{"id":151,"date":"2017-08-25T16:19:18","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T20:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-2202-fall-2017\/?page_id=151"},"modified":"2019-09-10T16:21:02","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T20:21:02","slug":"cities-society","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/cities-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Course Description"},"content":{"rendered":"

Racism<\/em>.<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Perhaps no other word generates as much frustration, anxiety, and division in contemporary American life. \u00a0Every day, we confront issues around race and racism.\u00a0 Does voting for Donald Trump make a person racist?\u00a0 What about a bystander calling the police on a black family picnicking in a park?\u00a0 Or a film awards season that includes zero nominations for artists of color? \u00a0\u00a0Is claiming \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d discrimination against white people? \u00a0These questions highlight significant contradictions about the persistence of racism.\u00a0 In the generations since the Civil Rights Movement, few Americans self-identify as \u201cracist.\u201d \u00a0And yet, even as many of us espouse anti-racist values, the mere suggestion of “racism” mobilizes defenses, rendering many tongue-tied and crippling conversation.<\/p>\n

In truth, racism is far more complicated than random acts of racial animus.\u00a0 Racism infiltrates much of America’s political, cultural, economic, and social life.\u00a0It structures our institutions, influencing religion, sports, art, entertainment, medicine, and even our sex lives.\u00a0 It shapes our daily interactions and our significant relationships.\u00a0 More troubling, racism evolves and changes.\u00a0As soon as we defeat old racial injustices, new and more ambiguous ideologies emerge, maligning once socially acceptable practices as racially insensitive and divisive.\u00a0\u00a0 Whether we “make everything about race,” defend the dawn of a “post-racial” America, or ignore discussing it for the sake of civility, racism permeates the lives of every single American.\u00a0 No one can escape its powerful impact.<\/p>\n

This seminar does not attempt to solve the problem of racism (no class can accomplish that).\u00a0 However, by understanding how race and racism \u201cwork\u201d in contemporary American society, this course begins meaningful conversation.\u00a0We will not only explore how these systems evolved but also how their legacies continue to define the institutions that scaffold our lives.\u00a0 Confronting some of today\u2019s most controversial and misunderstood issues, we will investigate the factors that undermine productive conversations around racism and inhibit its complete annihilation.\u00a0 Finally, we will explore the various strategies people deploy to challenge and uphold racial injustice and inequality.\u00a0 Drawing on a panoply of academic and popular scholarship, this seminar seeks to arm students with a \u201ccultural toolkit\u201d to contemplate, debate, and write about one of our country\u2019s most enduring and vexing moral and social problems.<\/p>\n

Discussions about race and racism are never easy.\u00a0 They can often create awkward and uncomfortable social interactions, and as a result, people prefer to remain silent than to fear offending others.\u00a0The seminar requires you to challenge that impulse.\u00a0 We will confront material in this class that might make you feel uncomfortable.\u00a0 You might not understand certain ideas or concepts that others expect you to know.\u00a0 You might make a comment or ask a question that might make yourself and others uncomfortable. \u00a0There are times where you will disagree with the readings, with your fellow classmates, and yes, sometimes even with me.<\/p>\n

And that is okay.<\/p>\n

This seminar prioritizes critical engagement over titillation.\u00a0 The enterprise of generating vibrant class discussion necessitates that you cultivate your sociological imagination.\u00a0 This sometimes means presenting half-baked ideas (including ideas that sounded better in your head than out of your mouth) and asking clarifying questions to gain mastery of the course material.\u00a0 We will work on building an environment that welcomes and respects others’ ideas and experiences.\u00a0 Disagreement (with each other and with the professor) is welcome; judgment and personal attacks are not.\u00a0 To those ends, I encourage students to focus their comments and analysis on the common readings. Students are certainly welcome to share personal experiences and anecdotes, but they should not become substitutes for critical engagement with assigned material or broad analytical thinking<\/span>.\u00a0<\/strong>I also encourage students to listen actively to their peers’ comments and ask for clarification as needed; or respond to specific comments by referring to the course material. Discussions can be personal without analysis becoming personalized.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a>\u00a0for an updated version of the course syllabus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Racism.\u00a0Perhaps no other word generates as much frustration, anxiety, and division in contemporary American life. \u00a0Every day, we confront issues around race and racism.\u00a0 Does voting for Donald Trump make a person racist?\u00a0 What about a bystander calling the police on a black family picnicking in a park?\u00a0 Or a film awards season that includes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-151","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-1010-fall-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}