This course is designed to help you understand the dynamics of racial and ethnic relations in the United States and to comprehend the differences between "race" and "ethnicity" and changing aspects of the terms.
The course is divided into three sections. The first part examines the terms "race" and "ethnicity," which are often misunderstood and confused, as well as other theoretical concepts and terms. The second part looks at immigration and gives an overview of race and ethnic relations in the United States. The third part examines specific groups in the United States—the indigenous peoples of North America, African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Jewish Americans.
Soraya Cardenas Vallejo is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Kansas. She received her doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her areas of specialization in sociology include ethnic and racial relations and environmental sociology, and she has taught in the area of race and ethnicity for more than eight years. Most recently, she save a conference in Oaxaca, Mexico, on Racial/Ethnic Discrimination facing Mexicans and Mexican Americans. She has also given a panel address on teaching race and ethnicity at a conference on ethnic studies. As a Fulbright scholar, she spent two years in Mexico conducting qualitative research. Currently, Dr. Cardenas is working on a book on social problems in the United States and Mexico. She is taking a participant observer approach, attempting to capture her Xicana experience against a backdrop of social and political issues faced by herself and other Xicanas.
Note: The term Xicana is used rather than Chicana because of its political implications. The term Chicano/a was adopted in the 1960s by Mexican American political activists. See the discussion in lesson 7 in the section "Rejecting the Term Hispanic."