ES/WS 390: GENDER AND RACE IN U.S. SOCIETY (E-Focus)
FALL 2009
ARCH 101A
T, Th 9 am to 10:15am

Dr. Monisha Das Gupta                                                                                  
George Hall 306
Ph: 956-2914
dasgupta@hawaii.edu

Office Hours: Th 3-5 pm, F 10 - 11 am and by appointment
For all updates on the syllabus see: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~dasgupta/ (The page can also be accessed through the Ethnic Studies Home Page)

Course Description:
This course looks at the interlinked social processes that make gender and race in the United States.  How have social relations like colonization, slavery, civil rights, and migration shaped social institutions like the courts, media, education, and health care?   How have people fought back against gender and racial subordination?  We examine particular historical contexts and contemporary issues to answer these questions. Thus, the entire course asks you to reflect on the ethics of building a society that is free of racial and gender discrimination. In doing, so we come to realize that concepts of race and gender change over time and that people do not experience their racial and gender identities apart from each other. Furthermore, one’s race and gender also send out messages about one’s sexuality and economic class.  Thus, the thematic units in the course build on each other to communicate that:
a) Experiences of gender and race are also mediated by the role of sexuality, class and nationality.  Therefore, a comprehensive vision of social justice must take into account the intersections of different types of social hierarchies.
b) This intersectional approach helps us place the contemporary experiences of different racial groups in historical context.

Contemporary Ethical Issues Focus
Most often we use a binary moral framework of “good” or “bad” to judge the contemporary social problems that face us.  Social problems, like racism and sexism, are multidimensional.  To understand the complex roots of these problems and to effectively address them, we need finer tools that are based in ethics, rather than morality, so that we can see that there are more than two opposite sides of an issue.   In this class, we will focus on the complexities of the ethical questions that each of the units raises, to learn how to develop appropriate ethical positions.  In doing so, we will learn how to bridge the gap between normativity (how society should be) and reality (the way society is).
Required Readings:
WS/ES 390 Reader is available at Professional Image, 2633 S. King St, 973-6599.

The following books are available at Revolution Books 2626 King Street, 944-3106.
1)    David Stannard.  2006. Honor Killing: Race, Rape, and Clarence Darrow's Spectacular Last Case. Penguin. [Stannard in Course Outline]

2)    Andrea Smith. 2005. Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide.  South End Press. [Smith in Course Outline]

3)    Nadia Kim. 2008. Imperial Citizens: Koreans and Race from Seoul to LA. Stanford University Press. [Kim in Course Outline]

Learning Objectives:
•    Identify the ethical issues embedded in race and gender relations in U.S. society
•    Evaluate the range of anti-racist and anti-sexist responses in order to arrive at ethical means of social action
•    Link historical events and issues to contemporary concerns; trace change over time in the ethical frameworks of antiracist and anti-sexist efforts
•    Think relationally across racial and gender groups
•    Become critical thinkers.  The course challenges you to move away from description to analysis by learning to ask “what,” “why,” “how” questions about the material.
•    Develop writing and oral presentation skills

Getting a major, minor or certificate in Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies:
Many of you have been taking Ethnic Studies or Women’s Studies courses that qualify you for a major, minor, or certificate in these fields.  ES/WS 390 fulfills Ethnic Studies’ course requirements in Category C and Women’s Studies’ requirement of coursework with a focus on gender, race and ethnicity in transnational perspective.  To learn how to get a major, minor, or certificate in Ethnic Studies go to the Ethnic Studies Academic Programs webpage and contact Prof. Ibrahim Aoude at aoude@hawaii.edu or at 956-4000. For Women’s Studies, go to Women’s Studies Degrees webpage and contact Prof. Kathy Ferguson at kferguso@hawaii.edu or at 956-6933.

Assignments and Grade Distribution (Total=100)
Weeks 2-15: Weekly Assignments:    10 points
10/6 : Mid Term                               20 points
11/5: Gender Violence paper             10 points
12/1: Movie Review                          10 points
Oral Group Presentations                  10 points
12/14: Research Paper                      30 points
Participation                                     10 points

Course Requirements:
Attendance:
Attendance is mandatory.  You are not supposed to be anywhere else during the scheduled class period.  An attendance sheet will be passed around at the beginning of class.  You cannot sign the sheet if you come in late.  Early departures or coming late to class — unless by permission — will be considered as absences.  You are allowed two unpenalized absence during the semester (this amounts to a week’s worth of class) but in all cases of absence, you need to inform me via e-mail.  I reserve the right to fail a student whose attendance is irregular.  Please understand that if you are absent then you obviously cannot participate in class.  Your absences will be reflected in the grade you receive for participation.

Participation:
Speaking and active listening in class counts for participation.  The success of this E focus class depends on honest and respectful discussion that engages with the ideas presented in the readings, lectures, videos, and by your classmates.  The grade of students who do not participate in class discussion will automatically drop to a “B.”  If you have problems speaking in a classroom setting, please talk to me about it.

