Monday, March 2, 2009

Grassroots Activism: Mothers of East Los Angeles

Grassroots Activism: Mothers of East Los Angeles

Discussion question:

What does the experience of Mothers of East Los Angeles contribute to our understanding of democracy?


Study guide questions:

Minority neighborhoods and communities are more likely to be located near what?

How did Mothers of East Los Angeles come to existence?

How has Mothers of East Los Angeles transformed women’s personal identities and their idea of “mothering”?

Optional Ethnicities

Optional Ethnicities

Discussion questions (these questions are intentionally written provocatively):

Why do black students sit together in school cafeterias?

Why might your black roommate get upset if you (assuming that you are white) ask her about collard greens?

What does Waters mean when she writes that "the invisible hand of pluralism does not do well when power relations and externalities are ignored"?

Study guide questions:

According to Waters, what is ethnicity?

What is symbolic ethnicity?

According to Waters, how are the ethnicities of whites, different from those of non-whites?