Although the other reviewers seem to discourage future students from taking this course, I found this class extremely enlightening and liberating. If taken seriously, students can gain consciousness over themselves and the world we live in because the provides the tools and resources necessary to understand the immense role race plays in society. Although this course consists of heavy reading, I've been able to refer to and reuse many of the articles we read.

I also had the great TA Sharon Chon for all three quarters, making my experience with the course that much better. I truly believe that this course helped me to be a better student, writer, and critical thinker and I would HIGHLY recommend this course to anyone looking to satisfy a bunch of GEs.

GE clusters are a LOT of work, but in my opinion are worth it in the end. This particular cluster takes care of 6 GE requirements in only 3 quarters! The assignment breakdown for fall quarter:
Section Participation - 25% (reading forms, attendance, how much you interact)
Literature Paper - 30%
History Paper - 30%
Midterm - 10%
Ethnography Project Proposal - 5% (graded on completion only)

The class was very very informative, and it really sharpened my writing and critical reading skills. The grade you get depends ENTIRELY on your TA, so make sure you get one that takes an interest in the subject! The hardest part about the class in my opinion was the readings (it takes a solid 8-10 hours per week if you want to do them thoroughly).

I am selling both course readers (for 20A and 20B), as well as the two novels (Bad Indians and Boarding School Seasons) for a cheap and negotiable price! Email me at uclabookseller@gmail,com !

Profesor Ortiz was definitely my least favorite of the four professors in this course. She was very set on her own opinions and would refuse to argue with anyone who questioned her. If you asked "why" to anything she was teaching, she would say that she can't answer, she doesn't know or that she simply refuses to answer. She often contradicts herself as well within her own lectures. She has zero tolerance for anyone who has an opinion other than her own.

Awesome class, I learned so much! I am selling the course readers for both fall and winter quarters for this class (20A and 20B). The course readers have a couple notes/highlighted areas but overall legible, and at a cheap price. Email me if you are interested at *************. Thanks!

The only reason this class was bearable was because of TA Sharon Chon. She rocks. I had her for all 3 quarters. I don't think she's teaching this cluster again (I don't blame her) so the only pro for this cluster is gone. I also had an unusual amount of friends in this class, so it was nice to be able to study and work together.

Anyway, the material is heavy and there's a lot of reading that's never really tested on. The midterm (there's no final) is basically a huge vocabulary test, with examples required from lecture and the insanely expensive and huge course reader.

I still got an A, but the class was dull. I'm very liberal and am an intersectional feminist, but this class just kept repeating the same ideologies over and over. Unless you can balance the readings and the long discussion sections, along with a somewhat competent TA, take the course(s). If not, look elsewhere for GE credit.

For those wondering, it satisfies these GEs (if you follow through with the entire 3-quarter cluster):
One historical analysis, one social analysis, visual/performing art analysis, cultural and literary analysis, the new diversity requirement, and the Writing II requirement (this is obtained spring quarter). Not a bad chunk, I think.

What an absolute joke of a class. Lectures and discussions are designed not to encourage critical discussion of texts and view both sides of issues, but to indoctrinate students with extremely biased statistics and one-sided propaganda of racial issues in the US. The midterm was laughable, having students regurgitate subjective definitions of words such as racism and "whiteness" and give examples from lectures and reading, rather than having them do any sort of critical thinking or analysis. I understand that raising awareness of racism is important, and that this cluster was designed to do just that. However, the way all the material was presented here left no room for any alternative viewpoints, and failed to contextualize why racism happened in the past and why it's still happening to world events and political situations, other than "white people are bad." For the record, I am not white and consider myself very left-leaning, and I was still put off by how biased this class was. Overall, I would not recommend taking this class at all. It is a waste of time and you'll leave it having learned nothing of relevance.

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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Professor Ortiz was one of my professors for my Interracial Dynamics cluster course, and to be frank, she was my least favorite lecturer. She is very knowledgeable, and she typically covered the topics of Mexican immigration, which I do believe she knew a lot about. Professor Ortiz was just very blunt, and didn't seem to really care about students' input at times. She would often cut students off when they were talking (it happened to me!) and she is very outspoken about her own view of things. She would allow some discussion during lecture, but would often get impatient when other students were discussing an idea and would hurriedly shush them so that she could get back to talking herself. She didn't come off as very welcoming and it made me timid to ever want to talk to her personally or ask her a question. She did keep the class's attention during her lectures, however, and made no hesitation in calling out students if they were talking during her lecture. She walks around a lot too, and likes to walk up the aisles. She reminded me of a hawk hunting its prey.