Readings:
You must come to class having done the assigned reading.  You cannot participate in class discussions or do the weekly assignments without doing the readings.  This is an upper level class.  In taking it, you are making a commitment to come to class prepared.  Please bring the readings we are covering on a particular day (books or reader or both) to class.

Writing:
All written work for this course needs to be word-processed, grammatical, free of spelling errors, and well-organized.  All direct quotations taken from the readings must be cited.  A paper that does not cite direct quotes taken from the readings by author and page number or that inadequately paraphrases the readings will receive an "F."
Weekly assignments (15%):  You will submit a response (max 1 page) to the readings and an overall discussion question for the weeks marked in the Course Outline.  The response must cover all the weekly readings and must reflect critical thinking.  It should not be a summary of the readings. You will end the assignment with a “why/how/what” question on the overall themes of the readings. There are no make-ups for discussion questions and questions submitted by e-mail or dropped off by a friend are not acceptable. See the online syllabus for guidelines on doing this assignment.
Mid Term (15%):  I will set essay questions based on the material covered in class for your midterm.  The midterm will be an open book take home. You will be allowed to consult the relevant texts and class notes to answer the questions. You will need to cite all your sources and ideas.
Movie Review (10%):  I will provide you with a list of movies from which you will select one and write a review using the analytical tools used in the course.
Research Paper (30%):  I will provide a list of suggested topics.  Students need to meet with me during my office hours to discuss their research project at least twice during the semester.  The research project will be based on primarily on library research and scholarly sources.  On the 4th week of class you will submit a research topic and a list of books, scholarly, articles, and web resources.  You will work systematically on the project for the rest of the semester.  This means reading the books and articles you have listed for your project and taking notes on them, doing your interviews, collecting archival material, watching and taking notes on shows or movies.  There are no extensions on the research paper deadline.
Group Exercise (10 points):
Each student will sign up for one of the topics listed below to formulate group exercises that will allow students to deliberate on the range of ethical positions that one can take on the topic.  The topics are based on the materials you will be covering in class. The leaders in charge of the topic will need to ensure that a) students discuss the ethical dilemmas and arrive at ways to address them; b) everyone present gets an opportunity to participate in discussions and share their ideas.  See online syllabus for guidelines and resources for this assignment.
•    Moral Panics: Media, Public Opinion and the Rule of Law in the Massie Case
•    Reproductive Choice, Reproductive Rights
•    Gender and Culture
•    Cultural Appropriation, Cultural Appreciation
•    Imperial Subjects/Global Citizens:  Koreans in Seoul and LA

Extra credit: (4 credits per semester)
You can earn extra credit by attending a maximum of four events on campus that I will announce in class or post on this page.  To get credit you need to submit short write up within a week of the event.  The write-up should explain the event and your response to it, including a question you asked or wanted to ask.

Policies:
Late papers:
All assignments are due at the beginning of the class. The dates on which the papers are due are firm deadlines.  You will lose 1/3 of a grade for every day that an assignment is late.  For eg., if you submit a A- paper a day late, the grade will be scaled down to a B+.

Absences:
Attendance is mandatory.

Academic honesty:
Any infraction of codes of academic honesty will lead to sanctions from the instructor. You will receive a failing grade if you copy or submit other people's work, or do not properly attribute ideas that are not original to you. Please read Section H of Impermissible Behavior of the Student Conduct Code for familiarizing yourself with what constitutes academic dishonesty http://www.hawaii.edu/student/conduct/imper.html.  See also http://studentaffairs.manoa.hawaii.edu/policies/ to understand the working of the Academic Grievance Procedure.

Course Outline:
Unit I: Core Concepts
Week 1
8/25: Introductions;
8/27: AAA Statement (Download); Lorber, “Social construction of gender” (Download)

Week 2
•    9/3: Weekly assignment #1: In your own words, briefly explain racialization and intersectionality.  Why does Lipsitz use "possessive investment" to talk about Whiteness?
9/1: Omi and Winant, “Racial Formation” (Reader); Zinn and Dill, “Theorizing Difference from Multiracial feminism” (Reader)
9/3: Okihiro “Is Yellow Black or White?” (Reader); Lipsitz, “Bill Moore’s Body” and “The Possessive Investment in Whiteness” (Reader)

Week 3
•    9/10 Weekly assignment #2: How do race and ethnicity come together in "cultural racism" and what examples of cultural racism do you see in McIntosh's list.  Breifly comment on Giroux's argument that we don't yet live in a post-racial society in the U.S.
9/8: Pierre, “Black Immigrants in the United States and Cultural Narratives of Ethnicity” (Download)
9/10: McIntosh, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” (Reader); Giroux, “Youth and the Myth of a Post-Racial Society Under Barack Obama” (Download)

