consequences of speaking two languages and of living at the intersection between multiple cultures and their institutions? How have U.S. concepts of race, class, and gender influenced the formation of Latino/a identities and life trajectories? What does it mean to be Latino/a in a 'multi-cultural', 'globalizing', 'English-only', 'first- world' country anyway? Drawing on contemporary ethnographic, popular culture (films, art & music), demographic and public policy texts, we begin this course by exploring contemporary theories of Latino/a diversity and family studies, trends in transnational migration, and the macro and microeconomic factors which are influencing community resource bases and social networks, linking families here with those abroad. We then look at the experiences of young girls and boys as they acquire multiple languages and cultural repertoires, and of young women and men as they enter adolescence and begin to develop separate youth cultures and a distinct sense of their own sexuality. These deeply personal experiences merge with competing societal norms and the often startling reality of daily survival/economics, setting the stage for the drama of family life which includes issues related to motherhood, fatherhood, intergenerational differences, the household economy, domestic cohesion and division, building families and identities through multigenerational kin networks and multilingual & interracial households. The icons and representations that emerge from these daily dramas are rapidly changing as individuals, families and communities confront, adapt and resist the pressures of an ever-shifting landscape of formal and informal institutions. The course concludes with six session overview of how Latinos/as are interfacing with U.S. institutions, inserting themselves into the labor market, labor organizations, religious institutions, politics and political parties, the educational system, immigration, health, welfare, the military and correctional institutions, community organizations, sports and gangs all an effort to gain `rights' and find the right balance between `rebellion' and `re-integration'.AMER0088/ANTH0183 - Urban BorderlandsThis course integrates academic learning and experiential learning in a community-based research project documenting the history of Somerville and Cambridge's immigrant communities. Because there are few if any written sources on the history of these communities, students' research entails conducting in- depth interviews with community leaders and residents, active within local formal and informal institutions. In this way, students will familiarize themselves in a personal, experiential way with the individuals and institutions, which are gradually reconfiguring the urban landscapes of Greater Boston. The voices that emerge from these populations and the goals and structures of their organizations & networks will offer students entirely new data sources and points of reference as they, over the course of the semester, become active participants in some of the most heated debates of our decade: international migration, globalization, and the maintenance of a democratic multicultural society. This involves deconstructing competing narratives/rhetoric regarding immigration, nativism, the `impact' of immigration on U.S. cities, and experiences of immigrants as they `adapt' to life in urban areas. In this seminar, students will learn methodological techniques for documenting and interpreting community history how to prepare for, conduct and transcribe in-depth interviews, and how to analyze, interpret and contextualize these materials. They will also explore complementary research strategies such as using photographs and archival materials to enhance materials collected in the in-depth interviews, and how to prepare the materials (tapes, transcripts, photographs and other materials) for deposit in Tufts' Archives. Their final reports, based on the memories and employing the voices of those whose life stories actually constitute the history of immigrants in Cambridge, are presented to the community at the end of the semester and distributed to relevant organizations and individuals. These reports make a valuable contribution to Cambridge's immigrant communities, because a marginalized community that knows its history can better develop a strong sense of place; and a sense of belonging and contributing to that place empowers a community to secure its rights in the present as well as to meet future challenges. This course is designed primarily for juniors and seniors; preference will be given to Anthropology and American Studies majors. Students must contact Professor Jennifer Burtner Rangel for permission to take the course (Jennifer.Burtner@tufts.edu). Students must be willing to travel regularly to field sites in Somerville and/or Cambridge to conduct research. While proficiency in the community/target language is preferred, it is not required.CD0062 - Childhood Across CulturesIntermediate-level study of child development, with emphasis on cultural perspectives integrating psychological and anthropological theory. Children's development examined across cultures and in the context of the various social institutions and settings within which they live.CD0155 - Development of LanguageHuman language is examined as a form of communication and compared with animal signal systems. Other topics are phonological, syntactic, and semantic development; language, culture, and thought; language and social class; and language and bilingualism. Fall.CD0182 - Social Policy for Children & FamiliesIntersection of child development and social policy. Case studies of processes through which social problems are defined, policies formulated and implemented. Models for analyzing existing and proposed policies and for interpreting program evaluation results. Topics may include child abuse and neglect, family leave, maternal and child public-health policy, child care, early-childhood education. Special attention to policies affecting disadvantaged and minority populations. Prerequisites: Child Development 1 or Psychology 1, and senior or graduate standing. Fall.SOC0010 - American SocietyThis course is about social differences and inequalities in contemporary U.S. society. Some of these differences are relatively fixed (age, gender, ethnicity), some changeable (e.g. education, occupation, class, religion, region), while others can be fleeting (e.g. tastes, attitudes). We'll explore which differences `make a difference' for Americans' outlooks, experiences, and life chances. Such differences form a patterned system, i.e. a social structure. That structure has a lot to do with `social problems' as well. I aim to have you think sociologically about American Society. This first involves understanding your own position(s) in American social structure, i.e. where you stand in the groups, and on the issues that matter. We'll explore how where you stand affects what you see and feel and choose. Grasping this pattern of social influencechallenges you to think about the constraints on your choices, and your relative freedom within those constraints. Which Americans have a wider range of choice, or a narrower one? Why? Thinking sociologically necessarily involves making systematic comparisons. It requires transcending one's individual, personal outlook, by comparing how different groups shape and influence their members. To do so, you need systematic and detailed information, and that's what this course offers. It differs from others you may have taken in being exploratory and data-based. The data come from a number of nationally representative surveys. The exploration involves our formulating questions in conversation, and using the data to answer them. Having done this exploring, you'll be better able to understand patterns of change in the U.S., your place in them, the problems we face, and what can be done about them. Although you will be using high quality, empirical data, this is not a methods course, and I presume no previous experience with statistics or computers.SOC0030 - Sex and Gender in SocietyGender defines who we are. For sociologists, gender is also an organizational principle which structures all of society's institutions. It shapes the division of labor, distribution of resources, and relations of power. Families, labor markets, sexual intimacies, politics, religion, popular culture, etc. are all socially organized according to gender. Gender intersects with race and class and cannot be understood except in relation to race and class. The major aim of this course is to understand (in sociological terms) how and why gendered social arrangements take the form they do. How is gender socially constructed? How and why does gender change over time? How do people in everyday life both create and challenge gender? What have feminist theorists had to say about these questions? The course also aims to empower students to think and act more knowledgeably for self and society around gender issues. The course looks at both women and men and how gender shapes lives and experiences. Classes are conducted as part-lecture, part-discussion. There will be a take-home midterm and final exam; and two short writing assignments in reaction to readings.SOC0110 - Racial and Ethnic MinoritiesNativism, Inferior Races, Racism, Prejudice, Ethnicity, Minorities, Reparations, and Affirmative Action can be fighting words in a racialized society. Is there not only one kind of human being homo sapiens? Are the terms race and ethnicity synonymous? This course will examine how concepts of race and ethnicity influence the methods used in the United States to structure socio-economic inequalities. Popular social change and reactionary movements in the United States organized to perpetuate or ameliorate racial and ethnic divisions will be compared with strategies being used by other countries to deal with racial and ethnic issues.WS0190 - Doing Feminist ResearchPractices and methods of feminist, interdisciplinary research in a cross-cultural framework. How feminist inquiry rethinks disciplinary assumptions and categories; what counts as knowledge; relation among subjects and objects of study; international issues in feminist analysis. To be taken in preparation for the sr. project. With approval of the instructor, open to non-majors and non-minors (including grad. students) engaged in extensive research on women and/or gender in other programs or departments.ED0162 - Class, Race, Gender in U.S. EducationHistory of education in the United States as a struggle over access and control. Relation to class reproduction, social mobility, the maintenance of and resistance to racial boundaries, and gender issues, emphasizing the struggles of disempowered groups to gain access to schooling in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Copyright 2010, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155
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