POS 439: Race and Politics in the Americas
Prof. Manuel Avalos
Arizona State University West

Spring 1996
Sands Rm. 225
Office Hours: T, TH 10:30 a.m. - 12:00

COURSE OBJECTIVE AND DESCRIPTION

The objective of this course is to familiarize students with a range of discourses that will enable you to develop informed, critical framework for understanding the complexities of racial and ethnic inequalities in the Americas. In this course you will study the history and current state of racial politics in North, Central and South America, with a focus on the United States. The course will primarily be concerned with examining the social, political and economic inequality of racial/ethnic groups based on the interaction of race, class, ethnicity and gender. Four questions will be addressed concerning the nature of political inequality of racial/ethnic groups in the Americas: (1) What are the social/historical origins of political inequality of minority groups based on race, class, ethnicity and gender?; (2) How does political inequality based on race, class, ethnicity and gender differ in terms of the distribution of scarce resources such as material goods, political power, political influence and political prestige?; (3) To what extent do race, class, ethnicity and gender reinforce each other as sources of political inequality?; (4) Given the nature of political inequality based on the interaction of race, class, ethnicity and gender that currently exists, what are the major forces for political change (social movements, popular culture, war, social crises) in the Americas? These questions and others will be considered within a comparative framework contrasting political inequalities of African Americans, Asians, Latinos, and indigenous Native peoples.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Primary emphasis will be placed on student participation in classroom discussion of the assigned readings and less on class lectures. In order to do this, the student's main obligation in this class will be to keep up with each week's readings and to participate in class discussion. Students will be assigned as discussion leaders for the purpose of leading classroom discussion on assigned readings.

Critical Essays

Everyone will be required to write 4 (of 7 possibilities) critical essays (3 typed pages each) on course topics (see description of Critical Essays).

Exams

There will be one midterm and one final exam (cumulative) in the course. The format of the exams will be entirely essay.

Grades

Grades in this course will be based on exams, essays and classroom discussion. The computation of final grades will be arrived at in the following manner:

Classroom discussion: 20%

Midterm Exam (1): 20%

Final Exam: 20%

Critical Essays: 40%

Assignments

Students are responsible for all assigned readings. Read PRIOR to the assigned class time. Class lectures and discussions will cover material supplemental to the readings, in addition to guiding you through them, so please come to class--even if you are unprepared! Assignments are due on the date scheduled. Make-up exams will be given only in the event of a verifiable personal or family emergency. You are encouraged to consult with instructor at any time for assistance and ideas on improving your performance.

Late Assignments

Unexcused late assignments will have 10 percentage points deducted from the grade automatically and must be turned in by the end of the week they were due (an additional 10 % will be deducted each week thereafter). Being absent from class does not excuse you from having your assignments delivered at the appropriate time.

Class Participation

Class participation is considered in the assignment of final grades. If you are not present in class, you cannot participate!

Absences

If you miss six or more classes you are encouraged to drop the course. Absence is at times unavoidable; nonetheless your grade is likely to suffer.

Writing Guidelines

All work written for this course should be of a level appropriate to college students. Mechanics and grammar DO count. Please type and proofread carefully. Everyone can improve their writing skills--even great writers. Check out the ASUW Writing Center for assistance in improving your written work.

Academic Integrity

The absolute highest standard of integrity and ethical conduct is a requirement of this course. Deviations therefore on any graded activity will not be tolerated. Academic misconduct includes cheating on assignments and exams, and plagiarizing (using any work other than your own without proper acknowledgment). Academic dishonesty will result in a failing grade of "E." NOTE: It is not advisable to attempt to submit the same paper to fulfill an assignment for more than one course without first obtaining approval from each of the instructors involved.

CAVEAT: If necessary or appropriate, the instructor reserves the option to change scheduled class topics, assignments, or due dates. Quizzes may be given if deemed necessary.

WARNING: NO INCOMPLETES ! !

If you do not intend to complete the course it is advisable to officially withdraw.

Withdrawal deadlines: unrestricted-- February 9, restricted--March 29, 1996.

Withdrawal will not be permitted after the final deadline.

Required Readings

The following books are required for purchase and are available at the bookstore. Additional readings in the syllabus will be available at the Reserve desk in Fletcher Library on a two hour check out basis.

