- Due March 10
- Contextual readings
- Find a research rabbit hole
- Write down at least four "what do I want to know more about?" questions
- Optional readings
- Turn in your questions on Canvas
This week, the main work to be done is to situate ourselves in the topic of race in America. We each come to this with different experiences, contexts, and gaps in our understanding. It is impossible to encapsulate this entire topic in just a few readings and the goal here is not to become experts on the topic, but instead to swim in stories and experiences that can inform and direct our work.
Like many aspects of this this project, these readings can be emotionally draining but they deserve our full attention. Before you start, take a moment: put away your phone, close other applications, turn off the music, and try to deeply listen to what the authors are saying.
- Historical Foundations of Race by David R. Roediger (no need to watch the embedded videos, though they are amazing too)
- Letter to My Son by Ta Nehisi Coates
Use your reading notes as a jumping off point for some initial, broad, and exploratory research. It may be helpful to connect with your personal experience, a historical period or event, or a specific community. But this isn't about coming to a definitive answer or even topic yet, but instead about following rabbit holes: research that leads you from a known starting point down meandering pathways to topics and stories you never expected.
Your research should be open-ended and not results oriented. You don't need to walk away from this with a clear plan but (kind of like our readings) a sense of part of this topic, new things you didn't know about before, and more questions you want to ask. Follow links in articles, look for citations, open lots of tabs! ← (Like seriously, 30+ tabs is totally reasonable here.)
Take lots of notes too, and keep track of sources, images, and any data you find. You'll be adding elements like text, quotes, images, and video to your project, so keeping track of that stuff now will be really helpful later.
As your doing this work, take notes and ask yourself the question "what do I not know much about and want to understand better?" These questions are incredibly fruitful starting points for your research. They don't have to be directly related to what you're reading either!
Please write down at least four of these questions and submit on Canvas. They'll won't be shared with the group, but do come ready to talk about the readings and your research more broadly.
If you have time, here are some additional readings (and other media) that will add more context to this project. If you find others that resonate with you, please let me know and I'll add them here!
- James Baldwin debating William F. Buckley in 1965 on the question "Has the American Dream been achieved at the expense of the American Negro?" (this hour-long video is truly remarkable as an encapsulation of the time and has many saddening resonances with today)
- The Invention of the Police by Jill Lepore (a fascinating read on the long, troubling history of policing in the US)
- James Baldwin's A Letter to My Nephew, which is the inspiration for the Ta Nehisi Coates piece above*
- John Lewis' Together You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation in the New York Times*
- Amanda Gorman reading The Hill We Climb at the Biden/Harris inauguration*
- The U.S. Has a Long-Standing History of Vilifying Minority Groups During Times of Crisis by Alex Samuels
- Lynch Mobs Killed Latinos Across the West. The Fight to Remember These Atrocities is Just Starting by Simon Romero/NYT
- A History of Anti-Hispanic Bigotry in the United States by Marie Arana/Washington Post
- "Model Minority" Myth Again Used as a Racial Wedge Between Asians and Blacks Kat Chow/NPR Code Switch
*Suggested by Prof. Lindsey Swindall – thanks!