Color-Line to Borderlands: The Matrix of American Ethnic Studies

Butler

ISBN 10: 0295980915 / ISBN 13: 9780295980911

Published by University of Washington Press, 2001

May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0295980915I4N00

Synopsis:

"Ethnic Studies . . . has drawn higher education, usually kicking and screaming, into the borderlands of scholarship, pedagogy, faculty collegiality, and institutional development," Johnnella E. Butler writes in her Introduction to this collection of lively and insightful essays. Some of the most prominent scholars in Ethnic Studies today explore varying approaches, multiple methodologies, and contrasting perspectives within the field. Essays trace the historical development of Ethnic Studies, its place in American universities and the curriculum, and new directions in contemporary scholarship. The legitimation of the field, the need for institutional support, and the changing relations between academic scholarship and community activism are also discussed.

The institutional structure of Ethnic Studies continues to be affected by national, regional, and local attitudes and events, and Ronald Takaki’s essay explores the contested terrains of these culture wars. Manning Marable delves into theoretical aspects of writing about race and ethnicity, while John C. Walter surveys the influence of African American history on U.S. history textbooks. Elizabeth Cook-Lynn and Craig Howe explain why American Indian Studies does not fit into the Ethnic Studies model, and Lauro H. Flores traces the historical development of Chicano/a Studies, forged from the student and community activism of the late 1960s.

Ethnic Studies is simultaneously discipline-based and interdisciplinary, self-containing and overlapping. This volume captures that dichotomy as contributors raise questions that traditional disciplines ignore. Essays include Lane Ryo Hirabayashi and Marilyn Caballero Alquizola on the gulf between postmodernism and political and institutional realities; Rhett S. Jones on the evolution of Africana Studies; and Judith Newton on the trajectories of Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies and their relations with marginalized communities. Shirley Hune and Evelyn Hu-DeHart each make a case for the separation of Asian American Studies from Asian Studies, while Edna Acosta-Belén argues for a hemispheric approach to Latin American and U.S. Latino/a Studies. T. V. Reed rounds out the volume by offering through cultural studies bridges to the twenty-first century.

About the Author: Johnnella E. Butler is associate dean of the Graduate School, professor of American Ethnic Studies, and adjunct professor of Women's Studies and English at the University of Washington. She has published extensively in the field of multicultural studies.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Color-Line to Borderlands: The Matrix of ...
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Publication Date: 2001
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket