Syllabus

Course Requirements

Your Instructor

statement on Plagiarism

Assignments

Assignment 1:  The Evolution of a Personal Cultural History  2 pages (more if necessary).
"When the concept of race, ethnicity, religion or culture is applied to us, it changes the way we think about ourselves, and as a result, what we do, what we learn, and what we are."

 Our identity is shaped by the cultures that we were born into and the way those cultures have been defined. Some of us might protest: "No, we are individuals with our own names and identities." As individuals, we see ourselves as unique. We also identify with other humans, knowing that all unique individuals everywhere have similar needs and values, such as happiness, love, honesty, respect, recognition, etc., And off course, part of our identity may be shaped by our social "class," which has also conferred upon us different identities, depending on our families' socio-economic position.  If  we have high enough income levels or a broad enough education,  part of our identity may be formed by  a global culture that privileges  a cosmopolitan identity.  After all,  scientists identify with each other all over the world, despite differing cultural backgrounds; market forces shape common behaviors  and tastes everywhere  for those privileged enough to consume.  And as international travel has become faster, easier, and cheaper,  music, art, food,  film, and people flow across the globe, providing the opportunity to adopt elements of other cultures for ourselves; those elements may become part of our identities.  Indeed, for many Berkeley students,  personal history and identity are shaped by a "convergence of cultures."  We may be of Irish stock, but our favorite food might be Italian; we may be of Asian descent, but our favorite music might be American hip hop; our parents might speak the language of  their homeland; we might grow up speaking the language of another culture or ethnic group.   In short, our personal histories are shaped by our unique personalities, and by needs and desires that are common to all human beings.  And our identities may also be constructed by the forces of globalization that create common behaviors and cosmopolitan attitudes, thus weaning us from our own ethnic and religious identities.

But our personal histories are also shaped by those ethnic and religious identities that globalization and universal humanism have attempted to weaken.  And those ethnic and/or religious identities--how they were formed and their impact on our lives--are the focus of this assignment.  Those identities can often be seen as "collective" or "shared" identities with others in a unique cultural group.  They are unique --not to us as individuals--but to the cultural group that confers an identity upon us.  Our own identity is shaped by their language, their history, their traditions, their culture, their unique values, even the physical characteristics that we share with them.  We may accept these features as part of our own individual identity, or we may reject them, but they have shaped us nonetheless.  We may claim that these shared ethnic and/or religious identities are artificially constructed and foisted upon us, but  we have still been placed or placed ourselves in particular ethnic/religious/cultural categories that, in part, for better or for worse,define who we are.

This assignment asks you to write your personal history as it is shaped by your ethnicity, religious group, and/or culture in which you were raised.  Distinguish facets of your history and identity that were shaped by your conscious choice as an individual apart from your cultural group from your personal history as a member of that  larger cultural group.  Without falling into the trap of stereotypes, consider the aspects of your  communal culture and the history of that culture which have shaped who you are today. 

• You should incorporate material from this week's reading that provide insight into your personal cultural history.
  

Here are some questions to consider as you write your personal cultural history: 

• In what ways have you learned to interact with people of your own ethnic or religious group differently than you interact with people of other groups?  What are some examples of the differences? 
• When you were growing up, when did you realize you were a member of one group and not another one?  What was it that led to that realization? 
• What beliefs and/or values do you hold, that you can trace to your ethnic or religious membership in a particular cultural group and how are they different than the beliefs of people from other cultures? 
• Did you ever feel that you could trust people in your own cultural group –even if you didn’t know them—more than you could trust people in a different group?  If so, what are some examples in your life?
• What role did cultural oppression/ dominance and or racism play in shaping your identity?  Was there a particular person or social group that placed you into a certain cultural category either in a positive or negative way?  (For example, many are taught by their parents and teachers to be "proud" of their ethnic or religious background. That pride becomes an ingredient of their identity.   On the other hand, I have an African American friend who first became aware that she was in a "different" category from her white friends when she was not allowed to join the "Brownies," i.e. young Girl Scouts, because of her ethnicity).
• Remember:

"we, human beings, react to the categories that are used to classify us. We care about and can be transformed by the way we are categorized. We are responsive to labels, concepts and beliefs about the kinds that are applied to us or to others."

Assignment 2: Your research Question 
Think about an ethnic or religious conflict (or the absence of conflict when all indicators are there that there 'should' be one) or the resolution of a particularly horrible conflict which intrigues you, and which requires an explanation.  It can be a conflict or conflict resolution that is often discussed  but never explained to your satisfaction, or it can be a conflict/conflict resolution that you don't know much about, and which you would like to be able to research and better understand. Or you can do a comparative study, which involves two conflicts that bring an important explanation or resolution to light.

The problem should involve the following elements:
1) The conflict/ absence of conflict/ resolution of a conflict   is a puzzle:  for example, Bosnia succumbed to violent ethnic conflict when, before the conflict started, different ethnic groups appeared to peacefully co-exist, co-mingle, and even inter-marry.  Why? 
Or.....Bosnia succumbed to violent ethnic conflict when Bulgaria, with a similar mix of ethnic groups did not.  Why violent conflict in Bosnia, but peace in Bulgaria? 
Or......Why does Sweden, the paragon of a peaceful welfare state, have the highest rate of violent attacks on foreigners of any West European country? 

2) It must be a conflict whose causes and/or consequences requires an explanation.  Ideally, it should start with the word "why"  or “how.” Many questions that may be of interest to you might not seem at first glance to be "why" questions, but if you analyze them fully, there is a "why" question at their root.

