Courses Designed to Meet General Education Requirements

Identity/US Cultures Studies

CULTURE MATTERS
BORDERS AND BRIDGES IN MULTICULTURAL AMERICA

Simmons College--MCC101--A Pilot Course
Fall, 1995

CULTURE MATTERS for the kind of community and society we develop. Our society exists and changes within a constantly shifting sea of cultural influences which reflect multiple differences of race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical and intellectual competence, and class, among others. The philosopher J.S. Mill argues that how well we protect and nurture different cultures and perspectives--especially those in the minority--is an important measure of our civilization. Another philosopher, John Dewey, believes that rather than fear and suppress diversity we should foster and celebrate it as a source of our community's vitality and vibrancy. For Dewey, the choice is clear: we can either allow the diverse cultures and communities that comprise the United States to develop as "separate but equal" entities--inviting an American brand of apartheid--or we can promote critical and constructive interaction among diverse cultures based on the faith that this interaction is the surest path toward democracy and pluralism.

CULTURE MATTERS for how our society shapes our individual identities. Each of us is a complex hub of countless cultural influences derived from our society. While some of society's myriad influences are mutually reinforcing, others clash and contradict. For each of us, our ability to understand our cultural identities and to negotiate the internal contradictions will shape who we become.

CULTURE MATTERS for how we learn from our past. The history of the United States is a composite of the multicultural histories of not-always-united peoples, whose differences ensured the endurance of enmity. Some immigrated voluntarily in search of various freedoms and opportunities. Others were forced here in chains of slavery and indenture. And, let us not forget, this land's native populations did not invite any of its immigrants. However we "Americans" got here, we contributed diverse economic arrangements, political practices, and cultural traditions which sometimes converged to create harmonies and at other times devolved into dissonance.

CULTURE MATTERS for how each individual actively participates in shaping society and recreating institutions. Our society and institutions are plagued by problems that have various multicultural dimensions. Our skill at applying multicultural approaches will augment our analysis of, for example, welfare reform, representations of cultures in media, affirmative action, gay/lesbian civil rights, immigration policy, education reform, and the directions of social research.

Individuals constitute communities, communities identify individuals, and together they make up our society. Our ability to read and navigate the cross-currents of our selves will affect our ability to rethink and reorganize our society. Adding to this complexity is the concatenation of multicultural conditions that push us together at the same time that they pull us apart. Can we find ways of interacting in the critical yet constructive manner that will be necessary to fulfill the promise of democracy and pluralism? This challenge engenders the primary objective of Culture Matters: to convey the great value of multiculturalism as an approach to understanding one's self, one's society, and one's role in reshaping society.

Course Objectives

1. To acquaint students with the cultural histories of the peoples of the United States.
2. To enable each student to analyze how her cultural influences shape her personal identities.
3. To demonstrate the multicultural aspects of modern policy making and scholarly debates.
4. In the process of pursuing the above objectives, the course will help students develop the following skills:
1. Analyzing texts and other media.
2. Developing and evaluating arguments in oral and written forms.
3. Conducting and reporting research.
4. Using library resources and computer technologies.
5. Developing communication and collaborative working skills.

Student Evaluation

The success of CULTURE MATTERS will depend on both (1) the students? engagement with ideas raised and inspired by the course and (2) their development of the skills indicated in the course objectives. The quality of both the student's engagement and development will be the basis for her semester grade.

At the end of each of the three units of the course, the instructor will review each student's portfolio, which should contain drafts of papers, elements of papers-in-process, peer review comments, article clippings collected from newspapers and magazines, plus other relevant artifacts of our multicultural society. In general, emphasis will be placed on the student's written work, which will be judged in terms of both the quality of the work as a product and the quality of the student's engagement in the process of producing those items. This means, for example, that the written work produced in a given unit of the course will receive a grade for the quality of the product and a grade for the work that went into producing that piece of written work, where the latter will be reflected in the drafts, writing elements, and peer reviews--all the work that contributed to the final draft. Ninety percent of the course will be based on this form of evaluation (thirty percent per unit).

