POS 234
The Politics of Race and Ethnicity
Professor Ronald
Schmidt 126
Bedford Street
Spring 2007 780-4581
Office Hours: Tues
2:30-5 or by appointment
Email:
rschmidt@usm.maine.edu
Are American political institutions representative? This course provides students with the opportunity to examine this question by confronting the relationship between race, ethnicity and representation. What strategies of representation do racial and ethnic minorities employ? Are there barriers to the representation of minority interests? How are “race” and “ethnicity” represented in American politics? How are they represented in American culture? Is there such a thing as “race,” and why is it so crucial to American politics? We will be evaluating the readings and contemporary political topics with these questions in mind, and students will be required to participate in class discussion of the readings and their own research.
Students should be at work on their research papers before the midterm, and all paper topics will need to be cleared with the professor. A one or two paragraph proposal is due in class on March 22nd, but is not binding.
Grades will be determined as follows:
Midterm – March 20: 35%
Research Paper (15-20 pages) – May 8: 50%
Class Participation: 15%
The assigned reading is below.
The reading is available at the Portland Bookstore or Electronic Reserve
Latina Politics, Latino Politics: Gender, Culture, and Political Participation in Boston, Carol Hardy-Fanta (Temple University Press)
Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations, Charles Wilkinson (W.W. Norton)
Black Faces in the Mirror:
African Americans and their Representatives
In the U.S. Congress, Katherine Tate (Princeton University Press)
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison (Vintage Books)
The Making of Asian America through Political Participation, Pei-Te Lien (Temple University Press)
POS 234
Assignments
Course Introduction
January 16
January 18:
Federalist 10 (James Madison; Electronic Reserve)
Federalist 51 (James Madison; ER)
The Discourses on Davila (John Adams; ER)
January 23:
Notes on Virginia (Thomas Jefferson; ER)
The Souls of Black Folk, (W.E.B. DuBois; ER)
January 25:
“My Dungeon Shook” (James Baldwin; ER)
Race and American
Popular Culture
January 30:
Blackface/White Noise, (Michael Rogin; ER)
Representation and
Incorporation in the City
February 1:
Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, (William L. Riordan; ER)
February 6:
Protest Is Not Enough: The Struggle of Blacks and Hispanics for Equality in Urban Politics, (Rufus Browning et al; ER)
Politics in Black and White: Race and Power in Los Angeles, (Raphael
Sonenshein; ER)
February 8, 13:
Latina Politics, Latino Politics, Carol Hardy-Fanta
Minority Political
Empowerment: Protest
February 15:
“Letter from the Birmingham Jail” (Martin Luther King Jr.; ER)
“A Declaration of Independence” (Malcolm X; ER)
“The Ballot or the Bullet” (Malcolm X; ER)
February 20, 22:
Winter Vacation
February 27, March 1:
Blood Struggle, Charles Wilkinson
Legislation and
Litigation
March 6:
“The Voting Rights Act: A Brief History” (Chandler Davidson; ER)
“The Representation of Minority Interests” (Lani Guinier; ER)
Shaw v. Reno (ER)
March 8:
No class
March 13, 15:
Black Faces in
the Mirror , Katherine Tate
March 20
Research Paper
Conferences
March 22
Spring Break
March 27, 29
Identity and
Political Movements
April 3, 5:
Invisible
Man, Ralph Ellison
April 10:
Youth, Identity, Power: The Chicano Movement, excerpts (Carlos Muñoz;
ER)
“El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán” (ER)
April 12:
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, excerpts (Gloria Anzaldúa;
ER)
April 17:
The Politics of Recognition (Charles Taylor; ER)
April 19, 24:
The Making of Asian America through Political Participation,
Pei-Te Lien
Research Paper Outline Due
April 24:
Regents of Univ. of California v. Bakke (ER)
Grutter v. Bollinger (ER)
Michigan Proposition 2, 2006 (ER)
April 26:
The Content of Our Character (Shelby Steele; ER)
Hunger of Memory (Richard Rodriguez; ER)
May 3
May 8
Should you need services or accommodations due to a disability, please speak with me or contact the office of Academic Support for Students with Disabilities, LB 242.