3) It must be a conflict (or absence of conflict--or resolution of conflict)  that is important in terms that are broader than your own curiousity.  That is, it must involve an issue or outcome that is important in theoretical terms or in terms of some important human value and/or policy.  You must be able to justify your choice of you research in terms of its larger importance. 

4). You should provide brief evidence to show that the puzzle you have chosen actually exists.  You might, for example, be interested in why the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka escalated to violence when it did, and then why violence stopped.  You must be able to briefly tell your reader what happened and when.   

Write a two page statement of your research question in terms of the above guidelines. 
Remember the following:
1) As far as possible, set up the question as a puzzle. Examples of the puzzle include a) the expectation that things would move one way and then they moved a different way. b) countries or regions are quite different but both experience a similar outcome. c) countries or regions are similar, but they experience quite different outcomes. d) a problem in a country did not seem to exist and then it suddenly appeared. Why the change?

2) Show why the question is important.
3)The outcome you explain must actually exist.  Later you will be asked to provide more detailed empirical support for the existence of the problem.

Assignment 3:  Alternative Approaches
You have now formulated your research question.  In this assignment you must suggest some hunches about the answer to this question.  You must discuss each of these hunches and how they differ from one another
1. Briefly state your research question and why it is an important puzzle to be solved.  (one very brief paragraph) (for those of you who much rewrite your research question in its longer form, you can do so here and add the rest of the assignment to the end)
2. State alternative answers to the question, positing different causes for the effect that you are trying to explain. Here you will discuss explanations and solutions that are suggested in the literature we have encountered--which you do not find helpful or which you will reject--and those which you find helpful in general. Provide brief examples of ways you might find the approaches helpful or unhelpful. (you will elaborate on and deepen the ones you find helpful in your next paper) You can divide the literature into primordial, constructivist, cultural, institutional etc. arguments, and cite the literature within that kind (or those kinds) of argument(s) summarizing what is useful and what is not. You do not need to stick with ONLY the readings that we have done so far; you can branch out to other theoretical and conceptual readings as well.

Assignment 4: Revisions of Assignments 2 and 3 and Your conceptual framework

You will receive comments for revision of your question and alternative approaches. In this assignment you will present your revised question and approaches and you will ADD YOUR OWN approach or theory. This theory will be based on class literature and outside conceptual literature (if class lit. is not appropriate). Illustrate your theory with brief examples from your case or other cases. A full description of the assignment is below:

Midterm Assignment (due Oct. 26: 10-15 pages or so)
Your paper should be structured in the following way:

Brief Introduction

Begin your paper with a paragraph briefly stating your puzzle, the question it gives rise to, and the empirical focus that you will provide to answer your question.

1. The Puzzle: (can be empirical or theoretical)
            There is a conflict where all indicators say there shouldn't be one (or absence of a conflict when all indicators suggest that there should be one). Or there is a conflict which defies a theoretical explanation or contradicts prevailing theories, or simply not explained adequately.  Comparisons often provide good puzzles.
The idea of a puzzle includes (but not restricted to): a) the expectation that things would move one way and then they moved a different way. b) countries or regions are quite different but both experience a similar outcome. c) countries or regions are similar, but they experience quite different outcomes.
Empirical examples of  puzzles:  Bosnia succumbed to violent ethnic conflict when, before the conflict started, different ethnic groups appeared to peacefully co-exist, co-mingle, and even inter-marry. Why? 
Or.....Bosnia succumbed to violent ethnic conflict when Bulgaria, with a similar mix of ethnic groups did not. Why violent conflict in Bosnia, but peace in Bulgaria? 
Or......Why does Sweden, the paragon of a peaceful welfare state, have the highest rate of violent attacks on foreigners of any West European country? 

2. Your research Question 
Your conflict should be one that requires an explanation. Ideally, it should start with the word "why" or “how.” Many questions that may be of interest to you might not seem at first glance to be "why" questions, but if you analyze them fully, there is a "why" question at their root.  You may want to focus on solutions rather than causes:  Why did one kind of solution work but not another?

2.a. Definitions of your key terms It is particularly important to define what it is that you want to explain.

3. Why your question or puzzle is important:
 It must be a conflict (or absence of conflict--or resolution of conflict) that is important in terms that are broader than your own curiosity. That is, it must involve an issue or outcome that is important in theoretical terms or in terms of some important human value. You must be able to justify your choice of you research in terms of its larger importance. 

3.a Order of your coming argumentation. Here you lay out the organization of your paper. You can do this in a paragraph: "In the remainder o this paper I begin by considering alternative approaches in seeking an answer to my research question. I then lay out my own approach/conceptual framework. Third, I provide the historical background that has led to the research question.... etc. etc. "

4.  Alternative Approaches
Here you will discuss explanations and solutions that are suggested in the literature we have encountered--which you do not find helpful or which you will reject.  You can divide the literature into primordial, constructivist, cultural, institutional etc. arguments, but cite the literature within that kind (or those kinds) of argument(s)
5. Your approach
Here you present your own conceptual framework or theory.  This theory will be based on class literature or outside conceptual literature (if class lit. is not appropriate). Illustrate your theory with brief examples from your case--or other cases--if possible You should make an argument for why your approach is better than the one(s) you will reject.

This paper is a combination of your revised midterm assignment and the evidence you will muster to support your argument. The evidence you present should be guided by your approach.