The remaining ten percent will be based on an assessment of performance of the student's group. Since important skills of this course include collaboration and communication, the criteria for judging group performance will include the quality of sharing of ideas and concerns among the group members, the level of sharing of the group's work and responsibility, and the effort made to work out internal group problems. This assessment will draw on comments made by individual students about their group, conversations between the instructor and the group, and the instructor's observation of the group's dynamics throughout the semester.

Student Responsibilities

The educational experience of CULTURE MATTERS will also depend on each student's efforts as an active contributor to the educational process. Regular and consistent attendance will be crucial. Beyond the usual reasons, the cultural experiences and background of each individual student comprise a unique and rich educational resource, which is irrevocably diminished by student absences. In addition, honoring writing assignment due dates will help every student, because the course's writing instruction component has been designed to make extensive use of peer review and the rethinking-rewriting process. Honoring reading assignments and film viewing due dates will be essential if discussions are to be fruitful and provocative.

Course Outline and Schedule

1. What are Cultures, and How do they shape our Identities?

CULTURE MATTERS for how our society shapes our individual identities. In the first part of the course, we examine the complex and contradictory ways in which our cultural identities shape who we are. The main goal is to develop our ability to recognize and negotiate the internal contradictions in our cultural make-up.

A. CULTURES, CLIQUES, AND COMMUNICATION Focus Using films, short readings, and short writing assignments to stimulate critical thinking and dialogue, we begin our examination of the interaction between culture and self by analyzing our high school experience--focusing on cliques--as a microcosm of a society made up of multiple cultures. The key questions in this section include the following.

1. How can we talk about culture? That is, can we develop a language we can use in constructively and critically examining cultures and how they shape our identities?
   
2. What are the different meanings of "culture"? What are the different consequences of adopting and applying one definition over others?

Assignment--Week 1
Short writing assignments identifying stereotypes and understanding culture and its influence on self. The following are sample exercises.

1. Write 2 sentences identifying a stereotype from The Breakfast Club
2. Write a paragraph describing at least two cliques in the film.
3. What does each of the readings in this section (see Resources below) say about culture and its effects on one's identities?
4. How does each reading make you feel?

Resources for section A

1. The Breakfast Club (film)
2. Miner, Horace. 1956. "Body Ritual among the Nacirema."
3. Angelou, Maya. 1969. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. (R)
4. Rose, Mike. 1993. "I Just Wanna Be Average."

B. COMPLEX IDENTITY FORMATION

Focus
Each of us is a complex hub of countless cultural influences derived from our society. There are various analytical tools which may help us get to know our cultural influences and hence our selves. These analytical approaches may help us tackle questions such as the following.

How do cultures shape who we are? How can we "break down," identify, and analyze our various and complex cultural influences? Which of our cultural influences are dominant, and which subordinate? Which cultural influences do we tend to be conscious of, and which unconscious? In what ways do our various cultural influences conflict with each other and thus cause internal contradictions for our identities?

Assignment--Week 2
Write 2-page reflections on cliques-as-cultures in The Breakfast Club. The following questions comprise only a suggested list. You may reflect on whatever other aspects interest you.

1. Why did the students fight and argue in the beginning of the day?
   
2. Describe the stereotypes represented in the film.
   
3. Which stereotypes were challenged? Which were not challenged?
   
4. In The Breakfast Club, how much of a clique's identity is determined "internally" by its members? And how much is determined "externally" through its interactions with other cliques? Choose a clique from the film and analyze it in these terms.
   
5. Describe the interactions among the cliques represented in the film. Does one clique dominate? Is there a hierarchy of cliques?
   
6. What were the instances of solidarity among the students in the film? Why did they cooperate in their various ways? Generally, under what conditions might cliques cooperate or show solidarity?
   
7. Toward the end of the film, a character asks, "What will happen on Monday"? What did he mean? What do you think will actually happen "on Monday" for those students? What do you wish would happen and why?
   
8. What did you learn about any of the cliques that gives you new sympathy for that clique?
   
9. Describe the rituals of a clique of which you were a member.
   
10. What are the positive and the negative aspects of membership in a particular clique? What are the positive and the negative aspects of nonmembership in any clique?

