African American Studies 188A: Special Topics Race and Visions of Justice Tuesday and Thursday: 2-3:15 Class Location: Boelter 4413 Spring, 2017 Professor Rogers Office: Bunche 4353 Office Hours: M, W 1-2 OR BY APPOINTMENT Mrogers097@ucla.edu Course Description: Liberalism, with its emphasis on rights, freedom, human dignity, and limited government, has come to be seen as a theory of the just society. But it has not been without its critics, many of whom have argued that liberalism is misguided in theory, broken in practice, and insensitive to racial inequality. This course charts and examines the contemporary defense of liberalism beginning with the publication of John Rawls’ famous A Theory of Justice, and its subsequent critical reception by scholars of race, inequality, and social movements. Although African Americans will not be the only thinkers we read, we are largely interested in how African American thinkers have criticized, understood, reimagined, and rehabilitated liberal theory. Required Texts: All required books are available in UCLA Store Alternatively, students may use the Kindle version or the I-reader version of the same editions. Of course, students will be responsible for locating the required pages. • • • • • • John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Original Edition) Charles Mills, Racial Contract Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference Glenn Loury, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality Chris Lebron, The Color of Our Shame Tommie Shelby, Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform Requirements, Standards, and Grading A. Participation 15% Although I shall lecture on some occasions, you should see this course primarily as a seminar. This means I expect you to read all of the assigned reading and come prepared to discuss it. You should therefore come prepared with your own thoughts and reactions 1 (however provisional). It also means that even on those days when I do lecture, you should feel comfortable interrupting me for explanations and/or clarification. Attendance Policy Attendance is mandatory. Excused absences will be granted for medically documented emergencies or illnesses (this requires a doctor’s letter) or a note from a UCLA administrator explaining your extenuating circumstances. Absences are unexcused for all other reasons. Everyone gets one free unexcused absence from class. After your free unexcused absence, every additional unexcused absence will lower your final letter grade in this course by one full grade. To be clear, this attendance policy means that if you have missed one class session with no excused absence and you are earning a B+ in the class, your final grade in this course will be lowered to a C+. B. 3 Papers Paper topics from which to choose will be provided. Please consult “Writing a Philosophy Essay” listed under the “Course Documents” tab in Moodle. Please also see the Sample Papers I have provided under the “Course Document” tab in Moodle. 1st Essay (5 pages): 2nd Essay (5 pages): 3rd Essay (7-8 pages): 25% 25% 35% I will provide you with the essay prompts. PLEASE NOTE: • Taking the course entails a commitment to submit all required work in a timely manner. The values attached to each paper apply to all submitted work. Penalty for non-submission is automatic failure of the course. • Papers that will be submitted late must receive prior approval; without approval, the paper will be penalized 1 ½ letter grade each day for being late. • Papers late 2 or more days without approval will not be accepted and will be registered as non-submission. Penalty for non-submission is automatic failure of the course. Academic Honesty All of the written work you do in this course is expected to be your own ideas and your own words. If you are unfamiliar with the University’s policy on academic dishonesty and associated penalties, see http://www.deanofstudents.ucla.edu. Lying to a faculty 2 member or teaching assistant about anything relating to this course constitutes academic dishonesty and requires reporting to the Dean. Learning Disabilities Students with University documented learning disabilities should inform me as soon as possible of their needs. This is especially important if you require more time for essay assignments. If you suspect you have a learning disability and have not been tested for one, contact the UCLA Office for Students with Disabilities (310) 825-1501/website: https://osd.ucla.edu. C. Grading Definition Index and Guidelines UCLA works on a 4.0 grading scale that uses the +/- system. As indicated by “Academic Policies and Regulations”: “Students should not assume that all professors use identical grading scales or standards.” In order to avoid arbitrariness and to achieve transparency, I shall use the percent equivalent of the letter grades as indicated below. Since the percent equivalent often encompasses a range, it is very possible that no two Bs are the same as indicated below. For papers, I shall always use the percent equivalent and only for your submitted final grade will I translate the total percentage achieved into a letter grade. Letter Grade Percent Equivalent Grade Scale Equivalent A 93-100% 4.0 A- 90-92% 3.7 B+ 87-89% 3.3 B 83-86% 3.0 B- 80-82% 2.7 C+ 77-79% 2.3 C 73-76% 2.0 C- 70-72% 1.7 D 65-69% 1.0 F Failure 0 When grading your course papers, I will take