[Header image is Rosie Lee Tompkins’s “Untitled” (1985)]
* Activities marked with an asterisk are synchronous. Everything else can be done on your own schedule.
week one
Tuesday, 9/1 - Welcome
[Recording]
In this welcome lecture, Prof. Alexy will talk through the logistics of the class – how we will think and learn together given that we are online. No reading is due.
Wednesday, 9/2
Lecture guide due at 5pm
* Thursday, 9/3 - Why Study Race, Gender, and Nation?
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Lecture live from 4-5:20pm]
In this lecture, Prof. Alexy begins to introduce content for the course. As homework before this session, please spend 10+ minutes reading through this website to familiarize yourself with our plans for the semester.
No reading is due.
Friday, September 4
Please complete this introductory survey by 5pm
Please note that you will have to log in to your UM account.
week two
Monday, 9/7
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Tuesday, 9/8 - Keywords
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Lecture live from 4-5:20pm; Recording will be posted]
Michael Omi and Howard Winant. 2015. "Introduction" to their Racial Formation in the United States. New York: Routledge. Link goes to Google Reader preview, where you can read the introduction.
Benedict Anderson. 2006. "Introduction" to his Imagined Communities: Reflection on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso. Pages: 1-7.
Wednesday, 9/9
Discussion questions and Lecture Guide due at 5pm
* Thursday, 9/10 - Intersections
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
Bonnie Dill and Ruth Zambrana. 2009. "Thinking Critically About Inequality: An Emerging Lens." From their Emerging Intersections: Race, Class, and Gender in Theory, Policy, and Practice. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Pages: 1-21.
week three
Monday, 9/14
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Tuesday, 9/15 - Suffrage
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Lecture live from 4-5:20pm; Recording will be posted]
Martha Jones. 2020. Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. New York: Basic Books. Pages: 1-68. The link is to the UM library's e-book, which can be checked out for one day at a time.
Wednesday, 9/16
Discussion questions and Lecture Guide due at 5pm
* Thursday, 9/17 - Citizenship
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
Martha Jones. 2020. Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. New York: Basic Books. Pages: 69-148.
week four
Monday, 9/21
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Tuesday, 9/22 - Climbing
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Lecture live from 4-5:20pm; Recording will be posted]
Martha Jones. 2020. Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. New York: Basic Books. Pages: 149-202.
OPTIONAL - Barbara Grossman-Thompson and Dannah Dennis. 2017. "Citizenship in the Name of the Mother: Nationalism, Social Exclusion, and Gender in Contemporary Nepal." positions: asia critique 25(4): 795-820.
Dr. Dennis will be joining our class, so please think of questions to ask her if you want.
Wednesday, 9/23
Discussion questions and Lecture Guide due at 5pm
* Thursday, 9/24 - Running
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
Martha Jones. 2020. Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. New York: Basic Books. Pages: 203-278.
+ Chisholm '72 Unbought and Unbossed. 2005. Shola Lynch, dir. 75 minutes.
You might need to log in to access this film.
week five
Monday, 9/28
NO discussion questions due.
Tuesday, 9/29 - Liberty
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Lecture live from 4-5:20pm; Recording will be posted]
No new reading or discussion questions due. Please come to class ready to continue the discussion of Vanguard and Unbought and Unbossed.
Wednesday, 9/30
NO discussion questions due. Lecture Guide due at 5pm
* Thursday, 10/1 - Freedom
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
No new reading or discussion questions due. Please come to class ready to continue the discussion of Vanguard and Unbought and Unbossed.
Friday, 10/2
First thoughts on your final project due at 5pm on Canvas
week six
Monday, 10/5
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Tuesday, 10/6 - Colonialism
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Lecture live from 4-5:20pm; Recording will be posted]
Lila Abu-Lughod. 2008. "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others." American Anthropologist 104(3): 783-790.
OPTIONAL - John Bowen. 2007. Why The French Don't Like Headscarves: Islam, the State, and Public Space. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Wednesday, 10/7
Discussion questions and Lecture Guide due at 5pm
* Thursday, 10/8 - Regulations
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
Dalya's Other Country. 2017. Julia Meltzer, dir. 74 minutes.
week seven
Monday, 10/12
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Tuesday, 10/13 - Family
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Lecture live from 4-5:20pm; Recording will be posted]
First Person Plural. 2000. Deann Borshay Liem, dir.
