Ethnic Studies 001: Introduction to Race and Ethnicity. Summer 2015.
Take-Home Paper Assignment:
As Michael Omi and Howard Winant argue, “hegemony operates by including its subjects, incorporating its opposition,” yet white Americans have also maintained their advantages and privileges by excluding or segregating nonwhite others.
Question:
•How has race determined inclusion, exclusion, and segregation in U.S. society?
Answer the above question by constructing a clear thesis. The thesis equals your main claim or assertion, along with supporting claims that make the overall argument compelling. To substantiate your argument and defend your position, you must engage with the required readings by Tyner, Roediger, Martinez, Kelley, Macías, Menchaca & Valencia, and Sugrue, balancing your analysis and your voice with a mix of interwoven key quotes and paraphrasing.
You may cite the lectures and films and, to frame your analysis or provide historical context, you may also utilize earlier week’s readings and class material in addition to, but not in lieu of these readings. Do not use block quotes, do not use any sources from outside of this class, and do not refer to current events or personal experiences.
To answer the paper question, it may be helpful to consider the following: immigration; eugenics; ethnicity and assimilation; white identity and American culture; race and politics; social, educational, and residential segregation. Try to explain why fears of race mixing and cultural contamination determined--and how racial ideology justified--the inclusion of certain groups and the exclusion or separation of others. See also “Paper Assignment Suggestions” on
Blackboard, in the “Assignments” folder.
Technical Requirements/Formatting Directions:
You must utilize specific examples and quotes from the readings to develop your arguments.
Each reading, lecture, or film quoted or paraphrased must be cited in an endnote (at the end of the body of the text, not at the bottom of each page), ordered