Source: Final Review, Prof. Victoria Robinson | UC Berkeley
Tags: essay strategy, exam format, writing tips, ethnic studies language, Du Bois, readings, exam prep
The final has two parts: Part A (essays, 3 pages minimum each, at least 3 readings per question) and Part B (short answers, no sources required but detail is expected). The professor has specific expectations about language, complexity, and theoretical framing that will distinguish a strong answer from an adequate one.
Part A (Essays): 3 pages minimum per essay. At least 3 readings cited in response to each question. Five possible questions, with Question 4 (carceral system) starred as especially important.
Part B (Short Answers): Ten questions. No sources required. The professor says "muscles, more in the details" – specificity over generality.
Use ethnic studies language. The professor flags "carcerality" and "abolition" specifically. Use discipline-specific vocabulary precisely and throughout.
Be specific about authors. Name the scholars you are drawing from. Do not paraphrase anonymously.
Historically situate yourself. Place your argument within a historical trajectory. Do not treat the present moment as disconnected from the past.
Use Du Boisian theory. W.E.B. Du Bois is an expected theoretical framework. Be ready to apply concepts like double consciousness, the colour line, or the critique of racial capitalism.
Be complex. The professor underlines this. Avoid simple narratives. Connect economic, social, cultural, and political dimensions of each topic.
This framework (from Robin D.G. Kelley's "Black Study, Black Struggle") distinguishes revolutionary reform from liberal reform.
Dismantle: identify the structures that must be taken apart (the carceral system, border militarization, surveillance).
Change: name the transformations needed (shifting resources from policing to education, from enforcement to social services).
Build: describe what replaces what has been dismantled (community-controlled institutions, abolition as a creative project).
This can be used as an organising frame for any essay question.
The strongest essays will draw connections across the course themes. Some natural links:
Carcerality and immigration: crimmigration, Secure Communities, the "illegal alien body" as a carceral category.
Abolition and education: the prison-to-school pipeline, education as liberation, schools as a counter to the prison.
Racialized gender violence and border militarization: the Page Act, feminised labour, the gendered construction of the "deserving subject."
Surveillance and social death: COINTELPRO, virtual internment, the rendering of communities invisible.
Neoliberalism as a thread: it shapes the DREAM Act debate (deserving subjects), the non-profit world (masking structural problems), and the carceral system (private prisons, economic interests).
The review notes reference or imply the following scholars and sources. For each essay, you need at least three:
Robin D.G. Kelley – "Black Study, Black Struggle" (revolutionary reform, dismantle/change/build)
Kitty Calavita ("Kitty C.") – state and federal government, immigration enforcement
"Terrance" – deportation economics, the cost of enforcement ($23,000 per deportation)
Du Bois – theoretical framework (double consciousness, the colour line, racial capitalism)
Week 10 reading – colorblind racism
Bill Moyers report – refugee policy, commission interviews (on bCourses)
SAMAH – Muslim surveillance, virtual internment
Black Panther Party – 10-Point Program, self-determination
⚠️ The essay section is where your grade is made. The professor's instructions are unusually specific: ethnic studies language, named authors, historical situating, Du Boisian theory, complexity. Hit all five.
⚠️ Question 4 (the carceral system as a "magic trick") is starred with four asterisks in the review notes. Prepare this essay most thoroughly.
⚠️ Part B rewards specificity. "More in the details" means naming specific laws (Prop 187, Chinese Exclusion Act, Page Act), programmes (Secure Communities, Urban Shield, COINTELPRO), and figures ($23,000, $48 billion, $171 billion).
⚠️ Review the Bill Moyers report on bCourses and SAMAH before the exam – these are specific sources that Part B questions reference directly.
Q: What does the professor mean by "historically situate yourself" in essay writing?
A: Place your argument within a historical trajectory rather than treating the present as disconnected from the past. If you are writing about border militarization, begin with the Page Act (1875) and Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), move through Prop 187 (1994) and the 1986 reform laws, and arrive at contemporary crimmigration. The professor wants to see that you understand these are not isolated policies but part of a continuous history.
Q: How should you use "ethnic studies language" without it sounding forced?
A: The terms (carcerality, abolition, social death, crimmigration, racialized gender violence) should be used as analytical tools, not decorations. Define them when you introduce them, then use them consistently to do analytical work throughout the essay. A strong essay uses "carcerality" to explain how the prison extends beyond its walls, not just as a synonym for "prison stuff."
Q: If Question 4 (the carceral system) appears on the exam, what three readings would you pair with it?
A: A strong combination would be Ruth Wilson Gilmore (on racism as premature death and the prison-industrial complex), Robin D.G. Kelley ("Black Study, Black Struggle" for the dismantle/change/build framework), and the Week 10 colorblind racism reading (to show how the system's violence is masked by post-racial ideology). Name each author explicitly and explain how their arguments build on one another.
essay strategy, exam format, ethnic studies language, carcerality, abolition, Du Bois, Du Boisian theory, double consciousness, colour line, Robin D.G. Kelley, Black Study Black Struggle, dismantle change build, revolutionary reform, Kitty Calavita, readings, exam prep, Part A, Part B, short answer, Prof. Victoria Robinson, UC Berkeley, Ethnic Studies 101