AAS 3211W is also offered in Spring 2025
AAS 3211W is also offered in Fall 2024
AAS 3211W is also offered in Spring 2024
AAS 3211W is also offered in Fall 2023
AAS 3211W is also offered in Spring 2023
AAS 3211W is also offered in Fall 2022
AAS 3211W is also offered in Spring 2022
AAS 3211W is also offered in Fall 2021
Spring 2021 | AAS 3211W Section 001: Race & Racism in the U.S. (51068)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- Completely Online
- Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
Online Course
- Meets With:
SOC 3211W Section 001
- Times and Locations:
- Enrollment Status:
Open (15 of 16 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- We live in a society steeped in racial understandings that are often invisible - some that are hard to see, and others that we work hard not to see. This course will focus on race relations in today's society with a historical overview of the experiences of various racial and ethnic groups in order to help explain their present-day social status. This course is designed to help students begin to develop their own informed perspectives on American racial "problems" by introducing them to the ways that sociologists deal with race, ethnicity, race relations and racism. We will expand our understanding of racial and ethnic dynamics by exploring the experiences of specific groups in the U.S. and how race/ethnicity intersects with sources of stratification such as class, nationality, and gender. The course will conclude by re-considering ideas about assimilation, pluralism, and multiculturalism. Throughout, our goal will be to consider race both as a source of identity and social differentiation as well as a system of privilege, power and inequality affecting everyone in the society albeit in different ways.
- Class Notes:
- This course is completely online in a synchronous format. The course will meet online at the scheduled times.
- Class Description:
- This course is designed to provide you with an understanding of the contours of race in the post-civil rights era United States. Our goal is to examine the myriad ways that race structures American society and influences the experiences and life chances of all its members. In the opening sections of the class, we study definitions of race and major theories of how race and racism work in the contemporary U.S. The next unit begins with an overview of the concept of racial identity, and asks how social location impacts one's identity and daily interactions. After inquiring into the general process of identity formation, we look at the specific experiences of whites, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and multiracial Americans. Though our central focus is on race relations in today's society, we also provide a historical overview of the experiences of each group in order to help explain their present-day social status. The next part of the course examines the significance of race in several specific contexts. We look at controversies over race and immigration, race and education, and race and popular culture. We close the class by considering the future of race relations in the U.S., and evaluating remedies to racial inequality.
- Class Format:
- Active participation and discussion are encouraged in this class environment. Students should expect in-class activities.
- Workload:
- 30-40 Pages Reading Per Week
3 Formal Paper(s), ~ 7-9 pages each, and rewrite/ revision
3 Informal Papers (reading or film reflections) 1-2 pages each
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/51068/1213
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 6 November 2019
ClassInfo Links - Spring 2021 Asian American Studies Classes