SOC 327: ETHNIC CONFLICT
Presentations on Readings
COLGATE  UNIVERSITY
FALL 1999
Professor Thomas Hall
Last Updated 8-31-99

Students will be responsible for reporting & discussing some of the readings. These will be assigned a few classes in advance. Most of these will be for various case studies and examples. It is important that you read the ENTIRE assignment.. If read only part of the assignment, you may well miss the major point of the reading. Rather, read the entire assignment. Then read your portion VERY CAREFULLY and come prepared to: summarize it briefly--10 minute. Work on what you will say, so it will be brief, but include the following:

• (a)summarize the key points of the case:
• Which of the four types of conflict is inolved in this case?
• What, if anything, was most surprising to you about this case? [Sometimes, this may be a lot if you have never encountered it before. On the other hand, if you have studied it in another course, there may be little new. Either way report that.]
• What seem to be the major causes of the conflict?
• What, if anything does, or could, lessen the conflict?
• What, if any, additional evidence would you like [assuming anything you want could be produced] in order to understand this case better?
• (b) summarize the author's main argument
• (c) summarize the major evidence for her/his argument
• (d) criticize any weak points you see
• (e) suggest ways it might help us think about ethnnic conflict.
  It is ok to report that you canNOT figure out how it relates.
• (f) suggest what it says about other cases we have studied and about ethnic conflict in general.
• (g) suggest questions this case implies about ethnic conflict.

Feel free to make a summary chart or outline if you think it will help your presentation. Often a time-line of the conflict will help summarize it, and make it easier on your listeners. If you want something to distribute to the class make enough copies for the class, or get it to me in time so I can copy it. Alternatively, if you make notes electronically [e.g. on a word processor], you can get them to me in digital form, and I will put them on the home page.

What's the point of all this? I have found that students complain about too much lecture and not enough discussion if I present all the cases. By sharing the presentations, it takes some of the burden off me, and clearly puts the burden on one or two persons to get discussion going. An added advantage, is that you, as students, often detect problems in the cases that I slide over or miss because I am too familiar with the case.

Remember, just because you are presenting on one chapter does not mean you can skip the rest of the book. Discussions will not work if everyone has not done the readings. But when everyone has prepared they can be quite interesting, and everyone learns much more than either reading alone, or just listening to presentation.

Unfortunately, discussions are hard to time and plan, so our schedule will remain approximate. Some case studies will go much more quickly than others, and some more slowly. I will work to keep us approximately on schedule, but be prepared for adjustments.

Send comments or questions to thall@mail.colgate.edu