Subject: ETHS

Term: Fall 2011

ETHS 251A: Oral Performances and Ethnic Identities (100/10182)

TR 02:45-04:00 PM Aug 29-Dec 09

Doho, G

This course is an in-depth study of performances that have helped to shape and anchor the identities of different non-Western ethnic groups. The course will explore the multi-generic composition of the oral epic, which combines forms as diverse as narrative, song, praise poetry, theater, music and historical oratory. ETHS 251A will provide a comprehensive overview of oral performances while focusing on a particular area or areas of Africa, Asia, the United States, or Latin America. In the African continent, for example, the focus will be on the Madinka Sundjata corpus, dealing with the empire of Mali; the life of Shaka, the Zulu in South Africa; while in the United States, the narrative life of Frederick Douglas, blues and negro-spiritual will be considered as the sites of ethnic discourse. Using a comparative approach, the course will examine aesthetic issues of oral performance, the written word, interactions between music and voice, and interaction between poetic and prose narrative forms. The performance texts will be augmented by field recordings and in-class demonstrations by griots and other storytellers from Africa and the United States.

ETHS 252A: Introduction to African-American Studies (100/3447)

TR 01:15-02:30 PM Aug 29-Dec 09

Hall, S

This course is designed to introduce students to the study of Black History, cultures, economics, and politics. Students will learn about the development of the field by exploring theoretical questions, methodological approaches, and major themes that have shaped the study of black people, primarily in the U.S. context. This is a seminar-style, discussion-based course that emphasizes critical analysis and expository writing. Offered as ETHS 252A and HSTY 252A.

ETHS 253B: Introduction to Latin American History (100/3220)

TR 10:00-11:15 AM Aug 29-Dec 09

Lasso, M

This course provides an introduction to the historical and cultural development of Latin America, in an attempt to identify the forces, both internal and external, which shape the social, economic and political realities in present day Latin America. Beginning with its pre-Columbian civilizations, the course moves through the conquest and colonial period of the Americas, the wars of independence and the emergence of nation-states in the nineteenth century, and the issues confronting the region throughout the turbulent twentieth century, such as migration and urbanization, popular protest and revolution, environmental degradation, great power intervention, the drug trade and corruption, and the integration of the region into the global economy. Offered as ETHS 253B and HSTY 136.

ETHS 340: A History of Workers in the United States (100/10103)

MWF 11:30-12:20 PM Aug 29-Dec 09

Flores, J

This course examines the experience of working people in the United States with an emphasis on twentieth-century social movements. It explores the lives of the women and men, skilled and unskilled, and rural and urban laborers that produce the goods and provide the services that society consumes. At crucial moments, working people have created or helped sustain national social movements in an effort to improve some aspect of their lives. We therefore will assess laborers in relation to several known and less known American social movements, such as the eight-hour day movement during the late nineteenth century, the peace movement during WWI, and the Civil Rights movement in the wake of WWII. Throughout the course we will also discuss the politics of time-managed work; the influence of public policy and government institutions; the role of unions within a competitive market economy; the relationship between industrial economies and functional blue-collar communities; and the correlation between immigration and globalization. Offered as HSTY 340, HSTY 430,and ETHS 340.

ETHS 364: Dictatorship and Democracy in Modern Latin America (100/7004)

TR 02:45-04:00 PM Aug 29-Dec 09

Tartakoff, L

Examination of political leadership in 20th-century Latin America, exploring the nature, causes, and consequences of dictatorship and democracy in the region, moving from the collapse of oligarchic rule and the emergence of populism in the 1930s and 1940s, to the end of democracy and establishment of military regimes in the 1960s and 1970s, and ultimately to the contemporary processes of democratization and economic liberalization. Offered as ETHS 364, POSC 364, and POSC 464.

ETHS 393: Advanced Readings in the History of Race (100/9993)

MWF 10:30-11:20 AM Aug 29-Dec 09

Flores, J

This course examines the concept of race as a social construction that carries political and economic implications. We begin by examining the histories of the early racial taxonomists (e.g., Bernier, Linnaeus, and Blumenbach among others) and the contexts that informed their writings. We then assess how the concept of race changed from the nineteenth to the twentieth century in the United States. We conclude by evaluating how the ideology of race has influenced U.S. domestic life and foreign policy at specific historical moments. Offered as HSTY 393, HSTY 493, and ETHS 393.