Politics 310-33600-01
Whiteness and Multiculturalism
Fall 2007
Prof. Chip Gagnon
MWF 2-2:50, Friends 306

Daily Assignments

Note: Please be sure to read the description of the Reader Response Papers due at the start of each class.

Last revised 12/10/07

I. Introduction: Thinking about Whiteness

W 8/29 Introductions. What is Whiteness? Who is White? Why?

F 8/31 Race as a social construction
Required reading:
Olson, "A Political Theory of Race", pp. i-v
López, "The Social Construction of Race, pp.1-7
Fish, "Mixed Blood" from The Brazil Reader, pp.8-13

M 9/3 Labor Day, no class

W 9/5 Race as a legal construction
Required reading:
López, "White by Law", pp.14-18

F 9/7 Race and biology
View "The difference between us", Part 1 of the film "Race - The Power of an Illusion"
The film will be shown at 2pm (regular class time) in Room 319 in the Library.
It lasts 56 minutes; if you have to leave for another class, do so, but if not it would be good to be able to watch the whole film
To think about:
If race isn't biological, why do we tend to think of it that way?

M 9/10 Racism
Required reading:
Tatum, "Defining Racism", pp.29-38
Essay #1 due by 4pm (description of assignment)

W 9/12 Whiteness
Required reading:
Dyer, "A Matter of Whiteness" pp.39-41
Dalton, "Failing to See", pp.42-44

F 9/14 Getting to know each other

M 9/17 Whiteness and "normalcy"
Required reading:
Tatum, "The Development of White Identity" pp.45-57

W 9/19 The "colorblind" approach to race
Required reading:
Hitchcock, "Colorblindness, personified" pp.58-69
Gotanda, "A Critique of 'Our Constitution is Color Blind'" pp 70-72
Bonilla-Silva, "Conclusion: The (Color-Blind) Emperor Has No Clothes" pp.73-78

II. The History of Whiteness in the US and the world

F 9/21 The creation of the white race / Origins of whiteness and racism
Required reading:
Hitchcock, "How did it all begin?" pp.79-95
Frederickson, "Social Origins of American Racism" pp.96-104

M 9/24 Becoming white: the European immigrant experience
Required reading:
Roediger, "Whiteness and Ethnicity in the History of 'White Ethnics' in the United States" , pp.19-28
also read one of the following pieces:
- Brodkin, "How Jews Became White Folks" pp.110-116
- Foley, "Becoming Hispanic: Mexican Americans and Whiteness" pp.117-122
- Guglielmo, "No Color Barrier: Italians, Race and Power in the US" pp.123-130

W 9/26 Whiteness in the world (China & Middle East)
Required reading:
Bonnett, "Who was white? The disappearance of non-European white identities and the formation of European racial whiteness" pp.131-144

F 9/28 Whiteness in the world (Latin America & Japan)
Required reading:
Bonnett, "A White World? Whiteness and the Meaning of Modernity in Latin America and Japan" pp.145-163

III. Meanings of Whiteness

M 10/1 - F 10/5 Film: The Color of Fear (1 and 2) and discussion of film
Essay #2 due by 4pm Wednesday 10/3

M 10/ 8 Whiteness as culture
Required reading:
Perry, "Identity and High School", CR pp.178-183
Perry, "Situated Meanings of ‘White' as a Cultural Identity" in CR, pp.184-200

W 10/10 Whiteness as culture, part 2
Required reading:
Perry, "The Social Implications of White Identity" in CR, pp.201-217

F 10/12 Whiteness and appearance
Required reading:
Twine, "Brown-Skinned White Girls: Class, Culture, and the Construction of White Identity in Suburban Communities" in CR, pp.218-232

M 10/15 Notes of White Black Women
Required reading:
Scales-Trent, "Commonalities: On Being Black and White, Different, and the Same," "Afterword and Preface," "The Lesson," and
                            "Stories We Tell" in CR pp.233-250
Holland, "Mistaken Identity" (Australia) in CR, pp.251-259
Copies of reader response papers for first half of semester due (they must be numbered, dated, and stapled)

W 10/17 Whiteness as Privilege
Required reading:
MacIntosh, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" in CR, pp.272-274
Kivel, "White Benefits, Middle Class Privilege" and "White Benefits? A Personal Assessment" in CR, pp.275-279
Excerpts from Katznelson, "When affirmative action was white : an untold history of racial inequality in twentieth-century America" (to be handed out in class)
Suggested reading:
Lipsitz, "The Possessive Investment in Whiteness," pp.260-271

