CLUSTER 20A
Interracial Dynamics in American Culture and Society
Description: (Formerly numbered General Education Clusters 20A.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. Course 20A is enforced requisite to 20B, which is enforced requisite to 20CW. Limited to first-year freshmen. Examination of nature and meaning of race in American society through study of history, literature, and law. Consideration, among other topics, of construction of race as social and cultural category among two or more groups and exploration of ways in which race has shaped understanding of American citizenship. Letter grading.
Units: 6.0
Units: 6.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - I learned the most from Prof. Bunten's sections of the lecture perhaps because her focus (Native history) is the least accurately depicted in schools. Sometimes her audio would get randomly super loud and blow out my ears, but I am not sure why that happened. She would also sometimes go off on personal tangets, but they were interesting at least
Fall 2020 - I learned the most from Prof. Bunten's sections of the lecture perhaps because her focus (Native history) is the least accurately depicted in schools. Sometimes her audio would get randomly super loud and blow out my ears, but I am not sure why that happened. She would also sometimes go off on personal tangets, but they were interesting at least
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Professor Goeman is incredibly knowledgeable about Native American history. I was really interested in her lecture topics just because she gave a perspective that I never got in high school. She focused on the Native American perspective of colonialism and 18th-century history which was cool and we covered a lot that I didn't know before. She can be a little redundant at times and I understand getting bored but overall I really loved the class and I love that it fulfills 4 GEs, diversity AND writing while not being hard. Just one big paper due week 8 (media analysis, just like HS essay) and weekly readings which you can skim and leave a quick (required) comment on, although I recommend diving deep into some readings as you have to use them for the Final short answers.
Fall 2021 - Professor Goeman is incredibly knowledgeable about Native American history. I was really interested in her lecture topics just because she gave a perspective that I never got in high school. She focused on the Native American perspective of colonialism and 18th-century history which was cool and we covered a lot that I didn't know before. She can be a little redundant at times and I understand getting bored but overall I really loved the class and I love that it fulfills 4 GEs, diversity AND writing while not being hard. Just one big paper due week 8 (media analysis, just like HS essay) and weekly readings which you can skim and leave a quick (required) comment on, although I recommend diving deep into some readings as you have to use them for the Final short answers.
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Fall 2021 - I absolutely love Professor Kelley; he's the most engaging lecturer I've ever had. He is very radical and makes very very bold claims to grab attention, and then explains them. Very intriguing, very cool guy. The lectures for this class are an hour and fifteen minutes, and normally I get a little bored, but never during Prof Kelley's lectures. I plan on trying to take all his other classes even if they don't help me with any necessary credit. He doesn't just read off of slides, answers all questions warmly and in depth, and is overall just super cool. This class is decently easy as long as you do the readings and attend lecture. After week 8 it's really easy because you're done with all the big assignments (besides the final). Weekly readings can be a little overwhelming but you can skim the long ones. Make sure to at least read a few because you have to use them for the final. My TA graded really easily and said all TAs have to go to norming sessions so I assume everyone was graded easily. I would recommend this class just for Prof Kelley!!
Fall 2021 - I absolutely love Professor Kelley; he's the most engaging lecturer I've ever had. He is very radical and makes very very bold claims to grab attention, and then explains them. Very intriguing, very cool guy. The lectures for this class are an hour and fifteen minutes, and normally I get a little bored, but never during Prof Kelley's lectures. I plan on trying to take all his other classes even if they don't help me with any necessary credit. He doesn't just read off of slides, answers all questions warmly and in depth, and is overall just super cool. This class is decently easy as long as you do the readings and attend lecture. After week 8 it's really easy because you're done with all the big assignments (besides the final). Weekly readings can be a little overwhelming but you can skim the long ones. Make sure to at least read a few because you have to use them for the final. My TA graded really easily and said all TAs have to go to norming sessions so I assume everyone was graded easily. I would recommend this class just for Prof Kelley!!
