Paper 1

Upload to turnitin.com assignment Paper #1.

50 possible points.

Format:

1. Times font, 12 point only, 1.5 spaced

2. 3 pages minimum, 6 pages maximum

3. Formats preferred include .doc and .docx,

4. Formats accepted .rtf and .txt 

5. You don't have to write in essay format, you can just number your responses.

6. Include Name, Date, Assignment (Paper #1), Class (ICS 4), Title (Anything you want that relates to the content of the paper)

7. Filename should be <lastname.firstnameP1> so lee.ethanP1 would be the filename for my paper. Use the same name when turnitin asks you for a name of your upload.

Topics:

Write about a personal experience with racism in your life. Approximately 1 student out of 100 has no notable personal experience with racism that they feel compelled to write about. In that case, you can interview a student who isn't in our class and one who hasn't taken ICS4 in the past and write the paper from their perspective.

Answer the following based on lectures, class discussion, and the readings.

1. Describe the event or experience. Be sure to contextualize the incident by including country, city, state, year, your age, race, ethnicity, and racial demographics of the area etc.

2. Which definition of racism best fits your experience with racism:

  • "hating on a particular racial group"
  • "creates or reproduces structures of domination based on racial significations or identities" - Omi
  •  "a system of advantage based on race" - Tatum
  • or one of the definitions we came up in our racism definition exercise.
  • or do we need to expand our definition of racism? Please elaborate on why.

3. What type of racism was it?

  •  Personal attack including verbal or physical assaults Michael Richards (hate), Don Imus (not really hateful)
  • Institutionalized racism (schools, businesses, laws, public policy, government, racial profiling)
  • Internalized racism (directed at one's own racial group)
  • Smiley face racism (John and Glen)
  • Unintentional racism ("Oh, let me drive since I know you Asians don't drive very well" so not a Michael Richards type of hate filled racism, or even a Don Imus type of comment, but racist nevertheless)
  • Differential treatment of some sort.
  • A type of racism not listed above, please explain.

4. How did you deal with this racism? We discussed in class: nothing, confrontation, suing, protesting, raising awareness etc. )

5. Did you talk to your parents or peers about this experience? Was it helpful?

6. In hindsight, what are some effective strategies to deal with this type of racism?

7. What was the impact of this particular event/experience? Economic, emotional, have to go to a different school, switch jobs, etc ? 

8.  Did this experience influence the way you think about that particular racial group? Does it still influence you today? Explain.

9. Asking Critical Thinking Questions - What questions does week 1-2 raise for you? (Questions like, "Can I come to class 5 minutes late every class since I have to drop my daughter off at preschool?" are not critical thinking questions relevant to the class.) I'm looking for questions similar to the ones in the FAQ or anything that you are not clear about. If you are writing about someone else's experience with racism, you need to write your own questions here.

10. Sharing Reactions - What reactions do you have to what we have discussed in weeks 1-2? You don't have to write anything for this question if you have nothing to say about what we've covered the first 2 weeks, but try to think of something. "I think how a music video constructs race was something I would have never thought of until I took this class..." would be an example.

11.  Do I have your permission to share the paper with the class during a discussion? I can  change your name and other identifiers like school names etc. just let me know.

I will grade on completeness, clarity, and whether or not you gave some thought to the assignment and connected it to class discussions, lectures and readings. Make sure you address all 11 questions. Please review this page of common mistakes made by students. Minimum 3 pages maximum 6 pages.


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