F 10/18: Fall Break, no class

M 10/22 Whiteness and humanity
Required reading:
Thandeka, "White" and "Abuse" in CR, pp.280-304

W 10/24 Whiteness and class
Required reading:
Hartigan, "‘White Devils' Talk Back: What Antiracists Can Learn from Whites in Detroit" in CR, pp.305-319
Suggested reading:
Hartigan, "Locating White Detroit" pp.320-336

F 10/26 Whiteness and class, part 2
Required reading:
Gallagher, "White Like Me?" in CR, pp.337-350

M 10/29 Where we're at: Discussion

IV. Multiculturalism

W 10/31 What do Whites want?
Required reading:
Bell, "After We're Gone: Prudent Speculations on America in a Post-Racial Epoch" in CR, pp.351-354
Olivas, "The Chronicles, My Grandfather's Stories, and Immigration Law" in CR, pp.355-361
To think about:
What do you think would be the outcome if Bell's hypothetical situation were reversed, and the fate of whites was to be decided by the US's nonwhite population?

F 11/2 America: White Nation?
Required reading:
Brimelow, excerpts from Alien Nation, in CR, pp.362-373
Buchanan, "Bordering on an identity crisis" in CR, p.374
Huntington, "The Hispanic Challenge" in CR, pp.375-390

M 11/5 Whiteness and US national identity
Required reading:
Collins, "Like one of the family: race, ethnicity, and the paradox of US national identity" pp.164-177

W 11/7 Multiculturalism as White Supremacist? The Case of Australia
Required reading:
Hage, White Nation, Intro and Chapter 1, "Evil White Nationalists I," pp.1-47

F 11/9 Guest speaker

M 11/12 Australian multiculturalism cont'd
Required reading:
Hage, White Nation, Chapter 2, "Evil White Nationalists II: The White Nation Fantasy", pp.48-77

W 11/14 Required reading:
Hage, White Nation, Chapter 3, "Good White Nationalists: The Tolerant Society as a 'White Nation' Fantasy," pp.78-104

F 11/16 TBA

M 11/19 - F 11/23 Thanksgiving Break, no class

M 11/26 Required reading:
Hage, White Nation, Chapter 4, "White Multiculturalism: A Manual for the Proper Usage of Ethnics" pp.117-140

W 11/28 Required reading:
Hage, White Nation, Chapter 8, "The Discourse of Anglo Decline 2" and Chapter 9, "The Containment of the Multicultural Real", pp.209-247

Research paper proposal due by 4pm Monday 11/26

F 11/30 Multiculturalism on the ground
Required reading:
Goode, "Let's Ger Our Act Together: How racial discourses disrupt neighborhood activism" in CR, pp.391-408
Suggested reading:
Stratman, " Why we can change the world" in CR, pp.441-445

V. Race, Multiculturalism, and Globalization

M 12/3 IR and race
Required reading:
Vitalis, "Birth of a Discipline" in CR, pp.423-434
Boyd, "Whites Ejected from Racism Conference" in CR, pp.446-447 (Please note: This article is out of order in the Reader)
Suggested reading:
Vitalis, "The Graceful and Generous Liberal Gesture: Making Racism Invisible in American International Relations," pp.409-422

W 12/5 Race, multiculturalism and US policy in the Balkans
Required reading:
Gagnon, "Liberal Multiculturalism and Post-Dayton Bosnia" (handed out in class)

F 12/7 Race and cold war; alternative ways of thinking
Required reading:
Dudziak, "Desegregation as Cold War Imperative" in CR, pp.435-440

VI. Which Way Forward?

M 12/10 Abolishing Whiteness?
Required reading:
"The Point is not to Interpret Whiteness but to Abolish it" in CR, pp.452-457

W 12/12 Disinvesting from whiteness?
Required reading:
Bush, "Cracks in the Wall of Whiteness" in CR, pp.472-488
Suggested reading:
Omi, "(E)racism: Emerging Practices of Antiracist Organization" in CR, pp.458-471

F 12/14 Conclusion

Copies of reader responses for second half of semester are due F 12/14.

Research Paper due Monday December 17 by 4pm in my office.

Exit paper due Thursday December 20 by 12 noon in the Politics Dept. office, 309 Muller.

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Last revised 12/10/07