Race, Gender and Justice 80-341 Fall 99

Martha Harty, Ph.D. Friday 9 - 11:50

Phone: 688-8570(w), 422-1043(h) BH150=>PH A19c

Email: mh51@andrew

Office: BH 366 (Office phone 268-8532, for office hours only, no v-mail.)

Office Hours: TBA

Preliminary Syllabus: For Updates, check www/andrew/course/80-341

Grading

Links

Note: Assignments shown are due on that day, in that class.

8/27 Class 1: Introductions, course overview, process, groundrules, expectations

9/3 Class 2: Universal values and cultural relativity

What are the criteria against which we judge speech, actions and policies?

Assignments: Bring in a personal artifact, and your reading discussion choices*

Readings: Young, "Displacing the Distributive Paradigm";

Stuart Hampshire "Justice is Strife"

9/10 Class 3: Justice (What do we mean by…)

Social justice

Oppression

Assignments: Bring in a personal artifact, and your reading discussion choices*

Readings: Young "The Five Faces of Oppression"; Frye "Oppression";

Bartky "On Psychological Oppression"

9/17 Class 4: The "Justice System"

Readings: Resnick "From the Senate Judiciary to the Country Courthouse" in Hill, ed.; & TBA

9/24 Class 5: Racism in the Justice System

Readings: Miller "African American Males in the Criminal Justice System;

& TBA

10/1 Class 6: Racism

Nature & scope; Examples; Why it’s a problem

Denial of racism—a form of racism?

Readings: Zack "The Ordinary Concept of Race"; Kleg TBA

10/8 Class 7: Whiteness to be continued

Assignments: Find the New Abolitionist Society on the web. Read a variety of documents you find there. Fill out the Assignment Handout.

Readings: McIntosh "White Privelege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"

10/15 8. EXAM

10/22 9. Sexism—

Global perspective

Readings: Lorde, "Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference" in Rothenberg

11/5 10. Sex and Race: Women of Color

Readings: Cleage "The Other Facts of Life" and "Basic Training"; Alexander "She’s No Lady, …";

11/12 11. Seminar Report (SR) I: Legal aid programs

SR II: Mandatory minimum sentencing

12. SR III: Affirmative action

SR IV: Workplace diversity training

(incl sexual harassment)

11/19 13. SR V: Multicultural education

SR VI: Campus diversity initiatives

12/3 14. Wrap up: Action and Healing

 

Overview of Requirements and GRADING:

 

The basic plan is to spend half of each class on the reading for that week (summary by a student and discussion) and the other half in discussions, exercises, viewing videos, seminar reports, or talking with a visitor. There will be a short break in the middle of each class.

 

Note: Because this is a small, seminar-type class, and because so much of the learning occurs through class discussions, it is very important for you to attend and participate. Attendance will affect your grade. The reading will be 30-40 pages per week. Most of the reading materials will be handed out in class; some will be on the web.

 

Working in groups, you will do in-depth research on one topic and present it as a seminar report to the class (35-40 minutes). You will also be responsible for a final paper (15-20 pages) either extending the seminar report or on another topic. These will be discussed in more detail in class.

 

Grading:

Attendance: 25%

Reading: 25%

Seminar report: 25%

Final paper: 25%

 

The total possible points you can accumulate equal 100. 85 and up is an A. 75-84 is a B. 65-74 is a C. 55 to 64 is a D.

Note: I expect everyone to get an A or B, and this usually holds true.