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Unless otherwise stated, the permission required for the repetition for credit of specifically designated courses is that of the student's concentration or BGS advisor.
201. American Values. (4). (HU).
This course will explore the riot of ideals, aspirations, conflicts, visions, and material realities that have defined American culture. It will draw on a range of sources - including fiction, music, movies, architecture, and images in art - to reconstruct a history of ways in which Americans have imagined their nation. And, while this is not a history course, we will read a lot of history to follow the life of the American imagined community from the struggles to make sense of industrial growth, national expansion, and urbanization in the late 19th century to the current struggle to understand an increasingly multi-ethnic population, an increasingly service oriented economy, and a growing distrust of government with the history of ideas about what "America" should mean. We will think about American culture as it is manifest in ideas about patriotism and war, race and national progress, the power of the local and the claims of the nation, as well as the idea of separate spheres as a solution to the moral problems of industrial capitalism. Cost:3 WL:1 (Cándida Smith)
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304/Soc. 304. American Immigration. (3). (SS).
See Sociology 304 (Harris-Reid)
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309. Learning through Community Practice. Permission of instructor. (1-4). (Excl). (EXPERIENTIAL).
Section 001 - Empowering Families and Communities. (4 credits). For Fall Term, 1998, this course is offered jointly with Psychology 319 and 320. (Mattis)
Section 002 - Practicum in the Latino/a Community. (3-4 credits, to be arranged with the instructor). For Fall Term, 1998, this course is offered jointly with Psychology 305.003. (Jose-Kampfner)
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313/Anthro. 314. Cuba and its Diaspora. (4). (Excl).
See Anthropology 314. (Behar)
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342/Hist. 368/WS 360. History of the Family in the U.S. (4). (SS).
See History 368. (Morantz-Sanchez)
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351. Race and American Cinema. (4). (HU). Laboratory fee ($35) required.
This course focuses on an analysis of the representation of racial and ethnic groups in Hollywood cinema, followed by a study of films that members of those groups have made about themselves. We will study how Hollywood developed certain stereotypes or reacted against them. We will also look at films from recent independent cinema to see how these films have followed the established pattern of images or, on the contrary, have intended to represent their own communities. Films viewed are examples from Classical American cinema of the '40s and '70s to the present, mostly fictional representations, using some appropriate documentaries. We will discuss representation of African/Asian/Native Americans, and Latinas/os, looking at both content and form, use of cinematographic language and construction of meaning, from an eclectic choice of theoretical positions. Films are the main texts, with insight from readings. The course has two lectures, two film showings, and a small discussion group per week. A journal of film criticism, a term paper/project, a midterm, and a class presentation are required. Film attendance required TTh 7-9 p.m.
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360/Great Books 350/Hist. 350. Great Books of the Founding Fathers. Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. (3). (Excl).
See Great Books 350. (Thornton)
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399(UC 299). Race, Racism, and Ethnicity. (4). (SS). (R&E).
This course will use historical and theoretical approaches toward understanding racism and its dynamics of power, domination, subordination, and resistance. The syllabus and lectures will be interdisciplinary, building partly upon imaginative literature, personal narratives, and other texts in the voices of these various groups: Native Americans, African Americans, Latina/o peoples, Asian/Pacific Americans, and European Americans. Readings, lectures, and discussion will profile the groups and interpret histories of their interactions as well as analyze diversity within each. We will study how domination and resistance - and their costs - are experiences common to these groups but from different positions and through specific mechanisms varying from group to group. Two weekly hours in lecture plus one two-hour discussion sections are required, as are two papers of 10-12 pages each and weekly responses to assigned readings. (Sumida)
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496. Social Science Approaches to American Culture. (3). (Excl). May be repeated for credit with permission of concentration advisor.
Section 001 - Ethnic Entrepreneurship as Urban History. This course chronicles ethnic entrepreneurship in the urban community. African American entrepreneurship is the primary focus with attention to Latino, Asian, and European immigrant groups as well. This seminar course will: explore the concept of entrepreneur; give an overview of minority entrepreneurs beginning from America's earliest entrepreneurs to the present; explore models that seek to explain minority entrepreneurship; study history of government policies and programs related to minority entrepreneurship; and look at traditional and emerging minority businesses and their communities. Requirements: readings, weekly e-mail journal, midterm papers, final paper/project. The course pack is available from Michigan Documents. This course has an optional oral history component by permission of instructor for an additional two credit hours. (Brown)
Section 003 - Oral History, Life Stories and Changing Cultures. Limitedto seniors; (graduate students in AC, History, Sociology may elect AC 699.007 via override at AC Office, G410 Mason) This course offers an introduction to the biographical approach which is usually termed "oral history" by historians and "life history" by social scientists. It will explore the potential of this approach for research in the context of changing cultures in different parts of the world. We shall consider the interviewing process, the nature of memory, the relationship between psychoanalysis and autobiographical work, and the different forms of interpretation from the reconstructive to the linguistic and narrative. We shall also look at different forms of presentation including television. While the course is essentially conceptual, we shall discuss some basic methodological problems in designing and carrying out projects, and also the ethical issues which they can raise. The course will be taught through discussion seminars. Students will be expected to carry out interviewing of their own and to incorporate this experience in the final paper by which the course will be assessed. (Thompson)
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