Students Air Questions at Open CAS Forum Last Week

On Nov. 29, an open forum was held to allow students to ask questions and voice concerns to an ad hoc committee that is developing the comparative American studies Program. The program would examine the intersections of race, class, gender and sexuality within an American and global experience.

The committee began by opening up the floor to questions. The first question asked what the impetus for the creation of this new program was. Committee member and Assistant Professor of sociology Antoinette Charfauros McDaniel gave an overview of the trend in the academic world toward this approach. "This is not an idea that originated in the faculty, but historicallyŠin the 1930s, gaining acceptance by the 1950s." She went on to say that the program's intent is to see how viable comparative and interdisciplinary studies are institutionally. "One cannot understand what it is to be Asian American without also understanding African American, Latino and even white society."

The purpose of the program, the committee said, was to understand the interactions between marginalized and dominant communities. Also, they would like to engage, examine and problematize the concept of American exceptionalism. Committee chair and professor of sociology Bill Norris said, "Race, class, gender and sexuality have become the structure for presentation in today's world." Norris said that faculty have been hired and it is hoped more will be hired in order to help compare the ideas and concepts these structures create.

Committee member and Associate Professor of rhetoric and composition Jan Cooper commented that the original force behind this came from Asian American studies professors but now, as the program has developed, professors of queer and women's studies have begun to see how a comprehensive approach would be beneficial. Cooper went on to say that the CAS program was in no way intended to replace or detract from the African American or women's studies programs already in place but, in fact, to bolster them and provide another way of looking at those things in combination.

Katherine Terumi Shorb (OC '00), Asian and Pacific American Community Coordinator said, "I'm really glad the program's happening, because there are so many students looking for curricular, institutional support for Asian American and Latino studies. I'm confident the ad hoc committee will keep those issues in mindŠkeep the issues real."

When questioned about why the program was named "comparative American studies," the committee said that nothing was finalized, but that CAS was the working title. Names like "ethnic studies" had also been considered but, recently, scholars have been trying to decentralize race, something certainly implied by that name. That is not to say they wished to trivialize or lessen the importance of race, but to make it one of several considerations in study and include class, gender and sexuality. The committee also defended the name by saying they did not seek "to validate American-ness," but to "problematize and critique it," and to find ways to include and validate those who have always been marginalized in American society.

Many questions focused on how the program would be structured. Right now the suggested program is divided into five concentrations: African American studies, Latina/o studies, Asian Pacific American studies, women's studies, and queer (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) studies.

Some attendees asked how CAS would address issues not covered by those categories, such as indigenous peoples and religious groups. The committee said that concerns like those were being considered. In response, the committee offered ideas about dividing the program up by themes, as opposed to groups, or a mixture of the two. By using thematic concentrations, students might focus on race, class, gender and sexuality throughout society, rather than focusing on a single group.

One student asked how the curriculum would be constructed. Would students take classes about specific groups and have to make the cognitive leap of applying that knowledge in comparison to other groups, or would the classes themselves compare group experiences? Committee member and visiting Professor of theater and dance Jeanette Roan clarified, saying courses would most likely include comparative curriculum, but that not all structures could be addressed all of the time. To supplement this, an intro course would help develop the comparative mentality so that the students could do it on their own in upper-level classes. The committee said it would be important to have a balance of specific in-depth work on topics as well as work of greater breadth.

Everyone at the forum was very positive about the prospect of the new program. All were in agreement that a new approach toward this type of study was a good and necessary step. Afterwards, Norris said that the concerns raised by the students mirrored those of the committee and that these forums were needed to keep the committee in touch with the what students want and need.