Category: Ethnic Studies

A. Extra Credit Overview
For this short essay assignment, you’ll be graded on your ability to demonstrate comprehension and critically reflect on the film.
Most students who do their work on time don’t need extra credit. Having said this, it’s a lot easier to get an “A” in this class when you do the extra credit. I’ve seen hundreds of “B” students earn a higher grade because they did the extra credit early on. Just make sure to follow directions and submit on time. They get easier to do the sooner you finish your first one.
I don’t allow for late work when it comes to extra credit – it’s in our Late Work Policy.
B. Literary Essay Guidelines (20 Points)
You are writing a literary/media analysis in the form of an essay. Your essay is worth up to 15 points. It should have all of the following, and up to how many max points you can lose if you don’t add it to your essay:
Up to -2 Points | short intro (2-3 sentences) with highlighted thesis statement.
Up to -2 Points | proper grammar and free of spelling errors,
Up to -4 Points | use proper citations with timestamps,
Up to -9 Points | based on the assigned media (e.g. film),
Up to -2 Points | apply and highlight a course concept to argue your theme/thesis,
Up to -9 Points | directly address all aspects of the prompt(s).
Up to -2 Points | concise conclusion (2-3 sentences)
C. Media/Literary Analysis
How to use a social lens to watch media
First, it’s important to watch the film carefully with a critical eye. Consider why you’ve been assigned to watch a film and write an analysis. How does this activity fit into the course? Why have you been assigned this particular film? What are you looking for in connection to the course content? Here are some tips on how to watch the clip critically, just as you would an entire film:
Give the clip your undivided attention at least once. Pay close attention to details and make observations that might start leading to bigger questions.
Watch the clip a second time. For this viewing, you will want to focus specifically on those elements of film analysis that your class has focused on, so review your course notes. For example, from whose perspective is this clip shot? What choices help convey that perspective? What is the overall tone, theme, or effect of this clip?
Take notes while you watch for the second time. Notes will help you keep track of what you noticed and when, if you include timestamps in your notes. Timestamps are vital for citing scenes from a film!
D. Media Analysis Prompt
Film: Human Zoo
In September 1906, nearly a quarter of a million people flocked to the Bronx Zoo in New York City. Many came for a startling new exhibit in the Zoo’s Monkey House. But it wasn’t a monkey they came to see. It was a man. His name was Ota Benga. A pygmy from the African Congo, Ota Benga was exhibited in a cage along with monkeys.
Benga was not alone. He was one of literally thousands of indigenous peoples who were put on public display throughout America in the early twentieth century. Often touted as “missing links” between man and apes and as examples of the “lower” stages of human evolution, these native peoples were harassed, demeaned, and jeered at. Their public display was arranged with the enthusiastic support of the most elite members of the scientific community, and it was promoted uncritically by America’s leading newspapers.
Human Zoos tells the shocking story of how thousands of indigenous peoples were put on public display in America in the early decades of the twentieth century.
Often touted as “missing links” between man and apes, these native peoples were harassed and demeaned. Their public display was arranged with the enthusiastic support of the most elite members of the scientific community, and it was promoted uncritically by American’s leading newspapers.
This award-winning documentary explores the heartbreaking story of what happened, shows how African-American ministers and other people of faith tried to push back, and reveals how some people today are still drawing on Social Darwinism in order to dehumanize others. The film also explores the tragic story of eugenics in America, the effort to breed human beings based on Darwinian principles.
Critical Reflection / Media Analysis
Answer the below question(s) or prompts according to this week’s readings.
From whose point of view is the film “Human Zoos” speaking?
Who has power in the film and how do we know this to be true?
What are the multiple viewpoints and how does racial power (ability to make decisions based on ideas of race) influence perspectives?
What are the motivations behind scientific racism and how do we know this to be true?
*No external sources. Base your response on the author’s conversation in the assigned book and, as an add-on, you can tie in your own personal experiences, stories, and examples.

