SOCY 3171: Whiteness Studies
Fall 2006
Summer Woo
Email:
Summer.Woo@colorado.edu
Office:
Ketchum 35
Office
Hours: M/W 11-12 and by appointment
Lecture: MWF 12-12:50
Humanities 1B80
Required Course Books:
1. Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. Racism Without Racists. Rowman and
Littlefield, 2003.
2. Hitchcock, Jeff.
Lifting the
White Veil. Crandall, Dostie
& Douglass Books, Inc., 2002.
3. Rothenberg, Paula S. White
Privilege: Essential
* There will also be additional readings either posted
on e-reserve or handed out in class.
Description:
After reviewing the basic
sociological concepts for studying race and ethnicity, we will explore whiteness
studies by looking at white racial identity and its impact on American
society. Viewing whiteness as a social
constructed racial category, we will explore how white racial identity is
constructed and developed and how it is similar to and different than other
racial identities. We will also explore
the impact of white privilege on whites and people of color, and how social
structure informs and shapes white identity.
How social structure impacts whiteness will be investigated as
well. The methodology we will use is
experiential and ethnographic as we explore important personal and social
issues, using a critical scholarship to understand and analyze them. You will not be a passive recipient of
knowledge in this class, because you will be expected to participate in
in-depth study, lively discussions, written and oral assignments, and
individual and group assignments. I hope
that you will leave this course able to think critically about race, to
understand whiteness studies, and to use your sociological imagination.
Participation and Attendance
Participation and attendance are mandatory and
imperative to your grade. Attendance
will be randomly taken throughout the semester.
It is your responsibility to make sure you sign the attendance sheet. Students are expected to come to class
prepared to discuss course materials, answer questions, and complete all
assignments. Please come to class on
time. If you are habitually tardy, you
will be asked to stop coming to class unless you can arrive on time.
You are expected to behave as adults
and will be treated as adults. This
means taking responsibility for yourselves, saving
conversations that do not pertain to the material being discusses until after
class, putting away the newspaper, and staying awake. Additionally, we will be covering some very
controversial issues this semester and I expect you to discuss and debate these
issues with respect to all opinions, perspectives, and people. Hate speech will not be tolerated under
any circumstances.
Grade
Breakdown:
Grades will be determined based on
attendance, participation, in-class assignments, papers, exams and other
projects as assigned. Your grade will be
divided into the following categories:
1. Attendance and Participation 50 points
total. Attendance will be taken randomly
throughout the semester. You are given 2
freebies, which you can use for any reason.
You will lose 5 points from your attendance/participation grade for each
additional absence, no matter what the reason.
In addition, I do not accept late assignments or give make-up
assignments. Therefore, if you know you
are going to miss class, be sure to contact me BEFORE class to ensure you turn
in any assignments that are due or get homework for the next class. If you do not like to talk in class, you may
contact me with questions or attend office hours to earn additional
participation points.
2. Exams 50 points each. There will be three in-class examinations
throughout the semester.
3. Papers 50 points each. There will be two experiential papers (5-7 pages each) assigned over the course of the semester.
4. In-class assignments 10 points each. Throughout the semester there will be a variety of assignments to be completed during the class period.
Grade Disagreements:
If you do not agree with a grade you received, write up to a page explaining why you feel this way and turn it in to me with the assignment within a week of when it was returned to you. I will then re-grade the entire assignment. I will not change a grade after this week.
Disabilities:
If you qualify for accommodations
because of a disability, please submit to
me a letter from Disability
Services in a timely manner so that your needs may
be addressed.
Disability Services determines accommodations based on
documented disabilities. (303-492-8671,
Willard 322, www.colorado.edu/
disabilityservices)
Religious
Services and Holidays:
Campus policy regarding religious
observance requires the faculty to make every effort to reasonably and fairly
deal with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts
with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. In this class, please inform me before
the event or holiday and I will accommodate you. If you inform me after the event of holiday,
I will not accommodate you. Students can
see full details of this policy at www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html.
Classroom
Behavior:
Students and faculty each have a
responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Students who fail to adhere to behavioral
standards may be subject to discipline. Faculty have the responsibility to treat students with
understanding, respect and dignity, to guide classroom discussion, and to set
reasonable limits on the manner in which students express opinions.
