APA Committees

Theories of Race

Dr. Shannon Winnubst
Office: RAC 105
Office Hours:Mondays 3:30-5:00, Tuesdays 4:00-5:00, Wednesdays 3:30-4:30, Also by appointment
863-1964
winnubss@southwestern.edu

Theories of Race
18-253 or 04-253
Fall 2002

Nor is my invisibility exactly a matter of biochemical accident to my epidermis. That invisibility to which I refer occurs because of a particular disposition of the eyes of those with whom I come in contact. A matter of the construction of their inner eyes, those eyes
with which they look through their physical eyes upon reality. -- Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Course Objective:
This course will undertake a genealogy of our contemporary concepts of "race" in the United States. Returning to contexts of 19th century science and colonialism, we will re-visit the longstanding contact of our concept of race with concepts of biology and nationalism. We will then move into the 20th century and raise questions about the dichotomous logic of black/white; how we can begin to mark whiteness as a race, thereby de-centering it and de-stabilizing the logic of racism; what this black/white logic means for 'other' races; and the roles of sexuality, class and gender in contemporary uses of "race."
Some fundamental assumptions of the course are: that we live in a racist culture; that our cultural concepts of race are deeply connected to this cultural racism and often nurture its persistence; and, lastly, that each of us involved in this course is interested in this nexus of ideas and its material, social and political implications.

Required Texts:
The Racial Contract, Charles W. Mills (Cornell UP: 1997)
Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White, ed. David R. Roediger (Schocken: 1998)
Displacing Whiteness: Essays in Social and Cultural Criticism, ed. Ruth Frankenberg (Duke UP: 1997)
Native Son, Richard Wright (Perennial Classics: 1998)
"Theories of Race" Course Reader

Course Requirements:
3-5 Page Paper on Sections I -- 15%
3-5 Page Paper on Section II -- 15%
4-6 Page Paper on Sections III -- 20%
1 Page Final Project Proposal -- 5% (all/nothing)
6-8 Page Final Paper -- 25%
Class Participation -- 20%
(Class participation requires attentive speaking and listening. The aim of the seminar is to carry on a semester-long dialogue, not a series of monologues. If you attend class regularly but do not enter the seminar's dialogue, you will receive a "C+" for participation. Missing more than three classes will also lower your participation grade incrementally. Please see me if the idea of speaking in class shoots terror through your veins.)
**Due dates for all assignments are listed on schedule below. Late papers will be penalized 2 points/day.

Honor Code
While there are no exams in this class and you are encouraged to discuss the class with your peers, there should not be any serious problems with Southwestern's Honor Code. However, be sure to give credit to peer editors and to cite sources clearly and appropriately with a consistent documentation style and bibliography. Double-submission of papers is an infringement of the Code. If you have comments about the Honor Code, feel free to raise them in class.

Religious Holidays
There are several religious holidays throughout the semester. While I have not noted them on the syllabus, I am quite happy to re-arrange due-dates if they conflict with any religious holiday that a student may be celebrating. Please see me regarding such dates early in the semester.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Southwestern University will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Students should register with the Office of Academic Services, located in Mood-Bridwell room 311. Professors must be officially notified by the Academic Services Coordinator that documentation is on file at least two weeks before the accommodation is needed.

Schedule of Readings & Assignments:

AUGUST
26 - opening discussion of race & racism
28 - still no class… (was I ever sick!)

SEPTEMBER
2 - Labor Day Holiday
4 - Bell, "Introduction: Divining Our Racial Themes" - reader
hooks, "Beloved Community" - reader

Section I: Genealogies of Race: Science, Biology and Social Construction
9 - Foucault, "Nietzsche, Genealogy, History" - reader
11 - Bernal, "Black Athena: Hostilities to Egypt in the 18th Century"-reader
16 - Gould, "American Polygeny & Craniometry before Darwin: Blacks
and Indians as Separate, Inferior Species" - reader
17 - Hall, "Race, The Floating Signifier" - video [place/time TBA]
18 - discussion of Hall
20 *** 3-5 Page Paper on Sections I due by 2:00 outside my office door

Section II: Colonialism & Nationalism
23 - Fanon, "The Fact of Blackness" - reader
25 - Sandoval, "Theorizing White Consciousness for a Post-Empire World:
Barthes, Fanon, and the Rhetoric of Love" - Displacing Whiteness
30 - Mills, The Racial Contract, pp.1-18

OCTOBER
2 - Mills, 19-40
7 - Mills, 41-62
9 - Mills, 62-89
11 *** 3-5 Page Paper on Section II due by 2:00 outside my office door
14 - Fall Break

Section III: Black/White? - Marking and Decentering Whiteness
16 - Gordon, "Introduction: Her Majesty's Other Children" - reader
Moore, "Check the Box that Best Describes You" - reader
21 - Brown, "Old Lem (1939)" - Black on White
Ellison, "A Party Down at the Square (Undated, circa 1940)" - Black on White
hooks, "Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination" - DW
23 - Dyer, "The Matter of Whiteness" - reader
28 - Dyer, "The Matter of Whiteness"
30 - Frankenberg, "Introduction: Local Whiteness, Localizing Whiteness" - DW

NOVEMBER
4 - Wright, Native Son, Book One
6 - Native Son, Book One
11 - Native Son, Book Two
13 - Native Son, Book Two
18 *** 4-6 Page Paper on Section III due in class

NOVEMBER
Section IV: Race, Sexuality, Class
18 - hooks, "Reflections on Race and Sex" - reader
Miles, "Body Badges: Race and Sex" - reader
[recommended: Marlon Riggs, Black Is . . . Black Ain't -video, on reserve]
20 - Zack, "The American Sexualization of Race" - reader
Badwin, Going to Meet the Man (excerpt) - Black on White
25 - Gilman, "I'm Down on Whores: Race and Gender in Victorian
London"-reader
26 - 1 page proposal for final paper due by 4:00 outside my office door
27 - Thanksgiving Break

DECEMBER
2 - Moraga, "A Long Line of Vendidas" - reader
Anzaldùa, "La Consciencia de la mestiza," - reader
Alcoff, "Mestizo Identity" - reader
4 - hooks, "Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical Openness" - reader
course evaluations/final discussions

Final papers due December 10th by 6:00 p.m. outside my office door.