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ER&M 300: Comparative Ethnic Studies: Home / In-Class Exercise

Welcome

This course guide is for use during the visit on Wednesday, October 9th, to the Beinecke Library by students in Comparative Ethnic Studies (ER&M 300), a first-year seminar taught by Professor Fatima El-Tayeb at Yale University in Fall Term 2024.

In-Class Exercise at Beinecke Library

The information on the Collection Materials Used in Class Session tab on this course guide provides a quick overview of the collection materials we're looking at during today's class session. The posts for archival collections contain a link to the finding aid, or guide, to the collection and includes a link for each box that will allow you to request the box to the appropriate special collections reading room, in case you want to spend more time with the material on your own at some point. The same for the individually catalogued Yale publications also included on the tab.

During the class session on October 9th, each of you will have time to explore one or more of the collection items (boxes or publications) listed on the tab. We'll have time to hear from each of you about something relating to one of the items that you found particularly interesting. Here are some questions to consider when thinking about what you might tell your ER&M 300 colleagues about the item(s) you've looked at:

  1. Who created the item(s); when and where were they created?
  2. What is going on? What is the context for the item(s) you looked at?
  3. Whose perspective(s) comes through in the item(s)? Whose doesn’t? Do you sense any biases in the materials you looked at?
  4. What can you know based on the sources you have in front of you? What do you not know?
  5. Do the item(s) engage broader themes that you've been reading about or discussing in class this term? If so, how?
  6. What questions does the item(s) raise that could lead you to further research?
  7. Did anything surprise you when looking at the item(s)?