Words (CORE 120-08)
Critiquing Critical Race Theory
Fall 2024
1:50-2:50 PM, Monday-Wednesday-Friday
John R. Howard Hall, Room 203
Email: fritzman@lclark.edu
Class Email: 24fa-core-120-08@lclark.edu
Office: John R. Howard Hall, room 223
Office Hours:
Office meetings, no appointment needed:
10:30-12:00 Monday-Wednesday-Friday,
3:00-4:00 Monday.
Zoom meetings, by prior appointment only:
Tuesday-Thursday at
https://zoom.us/j/3469350737
COURSE DESCRIPTION
W. E. B. Du Bois: "You are not and yet you are: your thoughts, your deeds, above all your dreams still live."
Gilles Deleuze: "Arguments from one's own privileged experience are bad and reactionary arguments."
Friedrich Nietzsche: "A very popular error: having the courage of one’s convictions; rather it is a matter of having the courage for an attack on one's convictions!"
Rainer Maria Rilke (as quoted by J. M. Coetzee): "We are born, so to speak, provisionally, it doesn’t matter where; it is only gradually that we compose, within ourselves, our true place of origin, so that we may be born there retrospectively."
In this section of Words, we will study Critical Race Theory. There are one required text:
Kimberlé Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, and Kendall Thomas, editors
Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement
The New Press, 1996.
Critical Race Theory available is available through the College Bookstore, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Course Reserves at Watzek Library.
Download a free copy of Microsoft's Office 365 Education— which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Teams—at https://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-education.
According to the learning objectives for General Education, each section of Words and Numbers will prepare students to:
Examine ideas, arguments, biases, and assumptions coming from a variety of perspectives, including their own, with an open yet critical mind.
Analyze texts and/or quantitative information, recognizing, describing, and questioning patterns, trends, anomalies, and relationships.
Present clear, compelling, and effective arguments and/or analysis, supported by evidence.
In this section of Words, we will closely read and discuss articles about Critical Race Theory. Through critically engaging with these articles and relevant secondary literature, we will learn to see, think, speak, and write, thereby developing a noble culture (what Germans call Bildung).
In preparation for each class meeting, you should have read the assigned material. You should arrive in class with prepared questions or comments about the assigned reading.
In addition to the learning objectives stated above, another major goal of this course is to cultivate intellectual abilities which have general application. This course aims to provide the resources which will enable you to develop intellectual survival skills, question what passes as common knowledge and accepted wisdom, evaluate your own and others' positions, and formulate new ideas. Such skills consist in the ability to summarize the assigned material, and to write pieces in which ideas and arguments are articulated, criticized, defended. Such skills also involve developing the ability to think critically about the views of ourselves and others. Critical thinking consists in understanding several sides of a debate, and seeing both the advantages and limitations of an opinion. Learning to question your opinions is as crucial as arguing for them. If you only learn to give reasons for opinions already held, you merely are giving rationalizations for prejudices. You need to learn to think for yourself, developing, defending, and criticizing your beliefs.
In this connection, I am especially concerned that you develop the ability to discuss issues cogently and to write intelligent, reflective pieces in clear, grammatical English. It is important that you learn to think, in a disciplined way, about the books and issues they raise. Part of that discipline consists in being able to analyze, evaluate, and formulate arguments. This involves knowing how to identify basic assumptions, develop a line of reasoning, recognize the steps that lead to a conclusion, and determine whether an argument is sound. In this way, hopefully, you will develop intellectual curiosity and the competencies to reason logically, evaluate critically, communicate effectively, imagine creatively, and appreciate aesthetic and creative expressions of humanity.
You are encouraged to share your questions and observations with the rest of the class, and to engage critically with the material, myself, and each other. By participating in class discussions, you will encounter directly differing interpretations of the material, become aware of the history of these views, and be encouraged to develop your own critical perspectives. In interacting with the material and each other, you will acquire a knowledge and appreciation of self, society, human cultures, and the natural world. I intend that you discover what has been written and said concerning, in the words of Socrates, "the most important things"—questions about human character and the conduct of life. Such skills will enable you to succeed in subsequent courses and in endeavors outside of the classroom. Those abilities also will contribute to your development as educated citizens in a democratic society.
