Whiteness
AFAM 222
Fall 2008 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 223 |
Whiteness is a course geared toward exploring the historical and performative fictive constructions of "whiteness." At the start of the seminar, we will identify aspects of whiteness supposedly unique to white people, which have often been used to claim superiority and to establish a white standard. Subsequently, the course will be organized around three units. Each unit has, as its center, a question. As an introduction, Unit One asks, What's a white person to do? about racism,and offers an overview of the field of whiteness studies. Unit Two will take its cue from one of whiteness studies theorist Richard Dyer's interests--Orientalism in Western art--and expand Dyer's critique to looking at one nearby art institution, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, focusing on its fall exhibition, "Faith & Fortune: Five Centuries of European Masterworks." From visual art, we will move to looking at the performing arts and film--How does whiteness perform itself in popular culture? Investigations might include redneck/blue-collar humor, the Wigger movement, and Southern hip-hop singers. Finally, in Unit Three, we will focus on the advocacy of whiteness through regulation and law (How does whiteness protect itself?), including several social-action movements such as the antiabortion group Operation Rescue. |
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Essential Capabilities:
None |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AFAM |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
Major Readings:
Richard Dyer, WHITE; Richard Delgado, CRITICAL WHITE STUDIES; Fine, Weis, Pruitt, Burns, Editors, OFF WHITE: READINGS IN POWER, PRIVILEGE & RESISTANCE.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Several short writing assignments, a mid-term paper, and a final paper. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Informed and regular class participation. |
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