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Lecturer(s)
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Havlíček Jakub, Mgr. Ph.D.
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Course content
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Detailed outline of the course with readings is available at: http://www.ksoc.upol.cz/fileadmin/ksa/FEINBERG/Culture_and_Race_in_America_SYLLABUS.docx Unit 1a. Introduction to American Culture and American Studies; contradictions and ambiguities in American attitudes toward race. Unit 1b. Anthropological Approaches to American Culture. Unit 2a. Race as a Cultural Construct rather than a Biological Reality Unit 2b. Native American Migration and Settlement; Europeans' first arrival, settlement, and relations with the indigenous people Unit 3a. Overview of Native American-European relations through 19th Century Unit 3b. African Slavery and Plantation Life Unit 4a. Religious Freedom, New England Puritanism, & the Protestant Ethic (connects with Max Weber's discussion of the, capitalist economics, and how religion helped to shape American thinking.) Unit 4b. British Colonies and the War of Independence; Foundational Principles of Individualism & Freedom (E.g., "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal?" -But what does that mean, given that many framers of the Declaration & Constitution owned African slaves?). Unit 5a. Federalism, Monroe Doctrine, Slavery, Indian Removal, the Mexican War, and the Civil War Unit 5b. Reconstruction & the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan (also Railroad Construction & Chinese Exclusion; Little Big Horn & Wounded Knee; annexation of Hawai'i; the Spanish-American War, w/acquisition of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, & Philippines) Unit 6a. Class Conflict & the Rise of Trade Unions (the Gilded Age; Populism; T Roosevelt; Panama Canal; WW I Unit 6b. The Great Depression, FDR, & the New Deal Unit 7a. WWII and The Cold War Unit 7b. Civil Rights Movement of 1950s & 60s Unit 8a. Black Nationalism, Black Power, The Nation of Islam, & Malcolm X Unit 8b. Afrocentrism and American Education Unit 9a. Wounded Knee, Alcatraz Occupation, & Berkeley's TWLF Student Strike Unit 9b. 1960s Student Movement & the Vietnam War Unit 10a. Moynihan Report on the African American Family; Oscar Lewis's "Culture of Poverty" Unit10b. Tally's Corner revisited Unit 11a. American Kinship as a Symbolic Construct Unit 11b. Cultural Analysis of Kinship & Its Relationship to "Culture of Poverty" Discourse; Race and Language in American Education Unit 12a. Civil Rights Act, Affirmative Action & Concerns about Police Violence Unit 12b. Race & Immigration in the era of Brexit & Trump
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming)
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Learning outcomes
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This course will be an introduction to the topics of culture and race in America. The course will provide introduction to the topics of: American culture and American studies, Anthropological approaches to American culture, race as a cultural construct, native American migration and settlement, native-American - European relations, slavery in America, religion in America, British colonies and the War of Independence, Federalism, Monroe Doctrine, Slavery, Indian Removal, the Mexican War, and the Civil War, Reconstruction & the Rise of the Ku Klux Klan (also Railroad Construction & Chinese Exclusion; Little Big Horn & Wounded Knee; annexation of Hawai'i; the Spanish-American War, w/acquisition of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, & Philippines), Class Conflict & the Rise of Trade Unions, the Great Depression, WWII and the Cold War, civil rights movement, black nationalism, black power, the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X, 1960's student movement, American kinship as a symbolic construct, Race & Immigration in the era of Brexit & Trump.
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Prerequisites
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English language skills at a sufficient level
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Written exam
English language skills at a sufficient level; class attendance; participation in class discussions
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Recommended literature
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Alexis de Tocqueville:. Democracy in America.
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Camp, Stephanie:. "'I Could Not Stay There': Enslaved Women, Truancy and the Geography of Everyday Forms of Resistance in the Antebellum Plantation South" (Slavery and Abolition 23(3):1-20; December 2002).
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R. Feinberg: Muskrats of Brady Lake:. A Case of American Totemism (The Gamut, Winter 1982, Pp 20-26).
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