0827. Dimensions of Diversity: What’s Brewing in the Melting Pot? (3 s.h.) Core: RS.

(Formerly: GE-RADV 1061.)

Are we really living in a melting pot? How important are the differences and similarities among individuals? The purpose of this course will be to focus on a variety of issues related to the nature of personal and cultural identity within a diverse American society. Specifically, this course will explore critical factors that shape one’s place or standing in society (e.g., race, disability, age, gender, and sexuality). The meaning and significance of these dimensions will be explored as they relate to the societal and technological complexities of the 21st Century. The best practice and research in racism, inequality, and social injustice in industries such as sport, leisure, tourism and healthcare will be explored.

Note: This General Education `Race & Diversity` pilot course fulfills the Core Studies in Race (RS) requirement. This course is offered by the Tourism & Hospitality Management department.

0828. Embodying Pluralism (3 s.h.) Core: RS.

(Formerly: GE-RADV 1067.)

Dance and the arts are vehicles of societal change. As you challenge and extend your perceptions of “self” and “other” in a pluralistic society, you will explore aspects of identity, difference, and diversity from aesthetic and ethical perspectives. Race, ethnicity, gender, class, and other social phenomena will be studied as elements that form the fabric of American society. Theory from lectures on historical and philosophical perspectives will be thoroughly integrated in immersive, active studio practices. The purpose of this course is to illuminate personal, social and cultural dynamics of race and diversity in the United States.

Note: This General Education `Race & Diversity` pilot course fulfills the Core Studies in Race (RS) requirement. This course is offered by the Dance department.

0829. The History & Significance of Race in America (3 s.h.) Core: RS.

(Formerly: GE-RADV 1064.)

Why were relations between Native Americans and whites violent almost from the beginning of European settlement? How could slavery thrive in a society founded on the principle that “all men are created equal”? How comparable were the experiences of Irish, Jewish, and Italian immigrants, and why did people in the early 20th century think of them as separate “races”? What were the causes and consequences of Japanese Americans’ internment in military camps during World War II? Are today’s Mexican immigrants unique, or do they have something in common with earlier immigrants? Using a variety of written sources and outstanding documentaries, this course examines the racial diversity of America and its enduring consequences.

Note: This General Education `Race & Diversity` pilot course fulfills the Core Studies in Race (RS) requirement. This course is offered by the following departments: African American Studies, Anthropology, Geography & Urban Studies, History, Sociology.

0831. The American Dream: Hearing the Immigrant Voice (3 s.h.) Core: RS.

(Formerly: GE-RADV 1066.)

As a Temple student, you go to school and live in a city full of immigrants. Perhaps your own relatives were immigrants to the United States. But have you ever listened to their stories? With an historical and sociological framework as a basis, we will take an in-depth and more personal look at the immigrant experience as expressed through the immigrants’ own voices in literature and film. Topics explored include: assimilation, cultural identity and Americanization, exploitation and the American Dream, ethnic communities, gender, discrimination and stereotyping.

Note: This General Education `Race & Diversity` pilot course fulfills the Core Studies in Race (RS) requirement. This course is offered by the following departments: Anthropology, Critical Languages Center, History, Italian, Russian, Sociology.

0832. Politics of Identity in America (3 s.h.) Core: RS.

(Formerly: GE-RADV 1062.)

Gay or straight. Black or white. Male or female. What do these different group identities mean to Americans? How do they influence our politics? Should we celebrate or downplay our diversity? This course explores how we think about others and ourselves as members of different groups and what consequences it has for how we treat one another. Our fundamental social identities can be a source of power or of powerlessness, a justification for inequality or for bold social reform. Students learn about the importance of race, class, gender and sexual orientation across a variety of important contexts, such as the family, workplace, schools, and popular culture and the implications these identities have on our daily lives.

Note: This General Education `Race & Diversity` pilot course fulfills the Core Studies in Race (RS) requirement. This course is offered by the following departments: History, Political Science, Sociology.

0833. Race & Poverty in the Americas (3 s.h.) Core: RS.

(Formerly: GE-RADV 1065.)

The transatlantic slave trade was one of the most brutal and momentous experiences in human history. Attitudes toward Latino, Caribbean, African, and Asian immigrants in the United States today can only be fully understood in the contexts of slavery and the “structural racism,” “symbolic violence” (not to mention outright physical violence), and social inequalities that slavery has spawned throughout the region. Although focusing primarily on the United States, we will also study the present entanglements of poverty and race in Brazil, Haiti, and other selected nations of “The New World,” placing the U.S. (and Philadelphia in particular) experience in this historical context.

Note: This General Education `Race & Diversity` pilot course fulfills the Core Studies in Race (RS) requirement. This course is offered by the following departments: Anthropology, Latin American Studies, Religion, Sociology.

0834. Representing Race (3 s.h.) Core: RS.

(Formerly: GE-RADV 1063.)

From classical Greece and Rome, who saw themselves under siege by the “barbarian hoards,” to contemporary America and its war on “Islamic extremism,” from `The Birth of a Nation` to `Alien Nation`, Western societies have repeatedly represented a particular group of people as a threat to civilization. This course will examine a wide range of representations of non-Western people and cultures in film, literature, scientific and legal writings, popular culture, and artistic expression. What is behind this impulse to divide the world into “us” and “them”? How is it bound up with our understanding of race and racial difference? And what happens when the “barbarian hoards” talk back?

Note: This General Education `Race & Diversity` pilot course fulfills the Core Studies in Race (RS) requirement. This course is offered by the following departments: African American Studies, English, History.

0933. Honors Race & Poverty in the Americas (3 s.h.) Core: RS.

(Formerly: GE-RADV 1965.)

The transatlantic slave trade was one of the most brutal and momentous experiences in human history. Attitudes toward Latino, Caribbean, African, and Asian immigrants in the United States today can only be fully understood in the contexts of slavery and the “structural racism,” “symbolic violence” (not to mention outright physical violence), and social inequalities that slavery has spawned throughout the region. Although focusing primarily on the United States, we will also study the present entanglements of poverty and race in Brazil, Haiti, and other selected nations of “The New World,” placing the U.S. (and Philadelphia in particular) experience in this historical context. (This is an Honors course.)

Note: This General Education `Race & Diversity` pilot course fulfills the Core Studies in Race (RS) requirement. This course is offered by the following departments: Latin American Studies, Religion.
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