Oral History and Marginalized Communities
In order to complete this unit and the Oral History Project, you will want to understand the following concepts in detail and comprehend their relevance to Ethnic Studies:
Marginalized communities
Material Culture
Ethnocide
Oral History
Decipher their definition and understand the relationship they have to one another, as well as to other concepts introduced in the class. Making connections between concepts is paramount in creating a critical theoretical framework needed to liberate the mind from social constructs that maintain oppressive power relations.
Marginalized populations are groups and communities that experience discrimination and exclusion (social, political and economic) because of unequal power relationships across economic, political, social and cultural dimensions. In short, they exist on the margins of society and social progress. These communities are often deprived by legal or illegal means of the enjoyment of rights and resources. Considering the English language has been used as a tool to marginalize oppressed groups, it may not be much of a surprise to learn that literacy and literature are also used to fight oppression.
Writing is one social practice that makes humans distinct from all other species. Writing was first developed by Mayans around 300 B.C.E. This time period is referred to by the Master Narrative as the “Preclassic Period” of Mayan civilization. During this period, Mayans wanted their history to withstand the test of time and wrote them on stones and similar materials that were weatherproof and not easily altered. If it were not for this practice of writing on stones, there would likely be little evidence to prove Mayan cities are older than Rome. Practices like this — cultural practices that mediate human action to alter nature into human artifacts which can survive the test of time — are referred to as Material Culture.
Material culture is physical objects (pottery, architecture, paintings, etc.) that point to past cultures and civilizations. It was not until the “Postclassical Period” when hundreds of thousands of pages were created annually (yearly). Paper was used for accounting and mathematical purposes, including keeping track of monetary debt and sales as well as the movement of the stars and planets. The library of Mayan writings in 1562 by the acting Bishop of Yucatán (#Cancun), Diego de Landa, was carried out by Spanish conquistadores (colonial soldiers) as it posed it threat to the writings of Europe. The four books survived in European hands. One was named after a social club in New York City (Grolier Codex), while the other three are owned by European nations with names of the cities where they are permanently on display (Madrid, Dresden, and Paris). Even though these four books that did survive the ethnocide of the past, the book titles are not of the original authors. The colonial names given to these Mayan books by their new owners is a social practice that produces a Material Culture that supports the reinforces the Master Narrative. The great book burning of 1562 is one example of a colonial pathology exercised against indigenous culture, identity, and history. It was not until this time period, first under Spanish colonization, that Mayans and other indigenous people became “illiterate.” Mayans knew how to read, write, and speak in their own tongue. A new language was forced on indigenous people using guns, germs, and god. Of course they would be illiterate just as much as any one of us would be trying to read a book in any one of the other over 7,000 languages spoken around the world. Until more recently, there wasn’t much effort to address “illiteracy” by indigenous people in European languages — caused by colonization. The image below is published by the University of Texas, Arlington [1]. The image shows a historical timeline of written communication. If you look at key dates in human history, according to the image, indigenous written communication is framed as if it didn’t exist, it was unimportant to people’s history, invisible, or ignored. The image reproduces the Master Narrative. The very idea of an “illiteracy” problem among indigenous children, as well as the genesis of “black illiteracy,” is a by-product of ethnocide or cultural genocide. The Yucatán book burning ordered by Diego de Landa is cultural cleansing. Forty-two years earlier, in 1520, Hernan Cortez and his men committed a massacre in the Temple of Tenochtitlan as a form of cultural genocide. It is recorded as a “holocaust” by the famous Mexican Anthropologist Miguel Leon-Portilla in 1963, after translating Aztec accounts of the first Spanish invasion. Cultural genocide or cultural cleansing is a concept which was proposed by lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944 as a component of genocide. There would be no need for “indigenization” — framing native experiences and identities at the center of “existence” — if it were not for ethnocide or genocide. Despite the military efforts for indigenous extermination, cultural practices and identities survived. Memory cannot be burned: While you can burn the Material Culture of a people’s history, the indigenous practice of oral history cannot be burned. Oral history is the way most, if not practically all of us, have received personal knowledge about the past. Unlike most published literature that reinforces the Master Narrative, oral history is used by oppressed people as a cultural practice to collect and transmit the knowledge of past accounts from lived experiences. U.S. states first passed laws in the 1820s, 1830s, and 1840s imprisoning anyone that would teach African-Americans — either slave or free — to read or write. Some states also fined, flogged, or whipped perpetrators. In other words, the “illiteracy” problem among marginalized communities was a state-sponsored practice that was welcomed by the dominant U.S. racial class for most of American History.
Even while oral history plays a significant role in preserving cultural history, logos (the written language) holds superiority in the European-derived nations. Considering the weight and value placed on “text” over “speech” in regards to archiving history, historians and scholars have taken up the task of documenting – in writing – the oral history of marginalized communities, tribes, and people.
Begin to think and think again
You have a mind; what’s it thinking?
Instructions: Follow the professor’s instructions during class to complete this assignment. When instructed, select one (1) course concept above and write 100+ words addressing the following:
Define what the concept means in your own words.
Think of a useful description or example of the concept.
Create your own reason that explains why this concept is significant to Ethnic Studies.
Guidance: Follow the professor’s instruction during class. If prompted, complete the three (3) requirements above. No other rules apply (citations, format, etc.). Base your response on what you already know, not the unit lecture. In other words, use your own knowledge to create knowledge about a concept: you can tie in your own personal experiences, stories, and examples. You can also use other concepts from this course to explain any aspect of your response.

