Politics of Hate, Difference, and Justice
Given course materials, please examine how inequalities – racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ableism, ethnocentrism – manifests in your everyday life. Everyday life can comprise of
mainstream discourse (e.g. newspapers, periodicals, television news, television sitcoms, talk shows,
movies, art, public space, and music), or socetial institutions, or groups to which one identifies.
You are welcome to discuss one inequality in particular, or the intersections between them. Course materials include assigned readings, facilitated activities, class discussions, and class slides.
You will be graded based on the quality of your writing in terms of:
– Personalizing your perceptions, experiences (i.e. using “I” statements)
– Effectively using and integrating course materials into your personal account
– Spelling/grammatical use of words to articular a clear message
– Your genuineness and honesty to own your biases and explore how your development/socialization has shaped you to think about inequalities
On this last point: I will simply not accept the following basic and stereotypical arguments:
– “I see and experience all kinds of inequalities and understand them;” and,
– “I was taught to treat everyone as equals and I don’t participate in the inequalities listed above”
We all have biases; I expect you to use this paper to explore what you choose to see and what you choose to not see. If you find yourself taking one of these positions listed above, I expect you to explore the reasons why you think that way.
Each essay should be typed in Microsoft Word and five (5) double-spaced pages long (excluding citations).
