First Essay Assignment:
Students are expected to write a 5-7 page, double-spaced essay in response to one of three questions. In these essays, they are expected to refer to at least two of the assigned readings. Outside sources (e.g. web sources, journal articles, newspaper articles, books) are encouraged, but not necessary.
The three essay questions require students to critically analyze key arguments emerging from the readings. The first question asks students to decide whether the current debates among natural scientists and anthropologists are relevant to the social scientific study of racial politics and to the lives of average citizens. The second question asks students to compare and contrast different views about the nature of ethnicity and ethnic identity offered in the readings. The third question asks students to consider whether and how historical claims of “peoplehood” and land matter to contemporary nationalist movements.
Second Essay Assignment:
Students are expected to write a 5-7 page, double-spaced essay in response to one of three questions. In these essays, they are expected to refer to at least two of the assigned readings. Outside sources (e.g. web sources, journal articles, newspaper articles, books) are encouraged, but not necessary.
The three essay questions require students to critically analyze key arguments emerging from the readings. The first question asks students to evaluate William Julius Wilson’s prescription for addressing joblessness in America’s urban centers. The second question asks students to discuss the factors social scientists have identified that contribute to or hinder ethnic/racial mobilization and to apply these factors to three cases. The third question asks students to discuss the tensions attendant to viewing economic, social, and cultural rights as human rights.
Third Essay Assignment:
Students are expected to write a 7 -10 page, double-spaced essay in response to one of two questions. In these essays, they are expected to refer to at least two of the assigned readings. Outside sources (e.g. web sources, journal articles, newspaper articles, books) are encouraged, but not necessary.
The first question asks students to contribute an essay to a new edition of Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? The second question asks students to discuss the tensions between stated commitments to humanitarian intervention and the reality of national interests in predicting whether interventions will be carried out and why.
Student Work
Student work appears courtesy of the author and is used with permission.
Essay 2: “American Poverty” (PDF) (by Mikala P. Streeter)