Resources for sections B and C
1. Prida, Dolores. 1991. "Coser y Cantar." (R)

2. Paik, Felicia. 1995. "Say Anything."

3. Frankenberg, Ruth. 1993. "Growing Up White: The Social Geography of Race."

4. McIntosh, Peggy. 1992. "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women's Studies."

C. NEGOTIATING IDENTITY COMPLEXITY: "REDUCTION VERSUS CONTRADICTION"

Focus
We cope with our complex cultural identities in various ways, at both conscious and unconscious levels. One method is to emphasize certain cultural influences while "downplaying" others. Alternatively, we can actively try to negotiate our internal contradictions. In any case, we may wish to develop our ability to cope with, handle, deal with, and negotiate our complex identities. Moreover, we may wish to choose from among a menu of alternative approaches, understanding that each approach has its own set of consequences. Among the criteria for selecting a coping method, we may seek an approach that helps us think through the following questions.

1. What are the various cultures that shape us as individuals?
2. What effects do they have on us?
3. In what ways are our cultural determinants mutually reinforcing?
4. In what ways do they contradict each other?
5. How does our ability to negotiate the internal contradictions in our cultural make-up condition who we are?

Assignment--Weeks 3 and 4
Drawing on the reflections you wrote in the first two weeks, produce drafts of what will eventually become a five-page paper. In this paper you should organize your autobiographical and analytical reflections of identity formation during your high school experience. Here is an exercise to stimulate your thinking: List as many of your cultural influences as you can think of. Briefly describe the three most important influences. Explain the mutually reinforcing and the contradictory aspects of those three. Describe your method of negotiating the contradictions.

D. DIFFERENT LENSES

Focus
This last section of unit one will be the most challenging, in that it will require us to face certain facts: each of us sees through certain conceptual lenses, our lenses color what we see, and we all use different, unique lenses. We have to challenge our desire to cling to the notion that there is a singular truth that is universal to everyone, for all time--no matter through which lenses we look. At the same time, this section will be crucial as a transition to the next part of the course, in which we will examine the fundamentally multicultural nature of U.S. history. In this section we take a step from the analysis of culture's relation to self to the analysis of culture's relation to history. We will focus on the following questions.

1. Does what one sees depend on how one sees?
2. Is how one sees culturally learned?
3. If so, what personal, analytical, and communication skills will we need if we value democracy and pluralism?

Resource for Section D
Walker, Alice. 1971. "Advancing Luna--And Ida B. Wells."

II. HOW CULTURES CHANGE THROUGH HISTORY: A HISTORY OF MULTICULTURAL AMERICA

CULTURE MATTERS for how we learn from our past. In this section, we see that the histories of many different peoples, representing different cultures, are interwoven to comprise U.S. history. In addition to learning about the multicultural history of the United States, we examine an approach to studying this history that respects cultural borders while offering hope that bridges can be built for our common good. Using Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America as the main text, we study the people who make up the United States, the journeys that brought its many populations, and the struggles among and the tensions within these groups.

A. BOUNDLESSNESS (Before 1800)

Focus
Takaki shows that from the very beginning of our common past, the moment of first contact between Native Americans and Europeans on the Virginia shore, Americans have been constantly redefining their national identity. Using Shakespeare's play The Tempest as a theme, he argues that the distinction between "civilized" and "salvage" became a racial distinction, with many moral overtones. In uncovering the crucial complex intergroup dynamics that produced the unstable social order of the "founding fathers."

Assignments/Resources--Week 5

1. View The Tempest, read the following sections of A Different Mirror, and write a short summary of the argument Takaki makes in chapter 2.

1. The Tempest
2. Ch. 1, "A Different Mirror" (1-17)
3. Part One, Introduction: "Before Columbus: Vinland" (21-23)
4. Ch. 2, "The "Tempest" in the Wilderness: The Racialization of Savagery" (24-50)
5. Ch. 3, "The "Giddy Multitude": The Hidden Origins of Slavery" (51-76) 2. Look ahead to the 3rd assignment in the section called "Distances"

B. BORDERS (1800s)

Focus
With the beginning of a new nation came the obligation to define political membership. Some, like Benjamin Franklin, wanted to keep America beautiful by reserving it for the "lovely White." But, owing primarily to economic factors, many new groups entered the United States in a complicated mosaic of interdependent relationships. This influx led to an increasing "need to reinforce interior borders" in order to "preserve racial homogeneity."

