Core
102-06 Spring 2002
JEB 002
Dale Graden
MWF 2:30-3:20
Dale's office is in Admin 305 A; telephone: 885-8956
Office hour: Monday 3:30-4:30 or by appointment
Email: Graden@uidaho.edu
Online: www.its.uidaho.edu/graden/
Mentor Molly Michaud's office is in Brink Hall 107; telephone: 885-6156
Office hours: MWF 8:30-10; T,Th 12:30-1:30, or by appointment
Email: Mich5900@uidaho.edu
Greetings and welcome. This course is part of a newly revised core curriculum at the University of Idaho. It is an attempt to offer to you an interdisciplinary approach to learning that helps you in your transition into the university. We seek to enhance your reading, writing, critical thinking and communication skills. We will read about and discuss several topics that will be helpful tools for you at the university and in your journey through life. The course in this spring semester focuses on three major themes: gender and sexuality, race and racism, and class and inequality. The three major themes from the fall semester, which included a sense of place, religion and family, will continue to play a role in our conversations and analysis.
We hope to make this one of the best courses you ever take. For that to happen, you need to attend the classes and do the readings. We devote lots of class time to discussion, so please come prepared to discuss the readings and share your ideas on the days noted as discussion. There are several writing requirements. Why you ask? Because the majority of students enter and depart from high schools, colleges and universities across the land unable to express themselves coherently on paper, in cyberspace, or verbally. Practice can help one to develop basic and more advanced writing skills.
The requirements for this core discovery course are as follows:
Five (5) two-page response papers. Three of these response papers are required (based on the films “Rabbit in the Moon” and “Norma Rae” and the play “The Laramie Project”) and are noted on the syllabus. You can choose two other events to attend during the semester and write a response paper to these. We will suggest upcoming events, speakers and films that you might want to select. Opportunities are also noted at the core discovery course web site http://www.its.uidaho.edu/cae. Please note to me your choice before you attend the event. It is wiser to attend the two events of your choice earlier rather than later in the semester. Each of these papers is worth eight points, for a total of forty points.
Two (2) quizzes on the dates noted. These are worth five points each, for a total of ten points.
Two (2) three-page essays due on the dates noted. These are worth fifteen points each, for a total of thirty points. The first three page essay is based on the novel The Tortilla Curtain and is due on March 27 (soon after your return from spring break). The second three page essay is based on your oral interview(s) and oral presentation, and is due on May 8 (see attached description). Each of you will make an oral presentation to the class based on the interviews. Please choose a date and let me know your choice by email. The open dates are noted in the syllabus (April 5, 12, 22, 26, 29; May 1,3,6,8)
One (1) final reflection essay written in class on May 10, the final day of the course. This essay will be worth ten points.
Participation, worth ten points. If you miss more than five meetings of the class, your grade final mark drops by one letter grade. Please let us know by email if you cannot attend a class for any reason. If you have not done so, please send me your email address via email. I will include you on my CAE 102-06 mailing list. Hopefully you will find some of the articles I send of interest.
We will discuss in class what we are looking for in the writing of the five response papers and the two short essays. My suggestion is that you be sure that after writing these assignments for the first time you return to them at least once before handing them in. Be sure not to submit anything that you have written without at least one, if not several, revisions. Please type these papers and essays in double space and hold them together with a staple in the upper left hand corner. I encourage you to visit the CAE website for some examples of CAE students’ response papers submitted in the past.
