Assignment 1: Negotiating Cultural Differences in America
For this assignment, choose two of the "Historical Documents" authors we have read so far this term. Choose authors you have found interesting, engaging, or problematic in how they articulate the nature of cultural, racial, or gender differences in America.
In a well-documented and well-structured essay, compare your chosen texts in terms of how they argue for or against the negotiation of difference in America-in other words, how they argue for or against accommodating, rejecting, or compromising with the wide variety of differences (cultural, racial, ethnic, class, and so on) in America. Specifically, in your essay you should respond to the following questions:
- How do the authors define what it means to be American?
- Compare between each of the authors what it means to be civilized or savage, superior or inferior?
- Assess how the texts argue for the inclusion or exclusion of certain groups. How do they justify inclusion?
- Differentiate how the authors define or create a sense of different social roles for different groups. Examine how they are defined-by race, by ethnicity, by nation of origin, by gender, or something different. Why do the authors insist on maintaining these differences? How do the authors suggest these differences should be maintained and enforced?
- Analyze how different voices in the readings challenge or reject these differences. Justify why they reject them. What are the benefits of inclusion and diversity?
Write a 4-5 page paper in Word format (not counting title and reference page). Include an APA formatted title page and reference page.
All written assignments and responses should follow APA rules for attributing sources.
Assignment 2: The Journal Assignment
For your journal entry this module, reflect on the topics and concepts covered as part of the readings and your reactions to these. What is familiar and what is new? What poses a challenge to the way you have customarily thought about these concepts? What connections are you making to your family's views on these concepts?
When writing your journal entry, you may use the following questions to prompt your ideas:
- What are your initial reactions to the topics covered in the assigned readings? Did you experience any conflict with what you read in the assigned topics?
- What is your point of view on the issues covered in the assigned readings?
- Discuss and examine the assertion made in the article "The End of White America" that "according to an August 2008 report by the U.S. Census Bureau, those groups currently categorized as racial minorities-blacks and Hispanics, East Asians, and South Asians-will account for a majority of the U.S. population by the year 2042" (p. 3). What are the implications of this demographic shift?
- Looking ahead to the next twenty years or more, as the effects of modern immigration become clearer, as English ceases to become the predominant language, and as the ratio of Caucasians to people of color shifts dramatically, how will you regard yourself? Will you resist these changes or embrace diversity and become a positive agent of change in these times?
- How has the discussion with your classmates affected your view of exclusion and inclusion when it comes to American identity?
- Create your journal entry in a Microsoft Word document and save it as M3_lastname_firstname_journal.doc. Your journal entry should be of approximately 250-500 words. You may include photographs, drawings, audio pieces, and other memorabilia in your journal entry to express yourself and your reflections and reactions to what you're learning in the course.
Submit your journal entry to the Journal by the due date assigned.
All written assignments and responses should follow APA rules for attributing sources.