This course is designed to help you understand racial and ethnic relations from a comparative global perspective 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 is an overview of race and ethnic relations in the United States that considers such groups as the indigenous peoples of North America , African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. The third part looks at global case studies in order to see racial and ethnic relations from a comparative perspective.
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. Soraya has taught in the area of race and ethnicity for more than eight years. Most recently, she gave 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. The term had a negative connotation and was adopted by activists as a symbolic rejection of the dominant white culture. In essence, they were saying that we can take a word that is considered dirty and negative and make it beautiful, as we are. Later, some Chicanos/as replaced the ch with an X to celebrate their indigenous roots.