You will write a Précis for almost every reading assignment and complete various Research Exercises that teach research skills. There will be one Argumentative Research Project that includes a Prospectus, an Assessment (a draft that is presented in class, and a Final Rewrite.
The Précis, Research Exercises, and Class Participation will be weighted together and will count for 20% of your final grade, the Prospectus will count for 5%, the Assessment will count for 20%, and the Final Rewrite will count for 55%.
The grading scale is:
A = 93%-100%
A- = 90%-92%
B+ = 86%-89%
B = 83% 85%
B- = 80%-82%
C+ = 76%-79%
C = 73%-75%
C- = 70%-72%
D+ = 66%-69%
D = 60%-65%
F = 0%-59%.
A Précis will be due almost every class session. Each précis will be one side of one typed page—never longer—double-spaced, with 1 inch margins on the right & left sides and the top & bottom. It must be at least 3/4 of a page in length. Use a 12-point Times or Times Roman font. There will be no spelling or grammatical errors in your précis. Your name will be typed in the upper right-hand corner. In each précis, you will summarize—in your own words, without using any quotes—the assigned reading's main claims, as well as the reasons which are given to support those claims. You will not include any opinion, evaluation, or commentary. At the bottom of each précis, or on the back, you will type one question that you have about the reading. This question must written prior to, not during, class.
The Assessment is a draft of the Argumentative Research Paper that is presented in classs.
The Argumentative Research Paper must be approximately 2000 words, typed, double-spaced.
To receive credit, the Assessment and Argumentative Research Paper must each be at least 1900 words and no more than 2100 words.
It is crucial that you critically engage with the material. You might argue that a claim that an author makes is incorrect, for example, or that a criticism in the secondary literature is incorrect. Alternatively, you might argue that an interpretation advanced in the secondary literature is incorrect. Your paper must reflect an acquaintance with the secondary literature.
Watzek Library is an essential resource for the work you will do in this couse. Jim Bunnelle, the librarian for Philosophy, can help you throughout your research process. You can arrange a one-on-one appointment with Jim by emailing him at bunnelle@lclark.edu. You may also want to explore the Datebase and Reference Resources on the Philosophy subject guide for https://library.lclark.edu/philosophy.
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy will be useful.
Google Scholar and the Philosopher's Index will be vital for the Assessment and Argumentative Research Paper.
The Chicago Manual of Style's Citation Quick Guide is online.
There will be an Argumentative Research Paper, 2000 words, typed, double-spaced. It will be on the same topic as your assessment.
You're welcome to consult the Writing Center, located on the main floor of Watzek Library.
Also useful is the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University.
If you would find it useful to create concept maps, to help write your assessment or argumentative research papers, you can download the software to create them from IHMC Cmap Tools.
All work must be submitted when it is due. Late work will not be accepted and will receive no credit.
I will not accept late précis. You may be excuse from three précis.
However, your final grade for the course will be lowered by a full-letter grade if you do not submit four précis when they are due, the final grade will be lowered by two full-letter grades if you do not submit five précis when they are due, and you will be fail the course if you do not submit six précis when they are due.
This class will be successful only if there is a high degree of participation and attendance. Further, you will partially transition from being a student who only consumes knowledge to a scholar who also produces knowledge. So, you must be in class participating.
Your final grade for the course will be lowered by a full-letter grade if you have three unexcused absences, the final grade will be lowered by two full-letter grades if you have four unexcused absences, and you will receive an F for the course from the course if you have five unexcused absences.
Your final grade for the course will be lowered by a full-letter grade if you miss four class sessions, the final grade will be lowered by two full-letter grades if you miss five class sessions, and you will be fail the course if you miss six or more class sessions.