The Indigenization of America’s Master Narrative
Closing Lecture Remarks
Historical evidence demands we take a close, critical look at the historical and cultural consequences produced by the domination of the Master Narrative.
The historical case studies in this lecture are not in themselves an attack on the Master Narrative. Their existence, however, does highlight the many contradictions ignored by the false assumptions spread by the Master Narrative: this land was unoccupied and European colonists put it to good use for you and me. Historical accounts of the past, like the ones outlined in this unit lecture, destabilize the “normalcy” – disrupt the assumed supremacy – of the Master Narrative.
Now is your opportunity to demonstrate your ability to utilize course concepts and incorporate case studies in producing knowledge through cultural criticism in writing.
Most unit lectures close with this same class discussion format. If you read and closely follow all the instructions for this class discussion, you should be able to do well here on out. I will be leaving you feedback and a grade for this assignment. It is important you review my feedback so you can address any issues in the next assignment.
I look forward to reading each of your posts and comments. Contact me ahead of time if you need an extension. I accept late posts but not late comments or self-reflections. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, doubts, or need additional assistance.
Saludos,
Professor Fuentes
Overview and Criteria
Post by Thursday, Reply by Sunday
The three (3) steps to complete this assignment are explained below in more detail, but here they are in a nutshell:
Answer at least 2 question(s) or prompts.
Incorporate at least 2 course concepts in your discussion.
Leave 2 substantive/expansive comments.
There are two (2) deadlines that add up to 35 total points possible from this assignment.
Possible 25 Points = Your Post (Due Thursday)
Possible 10 Points = 2+ Comments (Due Saturday)
You’ll be graded on your ability to utilize course concepts to critically reflect on the unit’s lecture material. You must closely follow guidelines to earn maximum points.
⚠️ Post Submissions
I only grade the first post left by each student. If you submit a second post, it will not be graded. I only grade the first attempt. All other attempts after the first post will be ignored and ungraded. Recommendation:Work on your post outside of Canvas and don’t submit it until it meets your standards for submission.
25 Points: Post Guidelines
Your post should be no less than 300 words in length. Your post is worth up to 25 points. It should contain:
4 pt: proper grammar. free of spelling errors, meets min. word count,
4 pt: use proper in-text citations, 6 pt: apply course concepts,
6 pt: incorporate reading and/or lecture(s) material,
5 pt: directly address all aspects of the prompt(s).
10 Points: Peer Comments
Each comment you leave is worth up to 5 points (depending on quality of post). Being nice and respectful is important, but it doesn’t get you all the points. Your comments need to be substantive and expand on the conversation or original post in a meaningful way. Comments should contain at least one of the following:
Comments should provide new information about the original post (“substantive”).
Elaborate on a point made by the Poster or someone else on the thread (“expand”).
In other words, compliments and salutations do not count as satisfactory comments. Pro Tips
What mistake will cost you the most points?
Use of in-text citations for all prompts is required. Every student should develop the habit of attributing information to sources in college-level writing. You can use either APAor MLA style for in-text citations. An example of citing the book in your text is as follows: (Takaki 2008, p.33). An example of citing lectures in your text is as follows: (Fuentes, “Unit #: Name of Lecture.”). Both the green number and lecture title must be changed to the appropriate source for credit.
Don’t want to lose your work?
Copy and paste your posts on Canvas, but write them elsewhere (Word, Google, etc.). Canvas logs users out with inactivity. If this happens, you aren’t alerted and your work will be lost even if you try to “save” or hit “submit.”
Need assistance with Canvas?
Cuyamaca has the Online Student Help Teamwho are ready to provide you with any Canvas support in real-time. If you need help using Canvas Discussions, please review the following guide: Canvas Student Guide – Discussions.
Continuing the Conversation
You have a voice; what’s your say?
Guidance: Select course concepts (2+) introduced in this unit to answer two (2) or more of the below question(s) or prompts according Dr. Fuentes’ lecture materials or Dr. Takaki’s A Different Mirror (2008). You can also incorporate your own personal experiences or recent events, but there has to be a clear connection to concepts and case studies.*
When you think of the Master Narrative, what aspects of American History do you think about?
Discuss Eurocentric views and practices toward Native Americans (Ch. 2).
The Master Narrative is represented in society as historically accurate, yet what does historical evidence suggest? What are ways the Master Narrative erases the indigenous aspect of U.S. history?
Analyze “savagery” and “Trail of Tears” in “American progress” (Ch. 4).
How do counter-narratives presented in the case studies complicate your own awareness of American History?
Discuss the “Indian Question” and U.S. domination of indigenous life (Ch. 9).
What is another example of a counter-narrative that describes the socio-political conditions of oppressed groups, their lived experiences, and stories of liberation?
Add your own link to an IG post, tweet, or Tik Tok and explain how it is an example of indigenization or a counter-narrative; OR Write your own question and incorporate course concepts to explain the importance behind your question (and the value of the potential answer).
*No external sources. Base your response on the lecture materials provided and, as an add-on, you can tie in your own personal experiences, stories, and examples.