Assignments/Resources
1. The whole class reads Introduction: "Prospero Unbound: The Market Revolution" (79-83)

2. Each group is assigned one of the populations represented in chapters 4 through 8 of Takaki. Each student writes her own summary of her group's assigned chapter. This summary should state as clearly as possible the thesis of Takaki's main argument and how he develops that argument. The students discuss their summaries with their group. (Someone should take notes of this discussion.) Then each group reports to the class what it thinks is especially important to everyone to understand and why it is important. Group assignments:

1. Native American Group: Ch. 4, "Toward the Stony Mountains: From Removal to Reservation" (84-105)
2. African American Group: Ch. 5, "No More Peck o" Corn: Slavery and Its Discontents" (106-38)
3. European American Group: Ch. 6 (Irish), "Emigrants from Erin: Ethnicity and Class within White America" (139-65)
4. Mexican American Group: Ch. 7, "Foreigners in Their Native Land: Manifest Destiny in the Southwest" (166-90)
5. Asian American Group: Ch. 8 (Chinese), "Searching for Gold Mountain: Strangers from a Pacific Shore" (191-221)

C. DISTANCES (1900 to World War II)

Focus
The existence of the "frontier" was central to the American identity because it presented the opportunity for "perennial birth." The American self-understanding was founded upon making a new beginning and bringing civilization to the savage wilderness. At the same time this engagement with the wilderness transformed Europeans into something that was not European but rather a distinctively American form of civility. Once the frontier disappeared the racial and class hierarchy faced an even greater crisis than before, since, lacking an ultimate horizon against which to judge difference, Americans sought to redefine "distance" in terms of each other.

Assignments/Resources

1. The whole class reads Part Three Introduction: "The End of the Frontier" (225-27).

2. Each group continues to focus on the population assigned to them in the previous week and reads, summarizes, discusses, and reports as done previously. The reports should summarize Takaki's analysis of the following questions: What changes has this population undergone? How has that population's perception of itself changed? How has the larger society's perception of it changed?

1. Native American Group: Ch. 9, "The "Indian Question" from Reservation to Reorganization" (228-45)
2. African American Group: Ch. 13, "To the Promised Land: Blacks in the Urban North" (340-69)
3. European American Group: Ch. 11 (Jewish), "Between "Two Endless Days": The Continuous Journey to the Promised Land" (277-310)
4. Mexican American Group: Ch. 12, "El Norte: The Borderland of Chicano America" (311-39)
5. Asian American Group: ch. 10 (Japanese), "Pacific Crossings: Seeking the Land of Money Trees" (246-76)

3. How does our modern imagination of these histories contrast with Takaki's interpretation? To the extent that our images of history are shaped by depictions by artists and filmmakers, we should question how these interpreters of history envision that history. In this assignment, the student draws on the summaries she will have written int he previous two weeks and writes a five-page paper in which she compares and contrasts Takaki's interpretation with a modern filmmaker's. Group film assignments:

1. Native American Group: It Started with a Whisper
2. African American Group: Raisin in the Sun
3. European American Group: Hester Street
4. Mexican American Group: Zoot Suit
5. Asian American Group: Picture Bride

D. CROSSINGS (AFTER WWII)

Focus
World War II marks a turning point in the continuing process of developing American identity. The Nazi doctrine of Aryan racial superiority forces a crucial self-examination of race relations, and while groups like the Chinese were for the first time validating their status as Americans by fighting for America, at the same moment the Japanese were invalidated by being forced into internment camps. Through these trials America's traditional emphasis on the value of freedom and equality becomes a "democratic and anti-racist mission." Finally, Takaki, taking us from the civil rights movement to the Rodney King uprisings, leaves us with the question of how we might achieve this mission.

Reading
Part Four: Crossings (373-428)

III. CULTURE MATTERS FOR INSTITUTIONS AND POLICIES

CULTURE MATTERS for how each individual actively participates in shaping society and recreating institutions. In this final section, we will apply what we have learned previously to a current national policy debate or area of scholarly research. In short research papers, students will be asked to reflect on issues such as the following.