Unit II: Honor Killing: Race, Masculinity, and Femininity
Week 4
•    9/17 Weekly assignment #3:  With an example taken from Honor Killing show how either U.S. military presence or tourism was racializing military personnel based in Hawai’i, Native Hawaiians, and Asian immigrants.  In your discussion, mark how class, status, and gender play into the ways in which these groups are racialized.
Why is it important to pay attention to racial coding and racial violence when thinking about gender violence?  At what moment, according to Angela Davis, did the myth of the black rapist emerge?
 •    Research topic and list of references due
9/15: Stannard, Chs 1-6
9/17: Stannard Chs 6-10; Davis, “Race Racism and the Myth of the Black Rapist” (Reader)

Week 5
•    9/24 Weekly assignment # 4: How does the escalated portrayal of Hawai’i as a dangerous place simmering with racial tensions even after the hung jury in the first trial, and the lynching of Joe Kahahawai help you unpack a moral panic?
9/22: Stannard: Chs 11-15
9/24: Stannard: Chs 16-21, Yamanaka, “Kala gave me anykine advice” (Reader)
Videos: Impact of Massie Case and excerpts from Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai'i
RESOURCES:  Prisons:  Chesney-Lind and Brown, Hawaii incarceration rates
UARC:  Manoa Faculty Senate on UARC , President McClain's recommendations on UARC (Feb 2006), Prof Ruth Dawson on Ethics of UARC,
Keever, UARC and Agent Orange, Ethnic Studies Statement on UARC,  DMZ Hawaii Flyer
Stryker Brigade: McAvoy, Army to Keep Stryker Brigade in Hawaii,  DMZ Hawaii, Aloha 'Aina, Stop the Strykers,  DMZ Hawaii, Militarized Sites in Hawai'i

Week 6
•    10/1 Weekly assignment # 5:  Why is the Massie case seen as a critical turning point in Hawai'i's history?  After learning about the case, does your understanding of "local" identity change?
•    10/1 Group Exercise: Moral Panics
9/29: Stannard, 22-28
10/1:  Review Stannard

Unit III: Violence against Women and Sexual Economies
Week 7
• 10/6 Mid Term due in class 10/6 (20 pts) 
10/6: Smith, Chs 1
10/8: Smith, Ch 2; Adrienne Davis, “’Don’t let nobody bother yo’ principle,’” (Reader);
Video: No!

Week 8
10/13:  Smith, Ch 3 and 4
10/15:  Smith, Ch 5, Roberts, “The Dark Side of Birth Control”

Week 9
10/22 Group Exercise: Reproductive Choice, Reproductive Rights
10/20: “From Norplant to Contraceptive Vaccines” (Reader); Chavez, “Latina Sexuality, Reproduction, and Fertility as Threats” (Reader); Making Contact on National Radio Project, “Guard us All?” (Download)
10/22:  Smith, Ch 8

Week 10
10/27: Rudrappa, “Finding our Home in the World” (Reader); Smith Ch 7
10/29: Rudrappa, “Madness, Diasporic Difference, and State Violence: Explaining Filicide in American Courts” (Download)

Unit IV: Transnational Contours of Empire
Week 11
•    11/5 Short Essay on Gender Violence  (10 points)
•    11/5 Weekly Assignment # 6
11/3:  Review; MacFarquhar, Abused Muslim Women in US Gain Advocates (download; emailed article)
11/5: David and Ayouby, “Studying the Exotic Other in the Classroom” (download) 
Video: Under One Sky: Arab Women in North America Talk about the Hijab

Week 12
•    11/12 Weekly Assignment # 7
•    11/12 Group Exercise: Gender and Culture
11/10:  Said, “Orientalism” (Reader); Kim, Ch 1 pp. 1-19
11/12:  Kim, Ch 2

Week 13
•    11/19 Weekly assignment # 8
•    11/19 Group Exercise: Cultural Imperialism, Cultural Appropriation, Cultural Appreciation
11/17: Kim, Ch 3
11/ 19: Kim Ch 4

Week 14
•    11/24 Weekly assignment # 9
11/24: Kim, Ch 5
11/26: THANKSGIVING BREAK: Work on Research Paper and keep up with Kim readings

Week 15
•    12/1: Movie Review due in class (10 points) +  1 para thesis (argument) for research paper
•    12/3 Weekly assignment #10
12/1: Kim, Ch 7
12/ 3: Kim Ch 8

Week 16
•    12/8 Group Exercise: Imperial Subjects/Global Citizens
•    12/10  Xtra Credit Weekly Assignment (2 points)
12/8:  Ch 9
12/10: Last Thoughts

RESEARCH PAPER (30 pts) DUE ON 12/14 (M), GEORGE HALL 301, 3PM
* This syllabus is subject to minor changes