Overall liked this cluster and it wasn't super challenging to get an A in the course since I am a pretty good writer. If you struggle with writing, this class could be tough. Midterm fall quarter is VERY EASY and pure memorization that you can do in two days. Final winter quarter is also fairly easy and can be learned in two days. Reading from the course reader is not entirely necessary you will come to realize. SELLING COURSE READERS FOR FALL AND WINTER QUARTER FOR $20 (this saves you over $100). Text ********** if you're interested!

The second quarter of this cluster was essentially the same in structure as the first. The essays revolve around class material and readings so it is highly recommended that you, at the bare minimum, attend lecture and section, but if you are feeling up to the task you should read the texts as well. They provide information useful to your papers which might be the difference in a letter grade or so. Overall the class is pretty easy to get an A in. Just show up and do the work. If you are interested in this stuff then you should have no problem succeeding.

The entire Cluster20A teaching team was extremely supportive and accommodating during COVID-19 times. They go out of their way to make sure students aren't being overwhelmed during the pandemic.
Content wise, I found this cluster really interesting, especially since I'm personally interested in these topics with the heightened awareness since summer 2020. But with that said, if this class does not sound interesting to you maybe don't take it, because you have two 1.25hour lectures a week, one 2 hour discussion, and a ton of weekly readings about interracial dynamics.
Again, I thought all of this was manageable and captivating because I thought the subject was interesting.
As long as you do the bare minimum you should get 100% on the participation portion which accounts for 40% of your grade.
The other 60% is from a paper (30%) about the book, Bad Indians, and the final (30%) which was 3 short essays tying in concepts learned throughout the quarter.
Because of this, YOUR TA basically determines YOUR GRADE, I had Laura Terrance and she was an absolute angel! So sweet, good discussions, always there to support you and recommends office hours, and a very fair grader. Definitely take her if you can!
My final grade in the class was about a 96.
You get 4 out of 6 of your GE's finished (if you are a STEM major) and also if you are in the college honors, this gives you 6 units hnrs collegium and writing II credit from the spring quarter.

For anyone interested in the topics covered by this class, I HIGHLY recommend you take it. Clusters are a great way to get GEs out of the way and from what I have heard, this cluster, in particular, is one of the better ones. In addition, the content included in this course is relevant and is certainly beneficial to you as a college student in the United States.

The course content is very easy, and the workload is what you make of it. Lectures are engaging if you choose to pay attention and the weekly assigned readings are bearable (most of the time). The only downside to this course is that there is a fair amount of reading. As I mentioned previously, there are weekly readings, and in addition to that, we had to finish reading a relatively short book by week 7. However, I can assure you plenty of classmates never even touched the reading materials, but it is in your best interest to actually read the book as your final essay is centered around the content of the novel. It is a decent book and as someone who hates reading, I found it pretty easy to finish.

Absolutely loved this quarter! If you are looking at this review then you are probably already committed to the year long course.
Professor Fong and Professor Brown were Professors added in this quarter and they were very engaging and would play music at the beginning of lectures.
Professor Bunten and Ortiz were great Prof's as usual. Professor Ortiz also really was compassionate and understanding this quarter, she's actually so sweet!

Grading:
Participation (40%): Same as last quarter (during covid) 40% of your grade is easy participation points if you just do the readings, do lecture participation, and talk during discussion.
Media Paper (30%): They shortened the media paper from previous years so now its only a 1500 word paper, and they just want to see your writing improving across the quarters.
Final (30%): They implemented "biweekly" reflections and the average of those one-pager's was your final exam grade. (Ortiz even cancelled two of them because of our media paper deadline so the writing in this class isn't too overwhelming.)(She might not do the reflections after covid though)

Take Laura Terrance as your TA if you can! She is a really sweet, knowledgeable, and welcoming TA. Her grading is also extremely fair if you put in a good effort!

Final Course Grade: A+
Participation: 100%, Media Paper: 97%, Final Exam (reflections): 100%

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.

This class is the second half of Cluster20A: Race and Indigeneity in the U.S. This quarter's workload and general content is very similar to the first half's, yet I'd argue that this quarter was actually more interesting than the first. Its topics deal more with modern-day issues of race and recent legislation surrounding it, whereas the first quarter focused on the historical origins of race (very early history lessons) and unpacking how it is a social construct. There is no midterm but instead there is an Oral History Paper you must write -- you need to choose an interviewee whose life has meaningful relation to race/Indigenous experiences in America (the ones we have learned about in class), write a script with questions for an interview, interview them, submit a transcript, and then write an essay incorporating their quotes. LOTS of work, but lots of payoff. I find that contemporary topics are more exciting to learn about and more easy to retain, hence why I like this quarter more. As always, the reading load is a little bit heavy and many of them are long. However, I recommend doing these in depth, because the final is a take-home essay about any given topic we have learned about (and you need to use lecture material and supplementary readings to get credit).

This cluster has definitely expanded my horizons on the topic of Race and Indigenous studies, and it has filled in a lot of my cultural "blindspots," if you will. This is a very history and sociology-oriented cluster, as the topics are focused on different races and their historical backgrounds. There are multiple professors who lecture about their respective cultural identities (i.e. African-American, Japanese-American, Indigenous California Indian, etc.) which allows for very interesting firsthand experiences being told. Thus, the class material is very interesting and engaging, but as for the workload, it is a lot of work. There are a LOT of weekly readings assigned about different topics on race/indigenous studies, and you must leave a comment on each reading digitally for credit. Lecture attendance is also pretty much mandatory as well (but you can watch them on Zoom), because you fill in a lecture survey at the end of each one describing what your main takeaway was. Furthermore, the quarterly essays assigned (one a Literary analysis, the other an Oral History Paper) require a lot of work and background research (but this cluster does count for the Writing 2 requirement, which is very nice). However, your TAs will be very helpful.

The professor is great. Most of the grading is done my your TA though. I took this class Spring 2014.

I still have the course reader for the class. Email me at: ************* if interested in a reduced price.

GE Clusters 20A and 20B (Interracial Dynamics)

Selling the Fall 2014 (20A) and Winter 2015 (20B) course reader needed for this cluster; it contains all the articles required to read. Price is negotiable.

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