DEVELOPING AND TEACHING A CULTURAL-PLURALISM COURSE IN ONE OF AMERICAUNEASY SALAD BOWLS - IMMIGRATION AND ETHNICITY IN LOS-ANGELES

This article documents the development and teaching of a cultural plur alism course that I have taught for five semesters at California State University Domingues Hills (CSUDH). CSUDH is an urban, working-class university located near the heart of the Los Angeles area. Using a pol itical economy perspective and cooperative learning/teaching strategie s adapted to problematic social and pedagogical contexts, the course e xamines contemporary urban immigration and immigrant groups' incorpora tion, adjustment, and identity in the Los Angeles area. A discussion o f the course's development, agenda, objectives, materials and activiti es, and results is provided. Instructor's classroom observations and s tudents' papers and course evaluations attest to the effectiveness of the teaching techniques employed. After presenting pointers for teache rs wishing to design and teach a similar course, the article concludes with a brief assessment of this course.