From: Diversity Affairs Council Advisors [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Coates, Rodney D. Dr.
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 12:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: BWS/SOC 348: Race and Ethnic Relations-2009 Summer experimental course Miami Oxford

 I would like to invite all students, who have completed BWS 151: Introduction to Black World Studies or SOC 151: Introduction to Sociology to consider taking an exciting, experimental course in Race and Ethnic Relations.  This course BWS/SOC 348: Race and Ethnic Relations will be limited to just 20 students.  These limitations are necessary because it requires a significant commitment of time, energy, and intellectual effort to complete the required course.  Specifically, students from Miami University Oxford will develop links with students from around the globe (Russia, Ireland, Thailand, Poland, Ghana, and etc.) and explore real life and time race and ethnic conflict situations.  Readings, discussions, and projects will be designed collaboratively across these different national groups to allow students to better understand and appreciate race and ethnic relations from a global perspective.  Students who satisfactorily complete this course will receive a minimum of a B for their efforts.  Only serious students will be admitted into this course, given the requirements, work, and collaborative components outlined above.  Please direct all enquires to Dr. Rodney D. Coates ([log in to unmask]).  Below is a brief course description..

Increasingly over the past decade Ethnic and Racial conflict has emerged as the dominant source of competition both within and between nation-states.  Ethnic strife between Pakistan and India, Serbia and Croatia, Chechnya's and Russians -is intensifying.  Talk about globalization and the New World Order has taken a back seat to Old World Traits and Ethnic/Racial designations.  Ethnically/Racially based hostilities are shaping the continents of Africa and the Middle East -as seen by recent events in India, Somalia, and the Congo.  The riots that have racked both Germany and France, L.A. and even Cincinnati in recent years -attests to the reality that these problems are not limited to less developed countries.  Political, social, economic and cultural systems are experiencing strains which can only be understood through the lens of race and ethnic relations.  The purpose of this course is to develop an understanding of: the nature of race and ethnicity, their role in society, how social institutions can influence the course of race and ethnic conflict, and its relevance for globalization. This course will compare the experiences of many different states, developed and less developed, authoritarian and democratic, to develop a broader comprehension of a crucial aspect of comparative and international race and ethnic relations.

"If necessity is the mother of invention, then crises is the mother of change..and how we deal with change is a measure of our character."  (rdc -08)

Rodney D. Coates

Professor of Sociology and Gerontology

Miami University

Oxford, Ohio 45056

 513 - 529 1590