Online Session – Wednesday, September 9th: Four Key Concepts
Due Monday, 9/14 at 12:30
During our last session, we discussed the major social movements that led to the emergence of Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies in the United States. Today’s session explores four concepts—power, social structure, culture, and identity—that scholars in Asian American Studies use to examine problems related to social inequality. In preparation for our lecture on Monday, your goal is to analyze the first five chapters of the Fadiman book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, with these ideas. On a separate document, compose at least a one-paragraph answer to each of the following sets of questions:
Power
Broadly put, power is the ability to control others. Where do we see power in The Spirit Catches You? Who has authority to control people, and how do they do this?
Social Structure
This term refers to the linkages between complex social forms that reproduce themselves such as governments, the family, human languages, universities, hospitals, business corporations, and legal systems. In your estimation, what are the most important structures in the first five chapters of the book?
Culture
Culture is: represented by values, traditions, social and political relationships, worldview, shared by a group of people, and bounded by a combination of common history, geographic location, language, social class, religion, sexual orientation, and other dimensions. Where do we see examples of culture in Fadiman’s book?
Identity
How are people grouped according to different identities? How are the various ways people are identified in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, and so on relevant to the story being presented in The Spirit Catches You?
When you are finished, cut and paste your work into the field below and submit it. Keep a draft for your records.
Power
Broadly put, power is the ability to control others. Where do we see power in The Spirit Catches You? Who has authority to control people, and how do they do this?
Social Structure
This term refers to the linkages between complex social forms that reproduce themselves such as governments, the family, human languages, universities, hospitals, business corporations, and legal systems. In your estimation, what are the most important structures in the first five chapters of the book?
Culture
Culture is: represented by values, traditions, social and political relationships, worldview, shared by a group of people, and bounded by a combination of common history, geographic location, language, social class, religion, sexual orientation, and other dimensions. Where do we see examples of culture in Fadiman’s book?
Identity
How are people grouped according to different identities? How are the various ways people are identified in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, and so on relevant to the story being presented in The Spirit Catches You?
When you are finished, cut and paste your work into the field below and submit it. Keep a draft for your records.