the following stipulations into consideration. All papers will be based on essay prompts provided. (These standards, which I have modified, are adapted from various and numerous sources.) A/A-: An "A" paper is exceptional in the sense that it satisfies all the criteria implicit in the basic formula and does so to a high degree. Such a paper would therefore be elegantly 3 written, based on thinking of a highly original kind, clearly state and clarify a highly interesting thesis, and defend that thesis with especially persuasive argumentation and appeal to textual evidence where appropriate. An "A-" paper would be excellent in most respects but slightly flawed in one or more respects. For example, an "A-" paper might be elegantly written, based on thinking of a highly original kind, state a highly interesting thesis in a clear way, and include a good deal of impressive argumentation, but not succeed in responding appropriately to one of the more important objections that could be raised against the main thesis. Or it might be excellent in most respects but fails to satisfactorily qualify its main thesis so as to secure the perfection of the paper's argument. Papers in the “A” range must go beyond mechanically answering each component of the question and demonstrate the author's interpretation of the texts. Papers that stray too far from the text will be unlikely candidates for a grade in the “A” range. B+/B: A "B" paper is good in the sense that it satisfies all of the standards implicit in the basic formula and does so to a respectable degree. Such a paper would typically include careful but not elegant writing. It would be based on thinking that shows some originality. It would state and clarify a reasonably interesting thesis. And it would seriously engage with potential objections. A “B+” paper is one that is very good because it had most of these traits but also had some flashes of excellence. B-: A “B-” paper is more than adequate in that it had most of the traits above and show some command over the material, but nonetheless suffered from more serious flaws. Specifically, a “B-” paper has a thesis and the author attempts to support it with evidence from the text. Serious flaws here may include simplistic or weak thesis, arguments that don't support the thesis, and/or arguments that are ineffectively organized. More serious problems with writing style (such as clarity) or grammar may hamper arguments as well. C+/C/C-: A paper in the “C” range is adequate or satisfactory. Specifically, a paper in the “C” range varies from having a weak to minimal to no identifiable thesis. Arguments here are unsupported by textual evidence or simply unsupportable. Papers of this kind are marred by awkward, stilted, or unclear writing. A paper that falls in the C+/C range will often be characterized by an ill-chosen main thesis that is either relatively uninteresting or too ambitious to defend adequately, and an argument that has trouble withstanding close scrutiny. D: A paper in the "D" range is minimally acceptable in the sense that it barely counts as a completion of the assignment. For a paper to land in this zone, it must show some evidence of an attempt to satisfy the standards implicit in the basic formula. For example, the student must have studied the materials being discussed with some understanding. But most papers in the “D” range are either carelessly written, lack a clearly identifiable thesis, fail to anticipate possible objections, or suffer from some combination of these weaknesses. F: No evidence of student effort. Schedule Tuesday and Thursday 4 Tuesday, April 4: Introduction Liberalism and the Egalitarian Contract Thursday, April 6: John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, chap. 1, sections 1-5, and 9 Tuesday, April 11: Rawls, A Theory of Justice, chap. 2, sections 10-14 Thursday, April 13: Rawls, A Theory of Justice, chap. 3, sections, 23-24 Rethinking Conceptual History: Liberalism and the Racial Contract Tuesday, April 18: Charles Mills, Racial Contract, pp. 1-62 Thursday, April 20th: Mills, Racial Contract, pp. 62-135 Beyond the Distributive Paradigm Tuesday, April 25: 1 Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference, Chapter Thursday, April 27: Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference, Chapters 2 and 5 Race and Stigma Tuesday, May 2: Glenn Loury, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality, Preface-Chapter 2 Thursday, May 4: Loury, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality, Chapter 3 Tuesday, May 9: Loury, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality, Chapter 4-Conclusion Perfectionist Liberalism: Race and the Character of the Nation Thursday, May 11: Chris Lebron, The Color of Our Shame, Preface, Introduction & Chapter 1 Tuesday, May 16: Lebron, The Color of Our Shame, Chapters 2, 3, and 4 Thursday, May 18: Lebron, The Color of Our Shame, Chapters 5 and Epilogue Rehabilitating Liberalism Tuesday, May 23: Tommie Shelby, Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform, Introduction, Part I, Chapters 1, 2, and 3* (Heavy Reading) Thursday, May 25: Shelby, Dark Ghettos, Part II, Chapters 4 and 5 5 Tuesday, May 30: Shelby, Dark Ghettos, Part II, Chapter 6 Thursday, June 1: Shelby, Dark Ghettos, Part III, Chapter 7 and 8 Tuesday, June 6: Shelby, Dark Ghettos, Part III, Chapter 9 and Epilogue 6