Guidelines and Preparing for Successful Discussions:

We will discuss key concepts, big ideas and multiple histories every class session.  These discussions take practice.  Each of us needs to make these ideas and histories relevant to our own individual lives.  As we move between the world of the text and the world of you, you will need a clear and detailed understanding of both—the world of the text and the world of you. 

Try to understand the class as a story, one we create together, and one that is larger than us.  Try to stay close by; it’s a long story.

Part of this story involves the introduction of new material.  You need to try to understand that material on its own terms.  Make sure you can explain the readings to yourself, and someone else before you try to make a relationship to the piece.  Your end goal will be to come to your own relationship to each of the texts and to the story of our class.  But before you can get there you must be able to describe what the author is saying.

Some things to try:

1.     Identify the key concepts of each piece.

2.     Locate the knowledge demands of each piece (what do you need to know, well, in order to understand this author, and the argument they are making?).

3.     Find the key sentence (or sentences) of the text.

4.     Explain the key concepts in your own words.

Remember:  Ethnic Studies is not a matter of opinion but of argumentation, consequently we are committed to the Maggot Brain (think, think, it ain’t illegal yet).