A. Cultural Maintenance: Institutionalization of Generalizations

1. What mechanisms exist that advance the cultural maintenance of stereotypes?

2. How do stereotypes function in institutions and policy making?

B. What is the history of the "issue" (policy debate and institutions)

C. How does the earlier issue regarding lenses show up in a current debate or research area? D. What can we learn about prospects for pluralistic living in the United States? Who are we, who are we going to be, and why do we care?

Each section of the course will focus on one of the following debates.

1. "Gay Rights" and the "Religious Right": Conflicting Movements in American Politics

2. Picture This: Contesting Identities and Self-Representation in Avant Garde Photography

3. The Bell Curve: Enlightened Policy Intervention or Recycled Racism?

4. Can We Talk? Missing Discourses in Urban Education

5. Copyrighting Color: Literary License and the Slave Experience

THE BELL CURVE: ENLIGHTENED POLICY INTERVENTION OR RECYCLED RACISM?

A. Focus
Murray and Herrnstein advocate a certain policy position regarding various social policies, including affirmative action and welfare programs. According to Murray and Herrnstein, current social policies are misguided in that they misunderstand the social dynamics involving race, class, and cognitive ability. They base their position on an interpretation of the "demographics of cognitive ability." We will read and discuss writings by the principal authors and their various critics. After examining various texts and listening to our guest speakers, write your reflections on the following questions and others which may occur to you. These short writings you will use as resources in writing your main paper for this unit (see below).

1. What is Herrnstein and Murray's argument?

2. How can we disaggregate the biological, political, cultural, and economic dimensions of their argument?

3. What cultural assumptions do they make about themselves and their subjects?

4. What cultural representations do they challenge or reproduce?

5. What social policies do they advocate?

6. How can we evaluate the scientific content of Herrnstein and Murray's analysis?

7. Is science culturally and politically neutral?

8. How can we evaluate the statistical analysis in The Bell Curve? Are correlation and causation the same thing?

9. What do the various critiques of Herrnstein and Murray say about the critics? What are their political and cultural commitments and biases?

B. Main unit assignment
Drawing from the readings, the guest lectures, and supplementary research, write an essay that centers on Herrnstein and Murray's social analysis. The essay can focus on any of the topics stated in the preamble above. Alternatively, the essay can discuss how Herrnstein and Murray's social analysis supports an element of their policy prescription.

C. Resources

1. Texts [(R): on reserve in the Beatley Library; (H): handout provided in class]

a. Business Week. 1995. "Rewriting the Social Contract," Nov. 20: 120-34. (R)

b. Devlin, Bernie, S.E. Fienberg, D.P. Resnick, and K. Roeder. 1995. "Writing The Bell Curve: A Cautionary Tale About the Relationships among Race, Genes, and IQ." in chance. 8(3): 27-36. (H)

c. Fraser, Steven. 1995. The Bell Curve Wars: Race, Intelligence, and the Future of America. New York: Basic Books. (R)

d. Gardner, Howard. 1995. "Brainchild." In The Boston Globe Magazine. Nov. 5: 22, 38-42, 45-48. (R)

e. Gould, Stephen Jay. 1994. "Curveball." in The New Yorker. Nov. 28: 139-49. (H)

f. Gould, Stephen Jay. 1981. The Mismeasure of Man. New York: W.W. Norton. (R)

g. Herrnstein, Richard and Charles Murray. 1994. The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. New York: Free Press. (R)

h. Jacoby, Russell and Naomi Glauberman. Eds. 1995. The Bell Curve Debate: History, Documents, Opinions. New York: Times Books.

2. Guest Speakers

a. Professor Robert Goldman, Department of Mathematics and Statistics. On the basics of evaluating the statistical elements of the Bell Curve argument. Background reading: the Chance article by Devlin, et al.

b. Professor Sandy Williams, Department of Biology. On the history of biological determinism in social policy debates. Background reading: Gould's "Curveball" essay and the first two chapters of The Mismeasure of Man.