You may not arrive late to class. You will not be admitted if you are late and that will count as an absence.
You should be prepared to remain in class for the entire hour. Although there may be an occasion when there is a legitimate need to leave during class, this should happen only rarely. If you have to leave, you must minimize any disruption.
If you experience emergent health issues, mental or physical, communicate with me before class.
Serious illnesses and emergencies will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Prior to class, you must power down your phones and other electronic devises.
You may use a computer during class only for work that is directly related to the course.
Throughout the course you are expected to read carefully the assigned material. It is impossible to do well in this course without reading and studying the books. You should spend a minimum of three hours preparing for each class session. Read the assigned material at least twice and take notes on what you read. You are expected to attend all class sessions, come to class having read thoroughly the assigned material, and to contribute to the discussions.
Gorgias of Leontini maintained that "those who neglect philosophy and spend their time on ordinary studies are like the suitors who desired Penelope but slept with her maids." In philosophy, unlike ordinary studies, there are few right and wrong answers. There are better and worse arguments and ideas, however, usually in direct proportion to thoughtfulness and care. What is important is that you think for yourself, and that you develop and defend your own ideas. It would be an excellent idea to write drafts or outlines of your papers, and to have a comrade read them to check on spelling, grammar, development of arguments, and so forth.
You are strongly encouraged to discuss the class material, your ideas, your puzzles and difficulties with each other. A word to the wise: Find a study partner to discuss things with outside of class.
There's a Bollwood tune for every occasion. Click here.
When it comes to writing, though, do your own. That is the only way you will get the full benefit of your own efforts. I will be happy to discuss ideas with you, read outlines and rough drafts, and so forth. That is partly why I keep office hours.
A final word to the wise. It is not difficult to do well in this class, but it also is easy to do badly. Let me talk about the bad stuff first. You will receive a major grade reduction—or fail this course—if you do not read the material, seldom participate in class discussions, do not write your assessment or argumentative research paper, plagiarize, cheat, and so forth.
About plagiarizing and cheating. You must follow Lewis & Clark College's Academic Integrity Policy. You may never use ChatGPTor any other artificial intelligence or chatbot. If you plagiarize, cheat, or use AI, you will receive an "F" for the entire course (you will not be allowed to drop or withdraw from the course). I also will turn your case over to the Honor Board; I will recommend that disciplinary penalties be assessed. It is never in your interest to plagiarize or cheat!
Now for the good stuff. With a concerted effort, you will do well in this class. To do well, you must participate in class discussions, read and study the assigned material, write the assessment and argumentative research paper, be in class (almost) all of the time, etc. I do not grade on a curve, and so there is no good reason why you should not get an "A" for the course!
Academic Support and Resources is the one-stop website for academic support offices. It has links to resources for Research and Writing, Advising and Accommodations, the Career Center, and Tutoring.
The Writing Center is available for remote consultations on Zoom all semester. There are two ways to work with the Center:
Drop in Peer Tutoring. Tutoring hours will be 3:00-10:00 PM on Sundays-Thursdays. No appointment is needed—just sign in through the website and you can usually see a tutor right away.
Appointments with the Director. You can book consultation appointments with John Holzwarth throughout the semester. Appointments are often available on short notice.
Course policy on disability accommodation. If you have a disability or learning difference that may impact your academic performance, you should request accommodations by submitting documentation to The Office of Student Accessibility. They will notify me of any accommodations for which you are eligible.
COURSE SCHEDULE
James Baldwin: "If we—and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of the others—do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world"
Week 1
Wednesday, September 4:
Introduction to the course.
Read:
Malcolm Gladwell's Group Think in the New Yorker.
Ethan Watters, "We Aren't the World", Pacific Standard.
Joseph Henrich, Steven J. Heine, and Ara Norenzayan, "The Weirdest People in the World?", Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Volume 33:2-3, June 2010, pages 61-83.
