History A511 Jack McKivigan

Fall 2002 Cavanaugh 531/406

CA 215 Off. hrs.: MW 2:30-3:30PM

MW 1:00-2:15 PM . Phone # 274-5860

Jmckivig@iupui.edu

A. COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is designed to introduce students to the central issues and methods of inquiry in the historical study of ethnic communities in the United States. The focus of the courses, lectures, discussions, readings, and assignments will be on the similarities and contrasts in the experiences of America's various "ethnic" groups.

As background to our exploration of ethnicity in United States history, the course will briefly examine the theoretical process of group assimilation and the concept of a national character or culture. Special attention will be given to the wide variety of traditional values, behaviors, and institutions brought to this nation by its component ethnic groups. The problems of maintenance of ethnic identity in the face of an "homogenizing" popular culture and governmental "Americanization" programs will be discussed. Students will be encouraged to use such discussions as a means of measuring and testing the nature and strength of their own ethnic identification. The course also will explore evidence of persistent racist and nativist attitudes and their role in sustaining ethnic identity.

B. COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

The success of this course depends upon the completion of reading assignments and participation in class discussion by the students. If a student falls behind in her/his readings he/she will soon find it difficult to follow the subject matter of class discussion or join in it. Students should feel free to talk to the instructor about any course related problems especially in cases when a student believes that her/his assignment grades do not accurately reflect his/her performance in the course. Students should plan to meet individually with the instructor at least twice during the semester to discuss the progress of their historiographical research project.

There will be three types of graded assignments for this course:

(1) Examinations: Graduate students are required to take a mid-term examination tentatively scheduled for October 16th and a second examination during Examination Week (December 16th). Both examinations will be "take-home." Students will prepare 4-6 typed page answers for their choice of two out of three essay questions presented by the instructor. The questions will be made available to students one week before they are due to be turned in. Each question will be framed to encourage students to exercise their own judgment and interpretative skills in dealing with an important subject of historical debate. The subject matter covered on each of the two examinations will not be cumulative. (Value: each examination is worth 30% of the course grade.)

(2) Book Reviews of the major assigned readings. Graduate students are required to prepare a 3-4 typed page review of three of the five books assigned as readings for the course. Each review will be due on the first date that the book is listed as an assigned reading on the course schedule. (Value: each review is worth 5% of the course grade.)

(3) Historiographical Essay on an aspect of American ethnic history. The purpose of the assignment is to provide students with the opportunity to develop and exercise skills in historiographical analysis and to synthesize their own thinking regarding historiographical themes that interest them. In a relatively brief essay of this nature, the student should be highly selective in choosing the criteria for comparison of these works, e.g. originality and clarity of thesis, significance of author biases, skill at exploiting primary and secondary sources, suitability of methodology, strength of author's argument and evidence, etc. The topics of these papers should be determined in coordination with the instructor. The essay should discuss at least four books, including one of the books assigned for this course. A two-page prospectus, briefly describing the topic of the paper and the books to be analyzed, is due on September 25th Students are required to meet at least once with the instructor before submitting this prospectus and at least once between that time and submitting the final paper. Students' work on this assignment will culminate in a an approximately 15 page written report on the findings of the research project due on December 4th. (Value: 25% of the course grade.)

Detailed guidelines for each assignment will be provided well in advance of their due date. The instructor regards deadlines as extremely important. Failure to turn in an examination or a written assignment by the announced deadline, without prior permission from the instructor, will automatically result in a penalty in grading. Although specific grade values have been apportioned to each assignment, elements such as effort, interest, improvement, attendance, and participation in class discussion all will be weighed by the instructor in determining final course grades.

C. ASSIGNED READINGS:

All of the following books are paperbacks and are available at the IUPUI Bookstore. In addition, a number of scholarly articles will be distributed to the class by the instructor.

(1) Nathan Irvin Huggins, Black Odyssey: The African-American Ordeal in Slavery (1990 ed.) 272 pp. Huggins' works analyzes the extraordinarily traumatic experience of the enslavement of Africans and their forced resettlement in the United States. He documents the African Americans' struggle to adapt and preserve their Old World culture to the oppressive conditions encountered in slavery.

(2) Hasia R. Diner, Erin's Daughters in America: Irish Immigrant Women in the Nineteenth Century (1983 ed.) 192 pp. Because most scholars of ethnicity have focused on the male's experience, Diner's book affords a rare assessment of the special problems and coping strategies of the ethnic female.