The Indigenization of America’s Master Narrative
The Master Narrative refers to a Eurocentric view of “American History.” While the agents of this story are Europeans (and White Americans), the history, experiences, and contributions of non-whites are de-centered – and erased – from the story we tell about the development of North America. Whose story we tell influences our social consciousness: how we think of ourselves as individuals and a nation/continent.
This course in many ways is a Counter-Narrativeto the story we are taught about American History. The aim of a counter-narrative is the liberation of group consciousness: an awareness of a need for more inclusion of marginalized stories at the center of the plot of a nation’s history. This lecture is a great place to lay a foundation for a new narrative about our shared history as American(a/o)s.
As a concept in action, “indigenization” identifies opportunities for native “existence” – escape from extermination and persistent cultural resilience – to be expressed at the center of our shared narrative. Think of a narrative not as a telling of the “truth” but as a strategy. In this way, at any point in their plot development, one may argue, a narrative contains more ideology than Truth. As a strategy of domination, narratives are often used to subjugate or exterminate others not by what they reveal but what is left unsaid/silent.
Unlike White Supremacy, the indigenization of a counter-narrative treats indigenous worldviews, knowledge and perspectives as valid. When possible, it incorporates Indigenous ways of knowing and doing. By applying the indigenization of American History, this lecture reviews some of the earliest civilizations and societies in “American” history. Begin to think and think again
You have a mind; what’s it thinking?
Instructions: Select one (1) course concept above and write 100+ words addressing the following:
Define what the concept means in your own words (3 pts).
Think of a useful description or example of the concept (4 pts).
Create your own reason that explains why this concept is significant to Ethnic Studies (3 pts).
Guidance: Follow the three (3) requirements above to receive maximum points. No other rules apply (citations, format, etc.). Base your response on what you already know, not the unit lecture. In other words, use your own knowledge to create knowledge about a concept: you can tie in your own personal experiences, stories, and examples. You can also use other concepts from this course to explain any aspect of your response.

Answer each question in a paragraph. Each paragraph should be well supported with quotes, paraphrasing from the video and texts, and explanation. 1. Watch the video about the 1969 Third World Strike at San Francisco State. What were the purposes and the goals of the Third World Strike? What role did the students play? How was Ethnic Studies finally established at SF State College. https://youtu.be/yZY9NQzx03E
2. Read El Plan de Santa Barbara (1969) – read only “Table of Contents,” “Manifesto,” “Chicano Studies and the Community” on pp. 77-80 in the document, and peruse the images. According to the document, explain the relationship between the University and the Community as described in the chapter “Chicano Studies and the Community” (pp 77-80)? What does Chicanx Studies propose to do differently for the community?
https://mechadeucdavis.weebly.com/uploads/9/7/0/4/…
3. Omi and Winant’s chapter 4 of Racial Formation in the U.S. lays out the roots of racism and the concept of race in the U.S. and the hemisphere. In the third section subtitled “The Evolution of Race Consciousness” the authors look at “conquest”/invasion and the origins of settler colonialism 500 years ago. Describe the goals and name some specific actions of this period of “conquest”/invasion. What are some economic, political and ideological results? Why do they describe this period as “the first… perhaps the greatest… racial formation project” (p. 114)?
The Omi Winant PDF IS BELOW