Gerald Alfred. 1995. Heeding the Voices of our Ancestors. Oxford University Press

Thomas Berger. 1991. A Long Terrible Shadow. Univ. of Washington Press

Michael Dawson. 1994. Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African-American Politics.

Princeton University Press

Yen Le Espiritu. 1992. Asian American Panethnicity. Temple University Press

David Gutierrez. 1995. Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants and

the Politics of Ethnicity. University of California Press

David Stannard. 1992. American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World. Oxford

University Press

Howard Winant. 1994. Racial Conditions. University of Minnesota Press

COURSE TOPICS

I. Politics in the Americas Before the European Conquest

1/16-1/23: Lecture: Introduction, Course Overview and Basic Concepts

1/25: Film: The Buried Mirror: Conflict of the Gods (Carlos Fuentes)

1/30: Discussion: History of Indigenous Peoples in the Americas

Critical Essay #1 Due on February 1

Required Readings:

David Stannard, American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World, entire

II. The Politics of Race in the Americas

2/1: Discussion: Race in the Americas

Required Readings:

Anthony Affigne, Manuel Avalos, and Gerald Alfred. 1994. "Race and Politics in

the Americas."

Thomas Berger, 1992. A Long and Terrible Shadow, Intro, chapts. 1-7

III. Theories of Racial Inequality in the U.S.

2/6-2/8: Lecture: Theories of Racial Inequality

2/13: Discussion: What is the Meaning of Race in the Americas?

Critical Essay #2 Due on February 15

Required Readings:

Howard Winant, Intro, Chapt. 1, 2, 3

Suggested Readings:

Almaguer, Tomas. 1994. Racial Fault Lines. Berkeley: University of California

Press.

Howard Winant. 1994. Racial Conditions. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota

Press.

James Russell. 1994. After the Fifth Sun: Class and Race in North America.

Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

Douglas Massey, and Nancy Denton. 1993. American Apartheid. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Derrick A. Bell. 1993. Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of

Racism. New York: Basic Books.

Cornel West. 1993. Beyond Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism. Monroe, ME:

Common Courage Press.

Audrey Smedley. 1993. Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a

World View. Boulder: Westview Press.

Rodney Hero. 1992. Latinos in the U.S. Political System Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Benjamin Ringer and Elinor Lawless. 1989. Race-Ethnicity and Society.

New York: Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.

Michael Omi and Howard Winat. 1986. Racial Formation in the United

States. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul Inc.

Rudy Acuna. 1985. Occupied America, 3rd edition. New York: Harper and Row.

Manning Marable. 1983. How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America. Boston: South End Press.

Ronald Takaki. 1979. Iron Cages. New York: Oxford University Press.

William Julius Wilson. 1978. The Declining Significance of Race. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Mario Barerra. 1978. Race and Class in the Southwest. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.

James Jennings. 1975. The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism and the

Cant of Conquest. Chapel Hill: Univeristy of North Carolina Press.

Raymond Franklin and Solomon Resnik. 1973. The Political Economy of Racism.

New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Robert Blauner, 1972. Racial Oppression in America. New York: Harper and Row.

Harold Cruse. 1967. The Crises of the Negro Intellectual. New York: William Morrow Co.

Robert Park, 1950. Race and Culture. New York: The Free Press.

Gunnar Myrdal, 1944. An American Dilemma. New York: McGraw-Hill.

IV. Race, Identity and Culture

2/15: Discussion: Race and Identity in the Americas

2/20: Discussion: Race in Brazil: The Fact of Blackness

2/22: Film: The Buried Mirror: Unfinished Business (Carlos Fuentes)

Critical Essay #3 Due on February 27

Required Readings:

Winant, Chapts. 4-5, 9-10

Anthony Affigne, 1994. "Together On the Edge of Empires: Indigeno-Latino

Relations in the 21st Century"

Suggested Readings:

Lisa Funderburg. 1994. Black, White, Other. New York: Willam Morrow & Co.

George J. Sanchez. 1993. Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and

Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945. New York: Oxford University Press.

Juan Flores. 1993. Divided Borders: Essays on Puerto Rican Identity. Houston:

Arte Publico Press.

David Abalos. 1993. Latino Families and the Politics of Transformation. Greenwood

Press.

Studs Terkel. 1992. Race. New York: New Press.

William Cross. 1991. Shades of Black: Diversity in African American Identity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Richard Alba. 1990. Ethnic Identity: The Transformation of White America. New

Haven: Yale University Press.