(3) John Bodnar, The Transplanted (1985) 294 pp. Bodnar supplies a synthetic history of the experiences of the approximately 40 million immigrants to the U.S. during the 1830-1930 period. He gives great attention to the individual as well as group variations in the patterns of adaptation of these immigrants to the U.S. environment.

(4) David M. Reimers, Unwelcome Strangers: American Identity and the Turn Against Immigration (1998) 199 pp. Reimers is the leading scholar of the public debates over American immigration policy. In Unwelcome Strangers, Reimers begins by describing early 20th century United States immigration laws that first opened and then nearly shut the door to immigrants. He then analyzes the divisive quarrels over the heavy wave of immigration since the federal government reopened the "Golden Door" in 1965.

(5) Stephen Steinberg, Race and Ethnicity in the United States: Issues and Debates (2000) 342 pp.

Steinberg brings together an extensive set of essays, exploring key issues in the modern debate over national and private policy regarding race and ethnicity. The volume balances divergent opinions on such "hot button" topics as affirmative action, bilingual education, and school desegregation.

D. COURSE SCHEDULE: The following is the prospective schedule of class topics, reading assignments, and written assignment deadlines for the course of the semester.

Aug 21 INTRODUCTION

Aug 26 & 28 ETHNIC IDENTITY

AMERICAN MELTING POT

Steinberg, Race and Ethnicity, Chaps. 2, 9, & 10

Sep 2 Labor Day Holiday

Sep 4 THE ORIGINAL NATIVE AMERICANS

Sep 9 & 11 THE PECULIAR INSTITUTION

OUT OF SLAVERY

Nathan I. Huggins, Black Odyssey

Sep16 &18 IMMIGRATION: PUSH AND PULL

IMMIGRATION: THE PROCESS

John Bodnar, The Transplanted, xv-xxi, 1-56

Sep 23 &25 ETHNIC NEIGHBORHOODS

ETHNIC CHURCHES AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS

Sharlene Hesse-Biber, "The Ethnic Ghetto as Private Welfare."

John Bodnar, The Transplanted, 144-68

Steinberg, Race and Ethnicity, Chap. 6

Sep 30 & Oct 2 ETHNIC WOMEN

ETHNIC FAMILIES

John Bodnar, The Transplanted, 57-84

Hasia Diner, Erin's Daughters

Oct 7 & 9 NATIVISM

IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION

Reimers, Unwelcome Strangers, 1-24

Oct 14 & 16 CATCH-UP & REVIEW

MID-TERM EXAMINATION

Oct 21 & 23 ETHNIC WORKER

ETHNICS AND UNIONS/RADICALS

John Bodnar, The Transplanted, 85-116, 197-204

Oct 28 & 30 ETHNIC ENTERPRISE

VARYING RATES OF ECONOMIC SUCCESS

Ivan H. Light, "Rotating Credit Associations."

Steinberg, Race and Ethnicity, Chap. 3

John Bodnar, The Transplanted, 117-43, 169-97, 205-16

Reimers, Unwelcome Strangers, 87-108

Nov 4 & 6 CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT: WE SHALL OVERCOME

CIVIL RIGHTS DEFERRED

Steinberg, Race and Ethnicity, Chaps. 1 & 7

Nov 11 & 13 CIVIL RIGHTS: AFTER THE MOVEMENT YEARS

ETHNIC POLITICS

Steinberg, Race and Ethnicity, Chaps. 3, 4, 5, 8 & 14

Nov 18 &20 NEWEST IMMIGRANTS: PUSH AND PULL

NEWEST IMMIGRANTS: OPEN DOOR FOR ALL?

Reimers, Unwelcome Strangers, 25-86, 109-155

Steinberg, Race and Ethnicity, Chap. 12

Nov 25 THE WHITE ETHNIC REVIVAL

Steinberg, Race and Ethnicity, Chap. 13

Book Review due.

Nov 27 Thanksgiving Vacation

Dec 2 & 4 NEO-NATIVISM V. MULTICULTURALISM

POST ETHNICITY IN MASS CULTURE

Steinberg, Race and Ethnicity, Chaps. 12 & 15

Dec 9 CATCH-UP & REVIEW

December 16;

1 PM FINAL EXAMINATION