UCLA Sociology 154 Race and Ethnicity in Comparative Perspective Spring 2003 Tues Thurs 12 30 1 45 MS 5200 Professor Mara Loveman Office Haines A58d Office Hours by appointment mloveman ucla edu Teaching Assistant Liana Grancea Office Haines A54 Office Hours Thursdays 2 00 4 00 Discussion Sections 1A Tues 2 00 2 50 Rolfe 3105 1B Tues 5 00 5 50 Haines A82 1C Thurs 4 00 4 50 Royce 160 COURSE DESCRIPTION This course is an introduction to the sociological study of race and ethnicity in comparative perspective This is not a course about the experiences of particular races or ethnic groups in any particular part of the world Rather this is a course about how the idea that human beings come naturally partitioned into races or ethnic groups took hold in different parts of the world in different ways and with different consequences for those considered to be members of such groups The United States will be considered as one case alongside others A major objective of the course is to encourage students to think critically about the historical and contemporary meanings of race and ethnicity in the United States through comparison with the operation of race ethnicity as principles of social division in other times and places The course in divided into three parts The first part weeks 1 3 introduces basic concepts and ideas that will enable you to critically engage the material presented in the rest of the course The issues covered in part I of the course include the social historical and political construction of race and ethnicity vs their apparent reality as biological facts the distinction between everyday commonsense notions of race and ethnicity and their use as analytical concepts in the social sciences problems of conceptual travelling using concepts rooted in the historical experience of one time and place to analyze other times and places and an introduction to some general mechanisms of ethnoracial group formation such as categorization social closure and political mobilization The second part of the course weeks 4 6 focuses in depth on the historical construction of racial boundaries in three different countries the United States Brazil and Cuba We will discuss the different logics of racial classification that crystallized in each country at different points in time And we will consider the implications of these differences for contemporary racial politics in each context 1 The final part of the course will focus on contemporary antiracist struggles in comparative perspective focusing especially on the United States Brazil and Cuba We will consider how the distinct social and political histories of each country inform contemporary efforts to combat ethnoracial prejudice and discrimination Through reading and in class discussions we will consider similarities and differences in the politics of multiculturalism and affirmative action in each context REQUIREMENTS The single most important requirement of this course is that you approach the reading lectures and discussions with an open mind The material covered in this course may challenge many of you think about the seemingly familiar phenomena of race and ethnicity in new ways You do not have to agree with everything you read in this class But you will be expected to take the arguments and ideas of the authors you read seriously and to critically engage them in in class discussions in your exams and in take home assignments This course is designed for students with some background in social science Due to the difficulty of some of the material and the weight of written assignments for your final grade it is not recommended for students who have never taken courses in social science before The course is not open to first year students Attendance at lecture and discussion sections is required You expect me to show up and I expect you to do the same Please choose a seat in the lecture hall and use that seat throughout the quarter This helps me connect faces to names reducing the sense of anonymity that often characterizes a class of this size The twice weekly lectures will entail a considerable amount of class participation I reserve the right to call on you to solicit your input at any time during a lecture Preferably you will volunteer to participate in sufficient numbers that this practice will not be necessary Voluntary participation in class discussions will be favorably considered when it comes time to report final grades To get the most out of lectures and to facilitate engaging discussions you are expected to do ALL the reading assigned for each week before the first lecture of the week Lectures will build on the reading for each week they will not be devoted to restating what is expressed in the reading It is therefore imperative that you come to lecture prepared Look over the syllabus and be realistic about the amount of time you will need to devote to this course in order to stay on top of the assigned reading If you won t have time to do the reading in addition to whatever other obligations you have for the next 10 weeks please do not take this course I reserve the right to give a pop quiz at any time during the quarter if I believe students are not making sufficient effort to keep up with the assigned reading Most of the required reading for the course is contained in a reader available from Course Reader Material 1137 Westwood Blvd in Westwood Village ph 310 4433300 In addition the following books are on reserve at College Library and available for purchase at the UCLA bookstore Davis F James Who is Black One Nation s Definition Degler Carl N Neither Black nor White Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and the United States De la Fuente Alejandro A Nation for All Race Inequality and Politics in Twentieth Century Cuba Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press 2001 2 There will be a take home assignment distributed in lecture on April 17 and due at the beginning of lecture April 22 The assignment will be based on the first three weeks of reading lectures and class discussion Students will write a maximum of six typed pages 12 font double spaced in response to two questions 3 pages for each answer More details will be provided in class An in class midterm exam will be given on Tuesday May 13 The midterm will require you to apply concepts and ideas from the first part of the course to the comparative analysis of the U S Brazilian and Cuban cases An in class final exam will be given on the last day of scheduled class