Arturo Islas. 1984. The Rain God. Palo Alto: Alexandrian Press.

Richard Rodriquez. 1982. Hunger of Memory. Boston: David Godine Publisher.

TAKE HOME EXAM #1 COVERING TOPICS I-IV WILL BE DUE ON MARCH 7

V. Contemporary Politics of Indigenous Native Peoples in the Americas

2/27: Film: The Spirit of Crazy Horse

2/29: Lecture: Indigenous Peoples in the Americas

3/5: Discussion: Indian Sovereiginty and Self-Determinism in Canada and the U.S.

3/7: Film: Honorable Nations

Critical Essay #4 Due on March 19

Required Readings:

Alfred, Heeding the Voices of our Ancestors, entire book

Thomas Berger, Long and Terrible Shadow, Chapts. 8-11, Epilogue

Suggested Readings:

Boldt, Menno. 1993. Surviving as Indians: The Challenge of Self-Government.

Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Ward Churhill. 1993. Struggle for the Land. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press.

Francis Jennings. 1993. The Founders of America: How Indians Discovered the Land,

Pioneered in it, and Created Great Classical Civilizations: How They Were Plunged

into a Dark Age by Invasion, Conquest and How they are Reviving. New York: Norton.

Oren Lyons, John Mohawk, et. al., 1992. Exiled in the Land of the Free.

Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Publishers.

David E. Stannard. 1992. American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World. New York: Oxford University Press.

M. Annette Jaimes, 1992. The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization and

Resistance. South End Press

Jack Camisi. 1991. The Mashpee Indians: Tribe on Trial. New York: Syracuse

University Press.

Jack McIver Weatherford. 1991. Native Roots. New York: Fawcett Columbine.

McIver Weatherford. 1988. Indian Givers: How the Indians of the

Americas Transformed the World. New York: Crown Publishers.

Mary Crow Dog. 1990. Lakota Woman. New York: Harper and Row.

Stephen Cornell. 1988. The Return of the Native: American Indian Political

Resurgence. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ward Churchill. 1988. Agents of Repression: The FBI'sWars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. Boston: South End Press.

Sandra Cadwalader and Vine Deloria Jr. eds. 1984. The Agressions of Civilization: Federal Indian Policy Since the 1880's. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Peter Matthiessen. 1983. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. New York: Viking Press.

Rex Weyler. 1982. Blood of the Land: The Government and Corporate War Against the American Indian Movement. NewYork: Everest House.

Dee Brown. 1970. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Vine Deloria Jr., 1969. Custer Died for Our Sins. New York: Collier-Macmillan

VI. African American Politics in the United States

3/19: Lecture: The Politics of Racial Exclusion and Jim Crow

3/21: Film: Eyes on the Prize: Mississippi: Is this America 1962-64

3/26: Lecture: The Voting Rights Act and It's Aftermath

3/28: Film: Eyes on the Prize II: The Time Has Come, 1964-66

4/2: Discussion: Blacks vs. Browns

Critical Essay #5 Due on April 4

Required Readings:

Michael Dawson, Behind the Mule, entire

Winant, Chapts. 6, 7

Jack Miles, 1992. "Blacks vs. Browns," The Atlantic Monthly. pp. 41-68.

Suggested Readings:

Guinier, Lani. 1994. The Tyranny of the Majority. New York: The Free Press.

Herbert Hill and James E. Jones. 1993. Race In America. Madison, WI: The

Univerisity of Madison Press.

James Jennings. 1992. The Politics of Black Empowerment: The Transformation

of Black Activism in America. Detroit: Wayne State Univeristy Press.

Sigelman, Lee and Susan Welch. 1991. Black Americans' Views of Racial Inequality.

New York: Cambridge University Press

Dianne Pinderhughes. 1987. Race and Ethnicity in Chicago Politics. Urbana and

Chicago: Univeristy of Illinois Press.

Robert Huckfeldt and Carol Kohfield. 1989. Race and the Decline of Class in American Politics. Urbana: Universityof Illinois Press.

Edward Carmines and James Stimson. 1989. Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics. Princeton: The University of Princeton Press

Jack Bloom. 1987. Class, Race and the Civil Rights Movement. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.

Manning Marable. 1985. Black American Politics. London: Verso Books.

Rufus Browning, Dale Rodgers Marshall and David Tabb. 1984. Protest is Not Enough. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Mel King. 1981. Chain of Change. Boston: South End Press.