on the Cotton and Chick minstrel show and the 1619 Project Episode three The Birth of American Music. In four paragraphs total, (2 each) you will need to address the following questions in order to receive full credit.
Note: If you do not cite examples from the material for the questions, you will not receive credit
First 2 paragraphs (Cotton and Chick) 1) What is occurring in this sketch? It should e a short summary of what happens.
2) How does Chick treat Cotton, and how does Cotton treat himself? Meaning, how does Cotton speak about himself and his Blackness?
3) What are some of Cotton character traits? How does he speak, how is his posture, and how does he interact with Chick?
4) What are some of Cotton’s physical characteristics? How is his make-up, cloths, eyes, lips done? Why is it done like that? What about his dancing? 5) What do you notice about the people in the background? Second 2 paragraphs (1619 Project)
1) Give a brief summary of the episode. What two artists does he say made him think about Black music when he is chopping vegetables?
2) What is the story of Jim Crow as a song and character in accordance to Thomas Rice? How did it help create a unique form of American theater and culture?
3) How does this evolve into Black music, and then American pop music co-opted by white Americans?

on the Cotton and Chick minstrel show and the 1619 Project Episode three The Birth of American Music. In four paragraphs total, (2 each) you will need to address the following questions in order to receive full credit.
Note: If you do not cite examples from the material for the questions, you will not receive credit
First 2 paragraphs (Cotton and Chick)
1) What is occurring in this sketch? It should e a short summary of what happens.
2) How does Chick treat Cotton, and how does Cotton treat himself? Meaning, how does Cotton speak about himself and his Blackness?
3) What are some of Cotton character traits? How does he speak, how is his posture, and how does he interact with Chick?
4) What are some of Cotton’s physical characteristics? How is his make-up, cloths, eyes, lips done? Why is it done like that? What about his dancing?
5) What do you notice about the people in the background?
Second 2 paragraphs (1619 Project)
1) Give a brief summary of the episode. What two artists does he say made him think about Black music when he is chopping vegetables?
2) What is the story of Jim Crow as a song and character in accordance to Thomas Rice? How did it help create a unique form of American theater and culture?
3) How does this evolve into Black music, and then American pop music co-opted by white Americans?

For this paper, there is not much on the course textbook.
The whole paper depends on your own research. Pick an ethical issue and a religious tradition (of your own choice). ). It must be a topic we have covered in the course during the semester The paper must address the particular religious tradition’s view on the ethical issue you chose. You must use at least three (3) other sources (academic) outside of the course textbook. Cover the different opinions on the issue from within the tradition. Conclude the paper by your own assessment of the soundness & benefit of their position as well as their limitations. IMPORTANT: Even though this is a Religious Studies course, we haven’t really covered religious materials much. This means, you don’t have any expertise in the study of religion no matter how religious you are and how much you are familiar with your own religious traditions. It is one thing to be a religious follower but the academic study of religion is COMPLETELY different. Do not make big generalizing claims about particular religions. This paper is NOTHING DIFFERENT from any other academic paper. Your claims must be accompanied by evidence. Scriptural citations alone are NOT EVIDENCES.
Format
– Length: Between 900 and 1.100 words
– Times New Roman, 12 pts. Double spaced.
– In text citation only. Example: Smith argues that economic inequality has been growing over
the past twenty years (Smith, 124)

Why do you think it’s so important to Ellington that his Symphony be representative? (Representative means that the artwork refers to real things in the world — and even mimic the sounds of real things. Most symphonies are abstract and do not really refer directly to the world at all.) Maybe another way to understand the question would be to ask yourself how watching the film’s visual representations and auditory representations affect the way you understand the music, trace its significance, and/or interpret what his jazz symphony is “saying.” Citing specific details from the music, the film, and song lyrics, analyze how Ellington is providing a Harlem Renaissance remaking of the old symphonic form. (400-600 words)

A topic related to indigenous people.
There should 1500 words, 8 academic sources for reference and APA style formatting.
These are some of the topics for critical article.
Cultural Appropriation in Indigenous Tourism
Community Empowerment through Indigenous Tourism
Impact of Tourism on Indigenous Identity
Sustainable Indigenous Tourism Practices
Tourism and Indigenous Rights
Representation of Indigenous Cultures in Tourism Marketing
Tourist Education and Cultural Sensitivity
Challenges of Balancing Tradition and Commercialization
Role of Government in Indigenous Tourism
Indigenous Perspectives in Tourism Research