There are topics in this class that
are controversial, medially oriented and occasionally personal and
graphic. Please understand that my
intent is to provide information, not to influence your opinions, or make
outrageous statements or assertions.
Every opinion is treated with respect and your right to hold that
opinion is protected.
Honor
Code/Plagiarism:
If you are caught cheating or
plagiarizing, you will receive a failing grade and punished according to
university guidelines. When requested,
students must sign the honor code for any written work: On my honor, as a
a) cheating
b) plagiarism (document sources very carefully and rigorously)
c) aiding others in academic dishonesty
d) fabrication and lying
e) bribery
f) threatening behavior
All
incidents of academic misconduct will be reported to the Honor Code
Council. If you are found to be in
violation of University policy, you will be subject to sanctions from the
instructor and the University, including but not limited to probation,
expulsion and suspension. The Honor code
can be found at www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html.
Sexual
Harassment:
The
Reading Schedule:
Week
1: Introduction
August 28 First day of class
August 30 Steinhorn
and Diggs-Brown, The Integration Illusion
(e-reserve)
September 1 Steinhorn
and Diggs-Brown, What Keeps Us Apart (e-reserve)
Week
2: What Will It Take?
September 4 No class, Labor Day
September 6 Hitchcock, ch. 2 What Will It
Take to Create a Multiracial Society
September 8 no reading
Week
3: The Beginnings of Whiteness
September 11 Hitchcock, ch. 3 Remedial
Education for White Folk
September 13 Hitchcock, ch. 5 How Did It All
Begin?
September 15 no reading
Week
4: Colorblind Racism
September 18 Dyer (in Rothenberg),
The Power of Invisibility
September 20 no reading
September 22 Bonilla-Silva, ch. 1-2
Week
5: Colorblind Racism II
September 25 Bonilla-Silva, ch. 3-4
September 27 Bonilla-Silva, ch. 5
September 29 Frankenberg
(e-reserve), Whiteness and Americanness
Week
6: How Whites Became White
October 2 Exam 1
October 4 no reading
October 6 Barrett and Roediger (in Rothenberg), How White People Became White
Week
7: Whiteness in American culture
October 9 Brodkin
(in Rothenberg), How Jews Became White
Folks
October 11 Hitchcock, ch. 6 Looking at
White American Culture
October 13 Paper 1 due
Week
8: Identity and Experience
October 16 Hitchcock, ch. 7 Inside the White Experience
October 18 Helms (e-reserve), Development of White Racial Identity
October 20 Jensen (in Rothenberg),
White Privilege Shapes the
Week
9: Whiteness and the Media
October 23 hooks (in Rothenberg), Representation of Whiteness in the Black Imagination
October 25 Steinhorn
and Diggs-Brown (e-reserve), Virtual
Integration
October 27 Katz (e-reserve), Advertising and the Construction of Violent
White
Masculinity
Week
10: Transparency
October 30 Exam 2
November 1 Wildman and
Visible
November 3 McIntosh (in
Rothenberg), White Privilege: Unpacking
the Invisible Knapsack
Week
11: The Structure of Whiteness
November 6 Lipsitz
(in Rothenberg), The Possessive Investment of Whiteness
Sacks (e-reserve), A Room Without a View
November 8 Class Canceled
November 10 Brown (e-reserve), Of Fish and Water
Alderman (e-reserve), A Long History of Racial Preferences
Week
12: Toward a Multiracial Society
November 13 Bonilla-Silva, ch. 8
November 15 No reading
November 17 Hitchcock, ch. 10 Moving Toward
a Multiracial Future
Week
13: NO CLASS Thanksgiving Break
Week
14: Integration
November 27 Steinhorn
and Diggs-Brown (e-reserve), Can
Integration Work?
November 29 Ignatiev
(e-reserve), Treason to Whiteness is
Loyalty to Humanity
December 1 Mahoney (e-reserve), Segregation, Whiteness and Transformation
Week
15: Toward a Multiracial Society II
December 4 Brown (e-reserve), Facing Up to Race
December 6 Feagin
et al., pp. 240-253
December 8 no reading
Week
16: Wrap Up
December 11 Paper 2 due
December 13 - Steinhorn
and Diggs-Brown (e-reserve), Toward a
More Racially Honest America
December 15 no reading