Eugene Victor Wolfenstein. 1981. The Victims of Democracy: Malcolm X and the Black Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Robert Allen. 1969. Black Awakening in Capitalist America. New York: Doubleday.

Stokley Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton. 1967. Black Power. New York: Vintage Books.

Ira Katznelson. 1973. Black Men, White Cities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Richard Rubenstein. 1970. Rebels in Eden. Boston: Little, Brown.

Philip S. Foner, ed. 1970. The Black Panthers Speak. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippencott.

Harold Cruse. 1968. Rebellion or Revolution. New York:William, Morris

C. Vann Woodward. 1966. The Strange Career of Jim Crow.London: Oxford Press.

DuBois, W. E. B. 1903. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. Chicago:

A. C. McClurg.

VII. The Politics of La Raza Y Los Latinos

4/4: Lecture: Immigration in the 19th Century

4/9: Lecture: Immigration in the 20th Century

4/11: Film: Frontline: New Harvest, Old Shame

4/16: Discussion on Immigration Policy

4/18: Film: The American Experience: Los Mineros

Critical Essay #6 Due on April 23

Required Readings:

David Guiterrez. Walls and Mirrors, entire

Michelle Heller, 1994. "Steming the Tide," Hispanic, (April): 20-26.

Suggested Readings:

Andres Torres. 1995. Between Melting Pot and Mosaic. Philadelphia: Temple

University Press.

Rodolfo de la Garza and Louis DiSipio. 1994. Barrio Ballots. Boulder: Westview

Press.

Thomas Muller. 1993. Immigrants and the American City. New York: New York

University Press.

Benjamin Marquez. 1993. LULAC: The Evolution of a Mexican American

Political Organization. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Carol Hardy-Fanta. 1993. Latina Politics, Latino Politics. Philadelphia: Temple

University Press.

Emilio Zamora. 1993. The World of the Mexican Worker in Texas. College

Station: Texas A&M Press.

Earl Shorris. 1992. Latinos: Biography of the People. New York: W. W. Norton.

Rodolfo de la Garza, Louis DiSipio et. al., 1992. Latino Voices. Boulder: Westview

Press.

Rodolfo de la Garza, Louis DiSipio eds., 1992. From Rhetoric to Reality: Latino

Politics and the 1988 Election. Boulder: Westview Press.

Alejandro Portes and Ruben Rumbaut. 1990. Immigrant America. Berkeley:

University of California Press.

Carlos Munoz Jr. 1989. Youth, Identity and Power. London: Verso Books.

Ignacio Garcia. 1989. United We Win: The Rise and Fall of La Raza Unida Party. Tucson: Mexican American Studies and Research Center.

David Montejano. 1987. Anglos and Mexicans In the Making of Texas, 1836-1986.

Austin: University of Texas Press.

Vicki Ruiz. 1987. Cannery Women, Cannery Lives: Mexican Women. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Silvia Pedraza Bailey, 1985. Political and Economic Migrants in America. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Alejandro Portes and Robert Bach. Latin Journey. 1985. Berkeley: University of California Press

Michael Piore. 1980. Birds of Passage. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Julian Samora. 1977. Los Mojados: The Wetback Story. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.

Ernesto Galarza, 1964. Merchants of Labor. San Jose: The Roscicrucian Press.

Carey McWilliams, 1939. Factories in the Fields. Boston:Little, Brown

Manuel Gamio. 1930. Mexican Immigration to the United States. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press.

VIII. Pan-Asian Politics

4/23: Lecture: Chinese Exclusion Act and it's Aftermath

4/25: Lecture: Asians as Workers

4/30: Discussion: Asian Panethnicity

Critical Essay #7 Due on April 30

FINAL EXAM COVERING TOPICS V-VIII IS DUE ON MAY 7 AT NOON IN

MY OFFICE FAB N241

Required Readings:

Yen Le Espiritu, Asian American Panethnicity, entire

Suggested Readings:

Yen Le Espiritu. 1995. Filipino Lives. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Juan Aguilar-San Juan. 1994. The State of Asian America: Activism and Resistance in

the 1990s. South End Press.

G. Y. Okihiro. 1994. Margins and Manstreams: Asians in American History and

Culture. University of Washington Press.

Ron Tagaki. 1992. The Retreat From Race: Asian American Admissions and Racial

Politics. Rutgers University Press.

