I have seen Crash but would suggestions how we might use it effectively in class as well. Some students pointed out the distinct social class messages in the movie. Any thoughts???
>>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 05/26/06 1:43 PM >>> Several semesters ago we purchased the PBS 3-part series, Race: the power of an illusion. Try this link: www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm Or do a search by title. I highly recommend the series - the first tape (I actually use the first 15 or so minutes and the last 10) is excellent for Intro and I use parts of the other two for Social Problems and American Minorities (there is a fascinating segment on FHA housing policy which I sometimes use in Intro, too). I like your idea, Chris, for a lesson. You might consider dividing students by shirt or shoe color. I have done this rather than physical features. I sometimes give special privileges to the "Blues" (for example) like half the answers to a quiz (which turns out to be a mock quiz - much later) - after a while, I ask how we could make it "fair" (compensate those who didn't get half the answers). You can simply give out quizzes - one category of students gets sheets with half the answers filled in. However, when you pass them out, they look similar. Another think I do, which students tell me leaves a lasting impact, is bring a brown grocery bag - I cut it in half and tape a large piece to the podium or wall. Eventually someone asks about it (and I talk about how pieces of brown bags were taped to entrances to libraries, etc., - if you were light you could go in on "white" days and if darker, entrance was denied. (Also, I mention the coffee with cream "test" at the cafes during segregation.) Susan St. John-Jarvis, Assoc. Professor of Sociology Corning Community College 1 Academic Drive Corning, NY 14830 (607) 962-9526 or secretary 962-9239 ----- Original Message ----- From: Chris Scheitle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, May 25, 2006 6:42 pm Subject: TEACHSOC: Construction of Race Categories Exercise > > Hi everyone, > I am prepping an Intro course for later this summer and wanted to get > your thoughts on an exercise I was thinking of doing. The goal is to > show students that our standard conceptions of "race" are arbitrary, > socially constructed, and represent an extreme collapsing of > continuouscharacteristics (i.e. there is actually a wide range of > skin colors, > not just white and black...). > > I was thinking that I could have them try and group themselves into > three 'races' based not on skin color but on hair color with the idea > being that they will run into more of a range of hair colors, not just > pure blonde, brown, etc. Follow questions would be: Where are the > lines drawn? Why don't we categorize by hair color or some other > traitinstead of skin color? Couldn't we create more categories > besides the > white\black ones...white-white, light white, white, dark white...just > like we could create more hair color categories. Then I would discuss > alternative classification schemes that do recognize more 'races' (the > standard example is Brazil). > > Has anyone else done something like this? Any other ideas? Do you > seeany fatal flaws with this exercise? > > Thanks for your feedback! > > Chris > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Teaching Sociology" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/teachsoc -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
