Summer 2004
Fully Enrolled

SOCS 624 (AMST)
Education and Identity Formation

Wright,Carol

06/28/2004 - 08/11/2004
Monday & Wednesday 01:30 PM - 04:00 PM

Fisk Hall 412

Why are we interested in identity in education and the social sciences? This class explores identity--personal, social, cultural, and academic--through contemporary debates within the sociology of education. We will review and critique some of the major theoretical frameworks in the sociology of education on race, class, gender, and sexuality. We will examine these via four contemporary educational ethnographies that explore how different forces within educational settings (such as racism, classism, and sexism) emerge in schools. Implications for classroom practice will be examined. Through seminar-style (often student-led) discussions and some short lectures, this class will provide a rigorous exploration of core concepts, ideas, and theories in the tradition of critical sociology of education and anti-oppressive education.

Readings include: Amanda Lewis, RACE IN THE SCHOOLYARD: NEGOTIATING THE COLOR LINE IN CLASSROOMS AND COMMUNITIES; Ellen Brantlinger, DIVIDING CLASSES: HOW THE MIDDLE CLASS NEGOTIATES AND RATIONALIZES SCHOOL ADVANTAGE; Peggy Orenstein, SCHOOLGIRLS: YOUNG WOMEN, SELF-ESTEEM, AND THE CONFIDENCE GAP; and Gloria Ladson-Billings, THE DREAMKEEPERS: SUCCESSFUL TEACHERS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN. Other articles will be assigned.

Students will be responsible for active class participation and four written assignments: one book review (graded), one paper (graded), and two (two-pages each) responses to class readings (ungraded).

In advance of the first class meeting, students will read two articles, whose citations will be posted to the GLSP Web site in April.

A syllabus for this course is available at:
http://www.wesleyan.edu/afam/cwrightsyllabus.html


Carol Wright (B.A. Lafayette College; M.A. Teachers College; Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, Madison) is visiting instructor in African American studies at Wesleyan University. She presented "On Being Labeled: Locating Black Middle-Class Students in Higher Education" at the American Educational Research Association Conference, Chicago (2003).

ENROLLMENT INFORMATION

Consent of Instructor Required: No

Format: Seminar

Level: GLSP Credits: 3 Enrollment Limit: 18

Texts to purchase for this course:
Ellen Brantlinger, DIVIDING CLASSES (Routledge), Paperback

Gloria Ladson-Billings, THE DREAMKEEPERS (John Wiley & Sons) Paperback

Amanda Lewis, RACE IN THE SCHOOLYARD (Rutgers University Press), Paperback

Peggy Orenstein, SCHOOLGIRLS (Random House), Paperback

Register for Courses



Contact glsinquire@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions. 
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459

How to Register

Current Term

      Fall 2011

Upcoming Terms

       Spring 2012

Previous Semesters