You neeed to sign into Watzek's website to access this article.
Friday, September 6:
Edward Taylor, 1998, "A Primer on Critical Race Theory", The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 19: 122-124, https://doi.org/10.2307/2998940.
and
Jacey Fortin, Jacey, 2021, "Critical Race Theory: A Brief History," The New York Times, 8 November, https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-critical-race-theory.html.
and
Cornel West, "Foreward", xi-xii.
and
"Introduction", xiii-xxxii; précis.
Week 2
Monday, September 9:
"Critical Race Theory", Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory; précis.
Sign up for Assessment (which is also the topic of your Argumentative Research Paper).
Wednesday, September 11:
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, 1989, "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics", University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989(8): 139-167, https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8; précis.
Friday, September 13:
Précis on the Topic of your Assessment and Argumentative Research Paper.
Week 3
Monday, September 16:
Peggie R. Smith, 1991, "Separate Identities: Black Women, Work, and Title VII", Harvard Women's Law Journal 14: 21-76, https://login.library.lcproxy.org/login?url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/hwlj14&i=35; précis.
Wednesday, September 18:
Catharine A. MacKinnon, 1991, "From Practice to Theory, or What is a White Woman Anyway?", Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 14(3): 13-22, http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13051/7152; précis.
Friday, September 20:
Martha Mahoney, 1991, " Whiteness and Women, In Practice and Theory: A Reply To Catharine MacKinnon", Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 15(2): 217-251, http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13051/7174; précis.
Research Exercise for Monday: Find two articles that will be relevant to your Assessment. Provide one block quote and one in-line quote with proper citation. List the articles in proper format for bibliography.
Week 4
Monday, September 23:
Catharine A. MacKinnon, 2013, "Intersectionality as Method: A Note", Signs 38(4): 1019-1030, https://doi.org/10.1086/669570; précis.
Intellectual Precursors: Early Criticism of Conventional Civil Rights Discourse
Wednesday, September 25:
Derrick A. Bell, Jr., "Serving Two Masters: Integration Ideals and Client Interests in School Desegregation Litigation", 5-19; précis.
Friday, September 27:
Derrick A. Bell, Jr., "Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest Convergence Dilemma", 20-29; précis.
Exercise for Monday: Submit a 3-5 page Prospectus of your Argumentative Research Paper in which you:
(1) state your topic and, if possible, your thesis.
(2) describe the problem or issue to be treated.
(3) outline your anticipated procedure and probable conclusion.
(4) include an annotated bibliography of works to be consulted (a minimum of six articles, with a brief paragraph discussing the relevance of each article to your project).
Week 5
Monday, September 30:
Due: Prospectus.
Submit your Prospectus as a .docx file, attached to an email.
Title your docx file this way:
CORE120_YourLastNameYourFirstName_Prospectus.docx
for example:
CORE120_ArendtHannah_Prospectus.docx
Wednesday, October 2:
Alan David Freeman, "Legitimizing Racial Discrimination through Antidiscrimination Law: A Critical Review of Supreme Court Doctrine", 29-46; précis.
Friday, October 4:
Richard Delgado, "The Imperial Scholar: Reflections on a Review of Civil Rights Literature", 46-57; précis.
Week 6
Critical Race Theory and Critical Legal Studies: Contestation and Coalation
Monday, October 7:
Mars Matsuda, "Looking to the Bottom: Critical Legal Studies and Reparations", 63-79; précis.
Wednesday, October 9:
Harlon L. Dalton, "The Clouded Prism: Minority Critique of the Critical Legal Studies Movement", 80-84; précis.
Friday, October 11:
Fall Break.
Week 7
Monday, October 14:
Anthony E. Cook, "Beyond Critical Legal Studies: the Reconstructive Theology of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.", 85-102; précis.
Assessment: .
Wednesday, October 16:
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, "Race, Reform, and Retrenchment: Transformation and Legitimation in Antidiscrimination Law", 103-122; précis.
Assessment: .