Readings and books available at the UI Bookstore:
Core Discovery 102 Packet
Virginia Cyrus, ed., Experiencing Race, Class, and Gender in the United States
Moises Kaufman, The Laramie Project
T.C. Boyle, The Tortilla Curtain
Week one: Images of women
Jan 14 Introduction
Jan 16 discussion of readings below
Mike Messner, “Ah, Ya Throw Like a Girl,” in course packet
Marge Piercy, “Barbie Doll,” online
Billy Collins, “Victoria’s Secret” and “Pinup” online
Diane Kobrynowicz, “The Automatic Nature of Stereotyping,” Cyrus # 27
Martha Burk and Kirsten Shaw, “How the Entertainment Industry Degrades Women,”
Cyrus # 71
Mary Beth Marklein, “Learning to Give Girls Equal Classroom Attention,” Cyrus # 72
Jan 18 discussion of readings
Melvin Urofsky, “Diane Joyce Makes a Phone Call” in course packet
Ellen J. Reifler, “Time Warp in the Toy Store,” Cyrus # 16
Janet Shibley Hyde, “How Women are Treated in Language,” Cyrus # 17
Week two: Images of men
Jan 21: no class, MLK Day
Jan 23 view the video “Dreamworlds 2”
Jan 25 discussion of readings
Uroksky, Diane Joyces Makes a Phone Call" in course packet
Stephen S. Hall, “The Bully in the Mirror”; available for a photocopy at
the Copy Center in Commons
Mark Edmundson, “Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do” in course packet
Doug Cooper Thompson, “The Male Role Stereotype,” Cyrus # 22
Andrew Kimbrell, “A Manifesto for Men,” Cyrus # 115
Scott Russell Sanders, “The Men We Carry in Our Minds,” Cyrus # 21
Week three: Gender sensitive education
Jan 28 discussion of reading
Rachels, “Ethics of Care” in course packet
Jan 30 Guest presentation by Jennifer Hixson, Outreach Coordinator for the Snake
River Alliance. Title is "Idaho's Water at Risk"
Feb 1 discussion of readings
“Roger and Elaine” on line
Marge Piercy, “Unlearning to not Speak” online
Deborah Tannen, “Asymmetries in Communication,” Cyrus # 26
Christina Hoff Sommers, “The War Again Boys,” online
Carol Gilligan, “Images of Relationship” in course packet
Week four: Gay Males, Lesbian Women, Homophobia, Sexism
Feb 4 discussion of readings
Suzanne Pharr, “Homophobia and Sexism,” Cyrus # 85
Randy Shilts, “What’s Fair in Love and War,” Cyrus # 87
National PTA and the Council on Interracial Books for Children, “Why CIBC is
Dealing with Homophobia,” Cyrus # 110
Robert A. Rhoads, “The Campus Climate for Gay Students,” Cyrus # 118
“Tolerance is a Prime-Time Fantasy,” online
Feb 6 discussion of readings
Katherine Marsh, “Coming Out on Fraternity Row” in course packet
Lindsy Van Gelder, “Mothers of Convention,” Cyrus # 86
Feb 8 discussion of
readings
Tony Kushner’s “Matthew’s Passion” and Judy Shepherd’s MTV announcement online
Week five: The Life of Matthew Shepherd
Feb 11 discussion of "The Laramie Project"
Please read "The Laramie Project" for our class meeting on Monday 11 Feb.
Feb 13 Required attendance of the play “The Laramie Project” on evening of 13th or 14th;
You
can purchase tickets with Kjelda in Admin 104 for two dollars. Please bring
exact change
and best to purchase the tickets in the morning.
Feb 15 "Page to Stage" discussion of "The Laramie Project" at 3 pm in Hartung
Theater.
Week six: Gay themes
Feb 18: no class, Presidents Day
Feb 20 Response paper number one is due based on “The Laramie Project” and discussion
Feb 22 view “It’s Elementary”
Week seven: Sexual harassment
Feb 25 View Frontline focusing on Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas
Kathleen Sharp, “Foul Play,” Cyrus # 73
Anita Hill, “The Nature of the Beast,” Cyrus # 76
Feb 27 discussion of readings
Bonnie Pfister, “Negotiating Passion on Campus,” Cyrus # 135
and Sharp, “Foul Play” and Hill, “The Nature of the Beast”
March 1 quiz
number two
Week
eight: Race and racism
March 4 Definitions
Terminology on power and race, Cyrus, pages 161-67
“A Definition of Racism” online; and highly recommended are various links online
at the CAE website, for example Center for the Study of White American Culture.
Stephen Jay Gould, “Ghosts of Bell Curves Past,” Cyrus # 62
Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Cyrus # 48
Evelyn Hu-DeHart, “Rethinking America,” Cyrus # 43
March 6 Evening showing of the film “Rabbit in the Moon”
March 8 Response paper number two is due and discussion of the film
Week nine: Immigration
March 11 discussion of readings
Friendly suggestion: You might want to begin reading The Tortilla Curtain
US Commission on Civil Rights, “Historical Discrimination in the Immigration Laws,”
Cyrus # 44
Southern Poverty Law Center, “Anti-Immigrant Violence,” Cyrus # 45
March 13 discussion of readings
Ana Guillén, “Traveling North: A Chronicle of an Undocumented Journey” in course packet
Pablo Morales and Clara E. Rodríguez, “Latinos and the ‘Other Race’: Transforming US Concepts of Race” in course packet
March 15 no class
Spring break: read The Tortilla Curtain
Week ten: Hispanic America
March 25 Intellectuals in South America and Mexico: Examples
March 27 What and where is Mexamerica? A discussion.
