Assignment Question
Instructions: Write 5 short-essay responses to the questions posed below. An ideal response would likely be 4-6 sentences long. For all 5 of your short essays, you have multiple options to choose from. Choose the question you prefer and ignore the other options. If you quote or paraphraseLinks to an external site. an internet source, you need to include an in-text parenthetical citationLinks to an external site. that includes a link to the source. (No bibliography is necessary.) If you draw from web sources without providing a link, you will NOT receive credit for your response.
QUESTION #1: Divide-and-Conquer
Option 1: U.S. history is full of examples of “divide and conquer” or what Ronald Takaki refers to as “divide and control” tactics (A Different Mirror p. 245) being used by economic elites to prevent subjugated populations from uniting across difference (differences of race, ethnicity, gender, etc.) to fight for their mutual interests. Describe one concrete example from our course. (Examples listed below). Your response must describe all the parties involved when “divide and control” dynamics are present: the two (or more) groups being divided and the one powerful group/system/institution doing the dividing. African and European indentured servants in 1600s colonial America suffragist and abolitionist movements in the 1800s sugar plantation laborers in early-1900s Hawaii California farm workers in the 1960s and 1970s women and men in cultural-nationalist movements of the 1960s and 1970s Black residents and Korean-immigrant store owners in South Los Angeles during the 1992 L.A. Riots (a.k.a. the Rodney King Riots) “model minority” myth/stereotype
Option 2: U.S. history is full of examples of “divide and conquer” or what Ronald Takaki refers to as “divide and control” tactics (A Different Mirror p. 245) being used by economic elites to prevent subjugated populations from uniting across difference (differences of race, ethnicity, gender, etc.) to fight for their mutual interests. Describe one concrete example that you see in contemporary society. Your response must describe all the parties involved when “divide and control” dynamics are present: the two (or more) groups being divided and the one powerful group/system/institution doing the dividing.
QUESTION #2: Movements
Option 1: The opposite of “divide and conquer” is “people power,” which occurs when people who are neither rich nor in charge of major institutions organize in large numbers across difference to push for social change. Describe one concrete example of cross-racial people power that you learned about in this course OR from your own knowledge or observations.
Option 2: A common aim of many cultural-nationalist movements of the 1960s and 1970s was “self-determination” for the people represented by that movement. In your own words, what does collective “self-determination” mean in this context? Describe a concrete example you learned about in class.
Option 3: “Decolonization” refers to processes of addressing and repairing harms caused by European and White-settler colonialism—including beliefs in the superiority of Europeans and White Americans. Describe a concrete example of decolonization that most moves you. Your example can be drawn from your own life or from outside your life experience (including something covered in class).
QUESTION #3: Intersectionality
Option 1: Apply the concept of intersectionality to James Baldwin’s short essay “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew…” How are the dynamics of race AND gender AND socioeconomic class relevant in this writing? Your response must address all three of these intersectional factors (race, gender, and class). You must also be specific in connecting your claims with the essay’s content, which means summarizing Baldwin’s points in sufficient detail and/or providing quote(s). Avoid making vague/generalized statements.
Option 2: Describe how Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” (Links to an external site). can serve as a counternarrative. Describe what dominant narrative it counters or contests. How are the dynamics of BOTH race AND gender relevant in the way the poem serves as a counternarrative? Your response must address BOTH race and gender. You must also be specific in connecting your claims with the poem’s content, which means summarizing Angelou’s points in sufficient detail and/or providing quote(s). Avoid making vague/generalized statements.
Option 3: Based upon what you read in Jessi Gan’s essay, describe Sylvia Rivera’s life and/or identity in intersectional terms, focusing on at least three of the following social dynamics: race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality/sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, nationality, language, religion, age. You must be specific in connecting your claims with the essay’s content. Avoid making vague/generalized statements.
Option 4: The writers of the Combahee River Collective state that “If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all systems of oppression.” What does this quote mean to you personally? How would you—along with everyone else—benefit if what they were saying came true? What does this have to do with intersectionality?
Option 5: Apply the concept of intersectionality to any cultural item of your choosing (a TikTok video, a YouTube video, a song, a music video, a work of visual art, a video game, a movie, etc.) You MUST provide a hotlink to your cultural item. (By “hotlink,” I mean a link Dr. Morrison can click on and instantly get to your example.) Without this, your response will receive a score of zero. You must discuss at least three of the following intersectional dynamics: race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality/sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, citizenship/nationality, language, religion, age, (dis)ability, neurodiversity.
QUESTION #4: Asian American Stereotyping With the “yellow peril” stereotype, Asians are portrayed as threatening and/or villainous. (This could include the “dragon lady” stereotype ( https://youtu.be/3cX4ZI5SSJc?si=Egx_ppmi06Coz2-3)., which is the female version of the “yellow peril” stereotype.) With the “model minority” myth ( https://youtu.be/qWBPGc_dpmY?si=LmuYrCxeZjKu8_jB) . Asian Americans are portrayed in some combination of the following: hardworking, high achieving, economically successful, quiet, obedient, conforming, and apolitical.
Option 1: Describe an example of an Asian-American figure, character, or portrayal in contemporary U.S. popular culture or media that you find significant. Specifically, How does your example reinforce the “model minority” myth OR the “yellow peril” stereotype? Is your example entirely negative, or is there some ambiguity between a “positive” and “negative” portrayal in your example? If your example does NOT reinforce the stereotypes above, then describe how it challenges EITHER the “model minority” myth OR the “yellow peril” stereotype.
Option 2: Provide a critique of the “model minority” myth OR the “yellow peril” stereotype by drawing from your life experience or lived observations.
QUESTION #5: Hip-Hop Generation
Option 1: Legendary rapper Tupac Shakur famously used the metaphor of “the rose that grew from concrete”to symbolize how economically marginalized people—i.e. people living in environments characterized by disinvestment, scarce resources, and lack of opportunities—express their humanity, resilience, and beauty despite harsh environments. Apply this metaphor to a real-life person or story that you find moving. This could be drawn from: 1) your own life experience or observations; 2) something you learned in this class; 3) something you came across in media or popular culture. What is the metaphorical “concrete” (the oppressive and inequitable environment, as described in the first sentence of this prompt)? You need to describe this in detail! What is the metaphorical “rose” (the expression of human dignity and/or beauty)?
Option 2: Legendary rapper Tupac Shakur famously used the metaphor of “the rose that grew from concrete” to symbolize how economically marginalized people—i.e. people living in environments characterized by disinvestment, scarce resources, and lack of opportunities—express their humanity, resilience, and beauty despite harsh environments. Apply this metaphor to the origin story of hip-hop in the Bronx in New York City in the 1970s. More specifically, apply this metaphor concretely—and in sufficient detail—to at least one of the “four elements” of hip-hop, which are: MCing/rapping DJing/beatmaking graffiti art b-boying/b-girling (a.k.a. “breakdancing”). What is the metaphorical “concrete” (the oppressive and inequitable environment, as described in the first sentence of this prompt)? You need to describe this in detail! What is the metaphorical “rose” (the expression of human dignity and/or beauty)? In addition to course materials, you may do some web research to help you answer this question.
Option 3: Briefly, describe how redlining or deindustrialization or white flight (or a combination any of these dynamics) affected the city of Vallejo—or any other city/region you’re interested in discussing. You’re encouraged to do a bit of web research to help you answer this question.
