Teaching Team
John Abbenante, Dr. Rebecca Bell-Metereau, Dr. Eric
Benjamin, Dr. Leticia Garza-Falcon
Curriculum
Southwest Texas State's -ISM (N.) course was titled "Introduction to U.S.
Ethnic Studies" and was offered through the U.S. Ethnic Studies department.
The course was designed to address diversity issues using the video
documentary process as a tool to increase connections among academic
studies, communities outside the university and the media.
Students in this course explored and responded to multi-disciplinary
survey of different contemporary and historical research methodologies
currently used by various academic disciplines in analyzing the diverse
social, economic, political and cultural facets of ethnic groups in the
United States. Special attention was given to African American, American
Indian and Mexican American ethnic groups. Students also identified their
history of ethnicity in the American experience using the oral history of
their own family.
Students gained a working understanding of group process, power dynamics,
exploring and negotiating differences, and the relationship between media
representation and ethnic and personal identity. Students attained visual
literacy and mastery of some aspect of video production, as well as an
ability to recognize documentary styles and critique and analyze
portrayals of ideology and socially constructed identities.
Community Educational Activity
Southwest Texas State University aims to encourage greater cooperation
between the university and the surrounding community through their
Community Educational Activity. A September town meeting will feature
excerpts from the -ISM (N.) student videos, followed by a brief panel
discussion. In October participants will continue the discussion from the
first meeting. A special episode of Channel 19's " Meet the Professors"
show will be broadcast during October featuring a panel of students,
professors and community experts who will field call-in responses to
videotaped excerpts from the October meeting. In November, participants
will reconvene to plan ongoing activities requiring local community and
university collaboration, such as service projects, reading and
discussions groups, and grant proposals related to community problem
solving. The final event, on December 1st, will celebrate diversity
through the arts. SWTSU students, local youth and other community members
will present dance, music, theatrical performances, art work, and readings.
Contact: Rebecca Bell-Metereau, rb12@admin.swt.edu
Watch for more details...
Resources Used In Course
Churchill, Ward and Jaimes, M. Annette (ED.) (1992). Fantasies of the Master Race, Literature, Cinema and the Colonization of American Indians. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press. (SWT)
Feagin, Joseph R. and Clairece Booher. (1996). Racial and Ethnic Relations (Fifth Edition). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. (SWT)
Garvy, Helen. (1965) Before Your Shoot: A Guide to Low Budget Film and Video Production (Third Edition). Shire Press. (SWT)
Gregory, Steven and Sanjek, Roger (EDS.). (1994). Race. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. (SWT)
Kyvig, David E. and Marty, Myron A. (1978). Your Family History: A Handbook for Research and Writing.Arlington Heights, IL: AMH Publishing Corp.(SWT)
Montejano, David. (1986). Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992. (SWT)
Padilla, Genero M. (1993). My History, Not Yours: The Formation of Mexican American Autobiography. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.(SWT)
Stack, Carol B. (1974). All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community. New York: Harper and Row. (SWT)
Weber, David J. Myth and the History of the Hispanic Southwest: Essays. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988. (SWT)
Attinasi, John. "Racism, Language Variety, and Urban U.S, Minorities: Issues in Bilingualism and Bidialectalism", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (SWT)
Blakey, Michael L. "Passing the Buck: Naturalism and Individualism as Anthropological Expressions of Euro-American Denial", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (SWT)
Brodkin Sacks, Karen. "How did Jews Become White Folks?", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (SWT)
Cameron, Barbara. "Gee, You Don't Look Like an Indian from the Reservation", The Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Eds. Gloria Anzaldua and Cherrie Moraga, Watertown, MA: Persephone Press, 1981.(SWT)
Cortes, Carlos. "Pluribus and Unum: The Quest for Community and Diversity", Change. September/October 1991. (SWT)
Davis, Angela. "Reflections on the Black Woman's Role in the Community of Slaves", Women, Race and Class. New York: Random House, 1981.(SWT)
De La Graza, Beatriz. "The Kid from the Alamo", The Candy Vendor's Boy and Other Stories. Houston: Arte Publico, 1994. (SWT)
De La Torre, Adela and Pesqera, Beatriz M. "A Note on Ethnic Labels", Building with Our Hands. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993. (SWT)
Giddings, Paula. "Casting of the Die: Morality, Slavery and Resistance", Where and When I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America. New York: Bantam Books, 1984. (SWT)
Gregory, Steven. "Race, Rubbish, and Resistance: Empowering Difference in a Community of Politics", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (SWT)
hooks, bell. "Reconstructing Black Masculinity", Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992. (SWT)
hooks, bell "Representions of Whiteness", Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992. (UNC) (SWT)
Hu-Dehart, Evelyn. "P.C. and the Politics of Multiculturalism in Higher Education", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (SWT)
Jaimes, Annett. "American Racism: The Impact of American-Indian Indentity and Survival", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (SWT)
Lorde, Audre. "Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference", Racism and Sexism: An Integrated Study. Paula S. Rothenberg, New York: St. Martinís Press, 1988. (SWT)
Lorde, Audre. "The Master's Tools will Never Dismantle the Master's House", Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. New York: The Crossing Press, 1984. (SWT) (UNC)
Menchaca, Martha. "Chicano Indianism: An Historical Account of Racial Repression in the United States", American Ethnologist. 20.3, 1993. (SWT)
Rosaldo, Renato. "Race and Other Inequalities: The Borderlands in Arturo Islas's Migrant Souls", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (SWT)
Saldivar, Ramon. "Race, Class, and Gender in the Southwest: Foundations of an American Resistance Literature and Its Literary History", Chicano Narrative: The Dialectics of Difference. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990. (SWT)
Sanjek, Roger. "The Enduring Inequalities of Race", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (SWT)
Sanjek, Roger. "Intermarriage and the Future of Races in the United States", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994.(SWT)
Takagi, Dana Y. "Post Civil Rights Politics and Asian American Identity: Admissions and Higher Education", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (SWT)
Villanueva, Tino. "History Class", Cronacas de Mis Anos Peores. La Jolla, CA: Lalo Press. (SWT)
Whitehead, Harriet. "The Bow and the Burden Strap: A New Look at Institutionalized Homosexuality in Native North America", Sexual Meanings: The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality. Eds. Sherry B. Ortner and Harriet Whitehead. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. (SWT)
Williams, Brett. "Babies and Banks: The 'Reproductive Underclass' and the Raced, Gendered Masking of Debt", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (SWT)
Zavella. Patricia. "Reflections on Diversity among Chicanas", Race. Ed. Steven Gregory and Roger Sanjek. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. (SWT)
Riggs, Marlon. (1991). Color Adjustment. San Francisco, CA: California Newsreel. (SWT)
Student Video Topics
Mexican American
identity ... racism ... interracial dating ... sexism ... separatism ... racism in
the church ... hip hop music ... Chicana activism ... multicultural
education ... affirmative action ... diversity of musical tastes at the
university ... stereotypes