Min Zhou, 1992. Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave.

Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

S. Chan. 1991. Asian Americans: An Interpretive History. Twayne Press

S.S. Fugita and D.J. O'Brien. 1991. Japanese American Ethnicity: The Persisitence of

Community. University of Washington Press.

G.Y. Okihiro. 1991. Cane Fires: The Anti-Japanese Movement in Hawaii, 1865-1945.

Temple University Press.

Ron Tagaki. 1989. Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans.

Little Brown.

R. Daniels. 1988. Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States Since 1850.

University of Washington Press.

Y. Ichioka. 1988. Issei: The World of the First Generation Japanese Immigrants:

1855-1924. Free Press.

Ivan Light and Enda Bonacich. 1988. Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Koreans in Los Angeles:

1965-82. University of California Press.

P. Kwong. 1987. The New Chinatown. Hill and Wang.

S. Chan. 1986. This Bittersweet Soil: The Chinese in California Agriculture, 1860-1910.

University of California Press.

H. Kitano and R. Daniels. 1988. Asian Americans: Emerging Minorities. Prentice Hall.

I. Kim. 1981. New Urban Immigrants: The Korean Community in New York. Princeton

University Press.

D. Montero. 1979. Vietnamese Americans: Patterns of Resettlement and Socioeconomic

Adaptations in the United States. Westview Press.

H. Kitano. 1976. Japanese Americans: The Evolution of a Subculture. Prentice Hall.

B. L. Sung. 1967. Mountains of Gold: The Story of the Chinese in America. Macmillan.

GUIDELINES FOR CRITICAL ESSAYS

Re-read frequently!

Three typed pages only (double spaced).

The purpose of these essays is to a) encourage you to keep up with the readings, b) develop a

synthetic understanding of course materials, and c) raise issues for discussion pertinent to these

materials. They should be analytical commentaries (NOT summaries) on the readings, films, and discussions. CHIEF GROUND RULE: Your essays must make an attempt to relate your topic to

the key reading assigned for that course topic, and ought to be informed by concepts from the course. For weeks when there is no major book, essays should refer to the readings for that topic(s). Essays

not tied in to the key text can only get maximum grade of "C."

NOTE: You may write your paper as a personal essay using the first-person pronoun "I,", but these

are NOT simply "opinion papers." You are of course welcome to present your opinion (indeed, this

can scarcely be avoided!)--but think of opinion as less a matter of individual taste or preference, than

as a point of view, a way of seeing, a perspective shaped by your subject-positioning, the politics of

your own location at a particular intersection of history/gender/race/class/ethnicity/(trans)nation/etc--

and work these considerations into your analysis in light of our study of racial and ethnic inequality.

Choose a focused topic (you can only do so much in 3 pages), something in the readings that really

grabs your interests (the best writing comes when you are most engaged with the topic you choose). You may highlight an issue of interest to you, develop a polemical argument, dispute the conclusions

an author draws from her/his data, relate course materials to your own lives, current events, etc. Try

to think speculatively, write creatively, and push to examine the implications of your argument in

order to develop a perspective of your own!

Title your essays: Come up with a title that emphasizes the main point(s) of your essay; i.e. do not simply use the formal title of whatever you've read.

Short guide to a strong essay:

Your goal is to develop an argument, which consists of the following components: a claim, reasoning

to support that claim, evidence to support it, conclusion about the claim.

--Try for a strong opening, the better to lure in the listener/reader.

--Briefly identify the work(s) and author(s) under discussion so we'll know what you're addressing (underline or italicize Book Titles, put quotations around "Article Titles").

--Support your argument with some examples from the text (or other relevant materials) to illustrate

what you mean to say.

--Situate particular statements or points from the book within the author's overall argument, as a way

of contextualizing your focus (i.e. avoid taking them out of context).

--Locate quotations (give page number; if unclear from context, give author and title).

--As a rule, put punctuation inside quotations: "xxxxxxx." "xxxxx," "xxxxx?"

--Do you make a point? Avoid leaving your listeners in confusion, or in so-what land.

--Push your analysis to exploring the implications of your argument (for exploring the politics of

racial and ethnic inequality, for understanding social policy or everyday life, etc.)

--Wrap up the end of your paper by tying it back in to your starting point. This serves to confirm

your thesis point and remind the reader of what you aimed to address, and shows how far your argument has taken you.