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Hewlett Syllabus |
Tracy Sharpley-Whiting and Todd Franklin: Race Matters
SOPH 215S: The course will assess whether, how much, and why race influences education, economic trends, politics and culture. Special attention to general intellectual and cultural trends, as well as to the hard politics of welfare reform, affirmative action, the criminal justice system, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the ways in which race informs and shapes such policies and politics. May count toward concentration in Africana studies.Syllabus:
[NB: Appendix was omitted. Contact Kirkland Project for access to appendix.]
Course Description: The course will assess why and how much race bears on personal and social identity, and influences education, economic trends, politics, culture and broader social relations. Special attention is devoted to general intellectual and cultural manifestations of the significance of race as well as the ways in which race informs and shapes the hard politics of welfare reform, affirmative action, the criminal justice system and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Course Requirements and Expectations: Generally, each student must make a commitment to prepare all reading assignments faithfully and to PARTICIPATE in class discussions. Such participation means LISTENING AND SPEAKING with respect and civility.
The reading required for this course is heavy. We expect you to have enough respect for this course and for your classmates that you will DO the reading conscientiously and thoughtfully. We expect that you will remember that this course meets only once a week and completing assignments MUST be a priority.
Many of the readings deal with controversial issues which may prove difficult to discuss. These include race, gender, class, sexuality, and white supremacy. Undoubtedly at various points in the course, each of us will feel upset, discouraged, angry, distraught, and guilty about issues raised in course texts and discussions. If we are brave enough, if we are willing enough to take the risks, we will engage in difficult, transformative discussions. Naturally you are expected to treat each other and us with respect and compassion.
More specific requirements are:
Participation in discussions 15%
Midterm Exam 35%
Final Paper 30%
Group Debate Project/
Presentation 20%
TOTAL 100%
Attendance Policy: Absences in excess of two (2) will result in the lowering of your grade by one letter; two late arrivals to class or failure to complete assignments will equal one absence.
Required Texts:
James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room (Delta/Random)
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (Random)
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (Grove)
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (Perennial/Harper)
Alain Locke, The New Negro (Simon and Schuster)
Glenn Loury, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality (Harvard U Press)
Richard Poe, Black Spark, White Fire: Did African Explorers Civilize Ancient Europe?
(Prima Publishing)
Rebecca Walker, Black, White, Jewish (Riverhead/Putnam)
Films:Isaac Julien, “Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask”;
Martin Luther King, Jr., “The Other America”
Articles on Electronic Reserve at Burke Library
NB You must bring a hard copy of ALL electronic reserve readings to class on the day when we discuss them.
Carla Kaplan, “Foreword, “Introduction” and “De Talkin' Game”, 35-53 in Zora Neale Hurston, "A Life in Letters”
Siobhan B. Somerville, Queer to Myself as I am to You” and “Conclusion” in Queering the Color Line: Race and the Invention of Homosexuality in American Culture
Catherine McKinley, The Book of Sarahs: A Family in Parts, 31-103
Tracy D. Sharpley-Whiting, Frantz Fanon: Conflicts and Feminism, Introduction and Chapter 1.
ASSIGNMENTS
**Hamilton College makes every effort to accommodate students with disabilities. Please see your professors privately so that you can be referred to the Dean’s Office (Nancy Thompson) on this matter. You will need to provide documentation to the Dean’s Office.
Video assignments will be done IN CLASS. All reading should be prepared FOR the date given. All Reading Assignments are required. Hard copies of readings on electronic reserve MUST be brought to class.
Every student will submit to her/his section instructor ONE question designed to stimulate discussion about the assigned reading. This question MUST be submitted to your instructor via e-mail by 9:00AM on Tuesdays. Failure to do so will count as one class absence (see attendance policy.)
The name(s) of the faculty facilitator for each class session appears in parentheses.
Week 1 Overview of syllabus; introduction to course; Introduction
to Frantz Fanon (Franklin, Haley, Sharpley-Whiting)
Film: “Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask”
Week 2 Reading and Discussion (Franklin, Haley, Sharpley-Whiting):
Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth; supplemental reading: Sharpley-
Whiting, Introduction and Chapter 1, Frantz Fanon: Conflicts and
Feminism (Electronic Reserve)
Week 3 Reading and Discussion (Franklin, Haley, Sharpley-Whiting):
Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God; supplemental reading: Carla
Kaplan, “Foreword, “Introduction” and “De Talkin' Game”, 35-53 in
Zora Neale Hurston, "A Life in Letters” (Electronic Reserve)
Week 4 Reading and Discussion (Franklin, Haley, Sharpley-
Whiting): Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room; supplemental reading:
Somerville, “Queer to Myself as I am to You” and “Conclusion”
(Electronic Reserve)
Week 5 Reading and Discussion (Haley): Walker, Black White Jewish;
Supplemental Reading: McKinley, The Book of Sarahs: A Family in Parts, 31-103 (Electronic Reserve)
Week 6 Reading and Discussion (Franklin): Ellison, Invisible Man; Midterm
overview
Week 7 Midterm Examination (In class): KJ220
Week 8 Reading and Discussion (Sharpley-Whiting): Loury, Anatomy of
Racial Inequality
Week 9 Overview of Midterm (Sharpley-Whiting); Viewing and
Discussion: “Martin Luther King: ‘The Other America’”;
Final Paper Questions
Week 10 Reading and Discussion (Haley): Poe, Black Spark, White
Fire
Week 11 Reading and Discussion (Franklin): Locke, The New Negro;
Outline of final paper topics due
Week 12 Groups 1-3 meet with assigned Professors to discuss final
papers and group debate preparation (Each Professor will
inform her/his group where to meet)
Week 13 In class Group Project Presentations
Week 14 Final Papers due at 1:00 P.M.;
National Mock Book Award Presentation Panel/Debate, Events
Barn, *****4:30-6:30pm******
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