American Cultures/English 31, Sec. 1

The Model Minority


Class meetings: Mon., Wed. 12:00 - 2:00 in 200 Wheeler Hall
and Fri. 12:00 - 2:30 in 100 Wheeler Hall

Instructor: Annalee Newitz
Office Hours: M, W 2:30 - 4:00, location TBA
You can reach me by e-mail and on the Web.

This course will explore what it means to be part of a "model minority" group, such as Asian-Americans and European Jews, and what it means to be a "role model" for a minority group like African-Americans. Assignments include reading literature and popular fiction, and watching several movies. Each text we read deals with why minority groups are said to need "role models," and the problems caused when we imagine some minority groups to be more "model" than others. We will address the relationship between "minority" and "mainstream" identity, and how seemingly positive representations can exacerbate tensions between racial and ethnic groups.

Assigned Readings

Books:

Eat a Bowl of Tea, Louis Chu
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
The Assistant, Bernard Malamud
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas, Maya Angelou

Movies:

>> Special Note: Movies will be shown on most Fridays -- check syllabus for exact times. <<

The Wedding Banquet, dir. Ang Lee, 1993
Zelig, dir. Woody Allen, 1983
Living on Tokyo Time, dir. Steven Okazaki, 1987
Waiting to Exhale, dir. Forest Whitaker, 1995
Tales from the Hood, dir. Rusty Cundieff, 1995

Articles/Excerpts:

>> These are available in a reader which you can buy at University Copy, off of Channing Way, 1/2 block west of Telegraph Ave. in the "tunnel mall." <<

Assorted newspaper articles on model minorities and minority role models
"Beyond Ethnicity," Werner Sollers
"Racial Formation" and "The Racial State," Michael Omi and Howard Winant
"An Account of the Captivity of Elizabeth Hanson," supposedly transcribed by Samuel Bownas
"'Whose Country is This?' Eugenics and Race," Diane B. Paul
"American California," and "Oldtimer's Tales," Victor G. Nee and Bret DeBary Nee
"Representations of Whiteness in the Black Imagination," bell hooks
"The Myth of Ethnic Success: The Jewish Horatio Alger Story," Stephen Steinberg
"Negroes are Anti-Semitic Because They're Anti-White," James Baldwin
"Home Sweet Haym," Jenna Weissman Joselit
"Is Yellow Black or White?" Gary Y. Okihiro
"The Pitfalls of Racial Reasoning," Cornel West
"How We Overcame: The Psychology of Black Success," Audrey Edwards and Dr. Craig K. Polite
"Ethnic Inequalities in Relation to IQ," and "The Demography of Intelligence," Richard Herrnstein and Charlies Murray
"Tulip Browne," Gerald Vizenor

Syllabus

Assignments

There will be two take home midterm exams and a take home final exam. The midterms are each worth 35% of your grade, and the final is worth 30%. You can substitute an 8-page paper for the two midterms if you like -- topics must be cleared with the instructor.

Links on the Web

Resources

Publications

Groups

This page designed and maintained by Annalee Newitz.