Toward a Critical Cultural Pluralism: Progressive Alternatives to Mainstream Civil Rights Ideology
Friday, October 18:
Gary Peller, "Race-Consciousness", 127-158; précis.
Assessment: .
Week 8
Monday, October 21:
Duncan Kennedy, "A Cultural Pluralist Case for Affirmative Action in Legal Academia", 159-177; précis.
Assessment: .
Wednesday, October 23:
Gerald Torres and Kathryn Milun, "Translating 'Yonnondio' by Precedent and Evidence: The Mashpee Indian Case", 177-190; précis.
Assessment: .
Friday, October 25:
Patricia J. Williams, "Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. FCC: Regrouping in Singular Times", 191-200; précis.
Assessment: .
Week 9
Critical Race Theory and Legal Doctrine
Monday, October 28:
Lani Guinier, Groups, "Representation, and Race-Conscious Districting: A Case of the Emperor's Clothes", 205-235; précis.
Assessment: .
Wednesday, October 30:
Charles R. Lawrence III, "The Id, the Ego, and Equal Protection: Reckoning with Unconscious Racism", 235-257; précis.
Assessment: .
Friday, November 1:
Class cancelled: Northwest Philosophy Conference
Week 10
Monday, November 4:
Neil Gotanda, "A Critique of 'Our Constitution is Color-Blind'", 257-275; précis.
Assessment: .
Wednesday, November 6:
Cheryl I. Harris, "Whiteness as Property", 276-291; précis.
Assessment: .
Friday, November 8:
Linda Greene, "Race in the Twenty-First Century: Equality through Law?", 292-302; précis.
Assesssment: .
Week 11
Monday, November 11:
Derrick A. Bell, Jr., "Racial Realism", 302-312; précis.
Assessment: .
The Search for an Oppositional Voice
Wednesday, November 13:
John O. Calmore, "Critical Race Theory, Archie Shepp, and Fire Music: Securing an Authentic Intellectual Life in a Multicultural World", 315-329; précis.
Assessment: .
Friday, November 15:
Taunya Lovell Banks, "Two Life Stories: Reflections of One Black Woman Law Professor", 329-336; précis.
Assessment: .
Week 12
Monday, November 18:
Charles R. Lawrence III, "The Word and the River: Pedagogy as Scholarship as Struggle", 336-351; précis.
Assessment: .
The Intersection of Race and Gender
Wednesday, November 20:
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color", 357-383; précis.
Assessment: .
Friday, November 22:
Dorothy E. Roberts, "Punishing Drug Addicts Who Have Babies: Women of Color, Equality, and the Right of Privacy", 384-426; précis.
Assessment: .
Week 13
Monday, November 25:
Regina Austin, "Sapphire Bound!", 426-437; précis.
Wednesday, November 27:
In-class consultations on Argumentative Research Projects
Friday, November 29:
Thanksgiving Break
Week 14
Race and Postmodernism
Monday, December 2:
Jayne Chong-Soon Lee, "Navigating the Topology of Race", 441-449; précis.
Assessment: .
Wednesday, December 4:
Richard Thomson Ford, "The Boundaries of Race: Political Geography in Legal Analysis", 449-465; précis.
Assessment: .
Friday, December 6:
Kendall Thomas, "Rouge et Noir Reread: A Popular Constitutional History of the Angelo Herndon Case", 465-494; précis.
Assessment: .
Week 15
Monday, December 9:
Glenn E. Bracey II, 2022, "The Spirit of Critical Race Theory", Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 8(4): 503-517, https://doi.org/10.1177/23326492221114814; précis.
Wednesday, December 11:
Concluding discussion.
Friday, December 13:
Reading Day.
Week 16
Saturday, December 14:
Due at 1:00 PM:
Argumentative Research Paper
Submit your paper as a .docx file, attached to an email.
Title your docx file this way:
CORE120_YourLastNameYourFirstName_Final.docx
Updated 24 April 2024