[akitae]

First and foremost, this is definitely not a bird course. There was no exam for this course only 4-5 mini tests. All her tests for this course were short and long answer.

This class focuses on ethnic relations have been theorized by different theorists. Throughout the course you will read various readings all centered on ethnic groups. Basically its about race. If any of these topics look intriguing, then this course might interest you: racial profiling, ethnic enclaves/slums/ghettos, aboriginal peoples, immigration, racism (employment, education, privilege).

Professor Samuels is one of the best profs I have ever had, she is passionate about her studies. She is well informed in the subject of race and ethnic relations and is very easy going and approachable. She works hard to make things easy to understand and her tests are pretty straightforward. She does not usually have an exam for her courses.

HOWEVER, the course load or weight, whichever you want to call it is HEAVY. We had three requred textbooks/courseware for this course. It was definitely a struggle to keep up with the readings, which ranged from 2-4 every week. That is the biggest downfall of the course, that there are three textbooks and so much to read. The material is a mix-up, some were really interesting and some were so boring I wanted to cry. I'll be honest, I didn't do EVERY reading and I did relatively well in the course. If you do get to see the 2014-2015 course outline and she has lessened the course materials then this course would be great!

I took this course as well. Dr. Samuels always gives a heads up as to what long answers she is going to be offering. Go to tutorials its an easy free 10-15% of your final grade. As for the course loads and readings she was talking about. I barely read anything and probably should have applied myself harder but I didnt. I got like 79%. Dr. Samuels is great.... The key for her tests is to make sure you attend the lecture before the test. She will give you a heads up as to what is on her test in terms of long answer. For the first 2 tests she told you what to look for in terms of short answer. But if you look at her power point slides and see what she focused on in readings you could pick out the terms she wanted you to define.
After she would give us the long answer questions then I would go do the readings to be able to get what I needed to write the test.