This course is designed explore the conditions and consequences for crossing racial boundaries in North America. We take a multidisciplinary approach, exploring literary, anthropological, historical and communication approaches along with several feature and documentary film treatments of the subject.

Everybody passes. Not just racial minorities. Passing has been occurring for millennia, since intercultural and interracial contact began. And with this profound new study, Dr. Dawkins explores its old limits and new possibilities. Already hailed as a pioneering work in the study of race and culture, Clearly Invisible offers powerful testimony to the fact that individual identities are never fully self-determined—and that race is far more a matter of sociology than of biology.

More than a decade after Eminem "The Monster" (aka Marshall Mathers, aka Slim Shady) disrupted mainstream hip-hop culture, he is even more hated, contested, and celebrated. His albums, autobiographies, and motion picture catapulted him into the upper echelon of American cultural icons. In Eminem: The Real Slim Shady, Dr. Marcia Alesan Dawkins, award-winning author of Clearly Invisible: Racial Passing and the Color of Cultural Identity, offers a fresh way of looking at Eminem that will excite those who already love the artist and inform those who want to understand him.

The primary objective of this course is to understand the theories and practices of argumentation, apply them to generate meaningful public discussion of current events, and innovate by creating and critiquing new forms of public argumentation.