Wednesday, 10/14
Discussion questions and Lecture Guide due at 5pm
* Thursday, 10/15 - Disconnections
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
Elena J. Kim. 2010. "Adoptee Cultural Citizenship" to her Adopted Territory: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Politics of Belonging. Durham: Duke University Press. Pages: 101-131.
Friday, 10/16
The plan for your final project is due at 5pm
week eight
Monday, 10/19
Nothing due - all discussion questions this week are due on Wednesday.
Tuesday, 10/20 - Sovereignties
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Lecture live from 4-5:20pm; Recording will be posted]
Mark Rifkin. 2017. "Around 1978: Family, Culture, and Race in the Federal Production of Indianness." From, Critically Sovereign: Indigenous Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, edited by Joanne Barker. Durham: Duke University Press. Pages: 169-206.
Wednesday, 10/21
Both sets of discussion questions and Lecture Guide due at 5pm
* Thursday, 10/22 - Law
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
J. Kehaulani Kauanui. 2017. "Indigenous Hawaiian Sexuality and the Politics of Nationalist Decolonization." From, Critically Sovereign: Indigenous Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, edited by Joanne Barker. Durham: Duke University Press. Pages: 45-68.
week nine
Monday, 10/26
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Tuesday, 10/27 - Organizing
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Lecture live from 4-5:20pm; Recording will be posted]
American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs. 2013. Grace Lee, dir. 82 minutes.
Wednesday, 10/28
Discussion questions and Lecture Guide due at 5pm
* Thursday, 10/29 - Red Lines
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
Ta-Nehisi Coates. 2014. "The Case for Reparations." The Atlantic.
week ten
Tuesday, 11/3 - No class meeting
I believe that Election Day should be a national holiday in order to make it easier for people to vote. I know that not everyone in this class is a US citizen, and that some of you are likely voting absentee or by mail, but I want to do what I can to give you time off from the work of this class to make it easier for you to vote. If you are able, please use the time you would normally devote to this class – reading and watching the lecture – to spend on instead on voting, however you do so.
Wednesday, 11/4
Discussion questions due at 5pm
* Thursday, 11/5 - Pleasure Activism
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
Please listen to the "Pleasure Activism" episode of Possibilities podcast. 67 minutes.
week eleven
Monday, 11/9
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Tuesday, 11/10 - Education
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Lecture live from 4-5:20pm; Recording will be posted]
Please listen to episodes 1 and 2 of Nice White Parents (a podcast), "The Book of Statuses" and "I Still Believe in It."
Wednesday, 11/11
Discussion questions and Lecture Guide due at 5pm
* Thursday, 11/12 - Segregation
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
Please listen to episodes 3 and 4 of Nice White Parents (a podcast), "This is Our School, How Dare You?" and "Here's Another Fun Thing You Can Do."
Friday, 11/13
The rough draft of your final project is due at 5pm
week twelve
Monday, 11/16
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Tuesday, 11/17 - Learning on Stolen Land
Matthew Johnson. 2020. Undermining Racial Justice: How One University Embraced Inclusion and Inequality. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Pages: 1-66.
Wednesday, 11/18
Discussion questions and Lecture Guide due at 5pm
* Thursday, 11/19 - Student Activists
Matthew Johnson. 2020. Undermining Racial Justice: How One University Embraced Inclusion and Inequality. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Pages: 67-143.
Thanksgiving Break - no class or discussion sections between 11/21 and 11/29.
week thirteen
Monday, 11/30
Discussion questions due at 5pm
Tuesday, 12/1 - Racial Innocence
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Lecture live from 4-5:20pm; Recording will be posted]
Matthew Johnson. 2020. Undermining Racial Justice: How One University Embraced Inclusion and Inequality. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Pages: 144-258.
* Thursday, 12/3 - Racial Justice
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
No new reading due.
Today we are lucky to have a visit from Prof. Matthew Johnson. Please think about what questions you would like to ask him.
Friday, 12/4
Your peer comments on final project rough drafts are due at 5pm
week fourteen
* Tuesday, 12/8 - Final Thoughts and Future Questions
[Optional "show and tell" from 3:45; Discussion live from 4-5:20pm]
No reading due.
** Please plan to attend this last class meeting synchronously.
The final version of your project is due Friday, December 11 at 5pm.
This course does not have any final exam.