General Instructions:
It's time for your second RAID!
The Thursday mentor students will be conducting their RAID
this upcoming Thursday in mentor session, while the Tuesday mentor students will be doing theirs the
following Tuesday.
As before, if you are a
leader, you will be graded on
how prepared you were to
lead the discussion,
how well you succinctly presented your responses
and arguments,
how professionally you handled the process of
facilitating group discussion, and
your overall response to the
question.
If you are a
participant, you will be graded on
how attentive
and responsible you were during the leader's initial presentation, how
well (
extent of preparedness, ability to respond, etc.) you engaged in
dialogue about the topic after the leader finished, how
professionally
you participated in discussion (not taking up too much time or
interrupting), and your
overall grasp of the subject matter.
Each student will also be graded on the written RAID
response: MLA format, content, thoughtfulness, professionalism, etc.
Please include each question (you can just copy and paste from here) or
a short (paraphrased) version. Your discussion points for
each question
should not be much longer than
one page
(per question). Remember a Works Cited page and MLA format if
you paraphrase, cite, or refer to material to substantiate your
assertions.
Though not required,
it is usually
best to type up your RAID as
discussion points or an outline, rather than in narrative text format.
I don't care if you don't use full sentences, but what you do
have needs to be otherwise grammatically correct.
INTRODUCTION
This purpose of this module is for you to develop an
understanding of how, in the U.S., the industrial revolution and
immigration had a dramatic effect on the nature and experience of
"community." Economic changes that occurred during the 20th and
21st centuries have had an even more widespread effect, because of the
combined forces of globalization, changes in settlement patterns, and
the emergence of a new economy.
The four questions below involve additional readings, but they are all
intended to be skimmed. For the RAID, you do not need to do a
deep and thorough analysis of the readings listed in the questions.
Read, skim, browse over as much as you need to in order to be
able to address the RAID questions for your RAID discussion and paper.
These readings and the RAID are meant to provide a foundation for
the final SECRET and continued discussions in class.
I. Anomie, Alienation, and Exploitation: What Happens When Heterogeneity Meets Size and Density?
Read the excerpt from Friederich Hegel's 1892 book,
The
Conditions of the Working Class in England in 1844, at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1844engels.html and
compare it with Ch. 1, "The Genesis of the Tenement," in Jacob Riis's 1890 work,
How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York, at
http://www.cis.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/chap1.html. Also
read 21st century journalist Paul Harris's article, "37 Million Poor Hidden in the Land of Plenty," at
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1712965,00.html and
How do these writings shed light on
19th century German economist Karl Marx's argument that the industrial
revolution resulted in a new class -- the working class (or, proletariat) -- whose lives were and still are characterized by anomie, alienation, poverty, and exploitation?
II. Melting Pot, Stewpot, Boiling Pot, or Tossed Salad?
Read 20th century journalist William Booth's 1998 article,
“The Myth of the Melting Pot, Part I: One Nation, Indivisible: Is It History?”at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/meltingpot/melt0222.htm and19th century journalist Jacob Riis's Ch. 3, "The Mixed Crowd," at
http://www.cis.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/chap3.html; Ch. 5, "The Italians of New York," at
http://www.cis.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/chap5.html; and Ch. 6, "The Bend," at
http://www.cis.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/chap6.html, and Windy Sengsatheuane's 2005 article, "Ninjas, Dragons, and Other Racial Myths," in
The Racial Wealth Divide Project, at
http://www.racialwealthdivide.org/documents/doublydivided.pdf.
With
these readings in mind, how would you describe the nature of
heterogeneity in the United States, both past and present, as a result
of immigration, industrialization, and changes in the economy?
III. The American Dream: Fact or Fiction?
Read Meizhu Liu's 2004 article, "Doubly Divided: The Racial Welfare Gap," from the online publication,
The Racial Wealth Divide Project, at
http://www.racialwealthdivide.org/documents/doublydivided.pdf, and the Century Foundation's
Rags to Riches? The American Dream is Less Common in the United States than Elsewhere, at
http://www.tcf.org/Publications/EconomicsInequality/ragrichrc.pdf and
The New American Economy: A Rising Tide That Lifts Only Yachts, at
http://www.tcf.org/Publications/EconomicsInequality/wasow_yachtrc.pdf and
explore Brenda Keneally's videos and short films at
http://www.brendakenneally.com/. At that site,
click on Money Power and Respect: Pictures of My Neighborhood and then
click through and watch the videos on
Brooklyn, Goldie, Fay, Moya, and Andrew. Is the American Dream a dream, a nightmare, a reality, a fiction -- or what?
IV. The Dream: At What Cost?
Read Motavilli, Jim, Divya Abhat, Shauna Dineen, Tamsyn Jones, Rebecca Sanborn, and Kate Slomkowski. "Cities of the Future."
E Magazine: The Environmental Magazine. 16.5 (2005): 26-36. Persistent link:
http://proxy.lib.pdx.edu:2052/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=17979539. Then,
go to the online Ecological Footprint Quiz, at
http://ecofoot.org/ and
calculate
your ecological footprint (choose the country where you have lived for
most of your life, choose your preferred language, and then proceed).
How viable is the concept of the
"American Dream" in the context of the current global economy and
threats to environmental sustainability?