Most Helpful Review
Took the GE Cluster 30 series up until the end of winter quarter. COMPLETE waste of time, especially 30B, when they decided to have no midterm or final, and then complain about a drop in lecture attendance. Nice logic there guys. It's an easy A, but seriously, so boring. So I suggest bringing a laptop and going on stumble or something to help pass the time. Specifically for Kendrick though, he turned out to be a douche bag. His seminar was easily the most interesting and naturally filled up the fastest. So I emailed him asking for a PT number because I was very interested in his seminar. He tells me that he doesn't intend on having anymore students because it is already filled. I mean that's ok, except for when I check back a few days later, he let two more people into his seminar. THEN, I find out that a few people in my discussion had the same problem with him, and that he even tried to dissuade them from taking core major classes to take some ridiculous, unimportant seminar on mythology. Overall, if you want an easy class, although, it probably wont be next year because this was the first year it was offered, then you can easily get by. But just know that this class is as dry and boring as can possibly be. Oh, not to mention, the readings are completely unrelated, long, and INCREDIBLY boring.
Took the GE Cluster 30 series up until the end of winter quarter. COMPLETE waste of time, especially 30B, when they decided to have no midterm or final, and then complain about a drop in lecture attendance. Nice logic there guys. It's an easy A, but seriously, so boring. So I suggest bringing a laptop and going on stumble or something to help pass the time. Specifically for Kendrick though, he turned out to be a douche bag. His seminar was easily the most interesting and naturally filled up the fastest. So I emailed him asking for a PT number because I was very interested in his seminar. He tells me that he doesn't intend on having anymore students because it is already filled. I mean that's ok, except for when I check back a few days later, he let two more people into his seminar. THEN, I find out that a few people in my discussion had the same problem with him, and that he even tried to dissuade them from taking core major classes to take some ridiculous, unimportant seminar on mythology. Overall, if you want an easy class, although, it probably wont be next year because this was the first year it was offered, then you can easily get by. But just know that this class is as dry and boring as can possibly be. Oh, not to mention, the readings are completely unrelated, long, and INCREDIBLY boring.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - This class is a great option for STEM majors, as it is actually really interesting and also knocks out a lot of your GE's in the Foundations for Arts and Humanities, as well as the Foundations for Society and Culture (that is, if you finish the Cluster). Professor Matsumoto was an incredible lecturer and chose really engaging topics to discuss. The class has a good amount of weekly reading to pay attention to, as well as a few assignments that build on each other throughout the quarter, but it's not overwhelming at all. My biggest piece of advice is to participate in discussion and get to know your TA well!
Fall 2021 - This class is a great option for STEM majors, as it is actually really interesting and also knocks out a lot of your GE's in the Foundations for Arts and Humanities, as well as the Foundations for Society and Culture (that is, if you finish the Cluster). Professor Matsumoto was an incredible lecturer and chose really engaging topics to discuss. The class has a good amount of weekly reading to pay attention to, as well as a few assignments that build on each other throughout the quarter, but it's not overwhelming at all. My biggest piece of advice is to participate in discussion and get to know your TA well!
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Prof Ortiz is incredibly organized and communicative and sends out a weekly email with the plan for the week with everything you need to know. She's an alright lecturer and kind of skims over things sometimes. I have a background in most of the topics she talks about but I assume it might be a little confusing if you didn't since she names events/terms without describing them sometimes. I also asked a question once and she was a little rude about it saying "I don't know why you're asking about this." Overall though, I would take this class again and really enjoyed the first quarter of this cluster. I learned so much that I didn't know before and appreciate how this class takes on a different perspective than one I had in high school. Discussions kind of suck and are so draining (2 hours), but lectures are mostly very interesting. Weekly readings can be a lot but you can skim the long ones (you have to leave one comment on the document to show you read it, but it can be anywhere and about anything. there are deadlines but they don't take off any points as long as you comment before the end of the quarter). The class is really easy after week 8 when the main paper is due.
Fall 2021 - Prof Ortiz is incredibly organized and communicative and sends out a weekly email with the plan for the week with everything you need to know. She's an alright lecturer and kind of skims over things sometimes. I have a background in most of the topics she talks about but I assume it might be a little confusing if you didn't since she names events/terms without describing them sometimes. I also asked a question once and she was a little rude about it saying "I don't know why you're asking about this." Overall though, I would take this class again and really enjoyed the first quarter of this cluster. I learned so much that I didn't know before and appreciate how this class takes on a different perspective than one I had in high school. Discussions kind of suck and are so draining (2 hours), but lectures are mostly very interesting. Weekly readings can be a lot but you can skim the long ones (you have to leave one comment on the document to show you read it, but it can be anywhere and about anything. there are deadlines but they don't take off any points as long as you comment before the end of the quarter). The class is really easy after week 8 when the main paper is due.
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