ANTHRCUL 370 - Language and Discrimination: Language as Social Statement
Winter 2023, Section 001
Instruction Mode: Section 001 is  In Person (see other Sections below)
Subject: Anthropology, Cultural (ANTHRCUL)
Department: LSA Anthropology
See additional student enrollment and course instructor information to guide you in your decision making.

Details

Credits:
3
Requirements & Distribution:
SS, RE
Repeatability:
May not be repeated for credit.
Primary Instructor:
Start/End Date:
Full Term 1/4/23 - 4/18/23 (see other Sections below)
NOTE: Drop/Add deadlines are dependent on the class meeting dates and will differ for full term versus partial term offerings.
For information on drop/add deadlines, see the Office of the Registrar and search Registration Deadlines.

Description

Who speaks “correctly”? Which languages are taught in schools? Who gets to be bilingual? In this course, we explore how language is used to construct and suppress identity, with a particular focus on the languages and cultures of what is now the United States. As we investigate the relationship between language and power across time and space, we will also make connections with our own life experiences and with current events. Topics covered include the intersections of race and ethnicity with migration, language policy, pseudoscience, media representation, and multilingualism.

This course fulfills the Race & Ethnicity requirement. As such, we focus on linguistic discrimination which is rooted in discrimination based on race and ethnicity. We demonstrate how language has been used to reinforce essentialized views of race, and how discrimination based on language can often be a proxy for discrimination based on race and ethnicity. We discuss how language has been a site of oppression at both the level of the individual and society, and make explicit the connections between individual-level processes and social structures, showing how interpersonal bigotry both reinforces and is reinforced by laws, policies, and other norms. This course is designed to help students make sense of the world that they are in by giving context for how we got here, while also encouraging us to imagine and co-create a better present and future.


Content note: This course deals with issues of language stigma, political correctness, and language as identity. As such, some of the material covered has the potential to make you (and/or the instructor) uncomfortable. We expect that everyone work together to foster a safe (and fun!) environment within which we can learn from one another.

Course Requirements:

Students will be asked to engage with readings (a mix of scholarly and popular press articles), discuss concepts and analyze examples in small-group discussions and activities in class, reflect on their learning via short writing assignments, situate their own experiences in the context of course topics (culminating in a Linguistic Autobiography), and to notice and contextualize examples of linguistic discrimination in their daily lives (culminating in a Language & Discrimination Project).

Intended Audience:

This course assumes no background in Linguistics or Anthropology, and all students are welcome to enroll.

Schedule

ANTHRCUL 370 - Language and Discrimination: Language as Social Statement
Schedule Listing
001 (LEC)
 In Person
18572
Open
2
 
-
MW 10:00AM - 11:00AM
1/4/23 - 4/18/23
002 (DIS)
 In Person
18588
Closed
0
 
-
F 10:00AM - 11:00AM
1/4/23 - 4/18/23
003 (DIS)
 Online
18589
Closed
0
 
-
F 11:00AM - 12:00PM
1/4/23 - 4/18/23
004 (DIS)
 Online
18590
Closed
0
 
-
F 12:00PM - 1:00PM
1/4/23 - 4/18/23
005 (DIS)
 In Person
23188
Closed
0
 
-
F 12:00PM - 1:00PM
1/4/23 - 4/18/23
006 (DIS)
 In Person
25444
Closed
0
 
-
Th 5:00PM - 6:00PM
1/4/23 - 4/18/23
007 (DIS)
 Online
25445
Closed
0
 
-
F 9:00AM - 10:00AM
1/4/23 - 4/18/23

Textbooks/Other Materials

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Click the button below to view and buy textbooks for ANTHRCUL 370.001

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Syllabi

Syllabi are available to current LSA students. IMPORTANT: These syllabi are provided to give students a general idea about the courses, as offered by LSA departments and programs in prior academic terms. The syllabi do not necessarily reflect the assignments, sequence of course materials, and/or course expectations that the faculty and departments/programs have for these same courses in the current and/or future terms.

Click the button below to view historical syllabi for ANTHRCUL 370 (UM login required)

View Historical Syllabi

CourseProfile (Atlas)

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CourseProfile (Atlas)