March 29 Guest visit by Raul Sanchez, special assistant to the president for diversity and human rights
And please do the following readings:
Elizabeth Martinez,
“Seeing More Than Black and White,” Cyrus # 56
“Para Theresa” online
Celia Alvarez, “El Hilo Que Nos Une/The Thread that Binds Us: Becoming a
Puerto Rican Woman,” Cyrus # 5
Judith Ortiz Cofer, “I was Merely a Character in His Cartoon-Populated Universe,”
Cyrus # 57
Week eleven: Africa America
April 1 Essay number one is due on The Tortilla Curtain and discussion of the novel
April 3 discussion of readings; view segment from “Eyes on the Prize”
Benjamin Quarles, “`Jim Crow’ Law,” Cyrus # 61
Southern Poverty Law Center, “Emmett Louis Till, 1941-55,” Cyrus # 64
Anne Moody, “The Movement,” Cyrus # 127
Rita Dove, “The Enactment” and “Rosa” in course packet
Gary Smith, “Higher Education” in course packet
Adrienne Rich, “Frame” in course packet
Salim Mulwakkil, “Real Minority, Media Majority,” Cyrus # 67
Kyle Johnson, “As Media Furor Subsides, Jasper Sorts Out its Future,”
Cyrus # 65
April 5 The beginning: three individuals will present in class oral presentations
Week twelve: Class and inequality
April 8 Discussion of reading
Holly Sklar, “Imagine a Country,” Cyrus # 88
Celine-Marie Pascale, “Normalizing Povery,” Cyrus # 93
Mother Jones, “Victory at Arnot,” Cyrus # 123
César Chávez, “The Organizer’s Tale,” Cyrus # 124
Louise Palmer, “Workers Demand Rights,” Cyrus # 125
April 10 Discussion of readings
Marge Piercy, “The Fall,” Cyrus # 42
Janet Zandy, “Decloaking Class: Why Class Identity and Consciousness Count,”
Cyrus # 28
Gary Soto, “Looking for Work,” Cyrus # 29
Caffiline Allen, “First They Changed My Name…,” Cyrus # 35
View short video of Michael Moore, “Beat the Rich”
April 12 Three in class oral presentations
Week thirteen: Work
April 15 discussion of reading
Barbara Ehrenreich, "Evaluation," in course packet
17 Evening showing of the film “Norma Rae”
19 Response paper number three is due and discussion of “Norma Rae”
Week fourteen: Palestine
April 22 Three in class presentations
April 24 Three in class presentations
April 26 Three in class presentations
Week fifteen: Freedom of expression
Gerald Gunther, “Freedom for the Thought We Hate,” Cyrus # 121
Charles R. Lawrence III, “Acknowledging the Victims’ Cry,” Cyrus # 122
April 29 Three in class presentations
May 1 Three in class presentations
May 3 Three in class presentations
Week sixteen: Conclusions
May 6 Three in class presentations
May 8 Three in class presentations
Essay
number two based on the oral interview and in-class presentation is due
May 10 Final reflection essay in class
_____________________________________________
Oral History Interviews for Contemporary American Experience 102-06
Spring 2002
Each of you will make a 15 minute presentation to the class based on an oral interview or interviews. You will also write a 3 page paper based on the interview to be handed in. You might consider carrying out the interview over the December-January 2002 holiday break, during the early part of the spring semester, or over the spring break. The class presentations will commence the week after spring break and continue until the end of the semester. I will offer you dates to choose immediately after our return in January.
Choose a person whom you would like to interview. Last year’s CAE section primarily focused on three themes: World War II (1930s-1945), the Vietnam War (1950s-1975), and Mexican immigration to the US since the 1960s. Please let me know by email your choice of the person whom you plan to interview.
Suggestions:
When you have decided on the person to be interviewed and the topic, do some background research. Research prior to the interview allows you to be familiar with the background of the person you are interviewing. For example, if you are interviewing a Vietnam veteran, be sure that you have a sense of what happened in the Vietnam war, the war’s impact on the Vietnamese people and the US, and the geography of Vietnam. You can easily find lots of material on any of the suggested topics above or any other of your choosing by going to the library or going online. One student last year interviewed a woman who lived on a farm in Montana during the Depression in the 1930s. She read a couple of books and articles about what happened during the Depression, particularly in the West.
Second, when you meet the person, be sure that you are diplomatic and a good listener. Sensitive listening is probably the most important quality of an interviewer. It is not enough to listen—the narrator must know that you are listening. The best way to be a good listener is to care about what the narrator is saying to you. Speak clearly when posing your questions, and let the person respond to the question. It is most helpful if you can write down several questions before the interview so that you are prepared to ask specific questions. If you decide to interview more than one person, be sure to ask the same questions to all of the interviewees. If you find something particularly interesting, don’t hesitate to continue with your inquiries so that you can get the full sense of what the interviewee is describing.
A tape recorder is particularly helpful in carrying out an interview.
Usually the best results occur when you are able to interview one person at a time, alone in a quiet place.
If you would like to see some excellent oral histories, go to www.google.com and write in “oral history.” There you can choose among many sites that provide actual oral histories. You might want to write in also “Idaho Oral History Center” for other examples of on-going oral history research.
This project can be great fun and very interesting for everyone involved. Good luck.