A lot of the reviews stress that she covers great material & passionately covers the topics in lecture. While that is true, she regularly humiliates students in class and interjects her own personal bias and anger into her course discussions. She resorts to rude and unprofessional comments which reflect poorly on her department and the university

The content of this class is amazing, but I wish I had another professor. She's incredibly tough and demeaning. If you need to take it, take time doing the readings and make sure you understand them. Go to her office hours! Always go to class. If you fail the first test, don't give up bc she likes to see improvement and will reward you for it.

Not very helpful

Professor Banks is an amazing lecturer! Going to class is important for a good grade. Definitely commands the respect of her students. I was scared at first, but she is actually an extremely intelligent and rational person. She loves discussing things in office hours (if you actually come prepared) and it helps to be on a 1st name basis!!!

She gets off to students failing

Good lecturer, but she expects you to absorb every word TESTS ARE GRADED CRITICALLY The key to passing is keeping up with the work and putting in the time (a lot required). Unfortunately it is a very dry subject at times. Does not seem approachable at most times. Saw her at her happiest the day of the final....

DROP. She's a good lecturer and I like the styles of her lectures but she's an absolutely terrible teacher. Her tests demand a lot of reading (+250 pages per exam). Completely unapproachable and will give you a better grade than you deserve on the test if you participate in class. Class acts like an upper doc comparative literature class.

This professor has a bad attitude and acts like she does not like the students

Worst Professor in the history of my attendance at UCSB. She comes in acting like the world is out to get her. DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS if you're just trying to get an ethnicity GE out of the way. Go for Chicano Studies

I LOVE this professor! Read carefully. Take good notes. Pr Banks cares about the material and student learning. She has more office hours than anyone on campus and is always available. She expects you to bring it, so do it. If you can't and you think college is one long expensive party, then yeah, drop this class.

AVOID! If you want intellectual rigor- take physics. Banks offers rigor of the worst sort- rote regurgitation of facts straight from her books and inflexible historical/sociological 'interpretations'. Banks has a very narrow worldview, and expects the same of her students. If you want to memorize her books and repeat them verbatim, take this class.

Class is designed to be unpassable. The large majority of the class failed, I got lucky with a C-. There were no As. She teaches as if punishing her students. Constantly angry and completely unapproachable. Avoid at all costs. Only people who like her class seem to be suffering from white guilt.

She does not do justice to her cause and she is not a decent human being. I would never take another class with her.

This Professor is very knowledgeable and cares so much about the material and learning. If you pay attention, follow directions, and do the reading you can get an A. And get prepared for upper div courses where you have to write longer papers, read denser material, and make strong arguments. This class helped me do better in ALL of my courses.

She's a really great teacher. She's direct, gives you what she wants you to take out of the text, and as long as you pay attention, you'll be fine. She makes you read a lot and do study guides, but you really learn a lot and as long as you stay on top of the readings, you're going to be great. Make connections between the texts too.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!!

Brilliant Professor!! Direct & clear. NOT a class for those looking for an EASY A. Concept driven course...memorization & regurgitation will not help you pass this class. Attend all lectures/sections & go to office hours if you want to pass. Prof. makes time for students. Extremely challenging but it made me a better student overall. I got a B :)

DROP THE CLASS. A precise and extensive knowledge of every excerpt read and its author is expected. Requires memorizing the writings of at least 8 separate authors, totaling to ~250 pages per exam. The exam questions are a mixed bag but are generally vague and ask about a movement or an author barely covered. Mistakes result in SEVERE deductions!!

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS! Teacher loves to call students out and make the tests miserable. The tests are all written and must include direct citations or points are automatically deducted. Take at your own risk if you don't believe this

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Banks has a borderline personality disorder and is on a power trip. More then half our class dropped and out of the remaining 90 of us 45 have F's. She is mean, unhelpful, there is a 2 hour wait for her office hour and she discourages the TAs from answering questions. Withdraw at once.

The material is relevant and it is very interesting. Unfortunately, this class has impossible expectations. Banks is not reasonable whatsoever. She holds office hours late yet she chews her students out one by one. Any good professor would not have 30 students waiting desperately in her hallway every time she holds office hours. -rating-0:/

Don't take this class if you are just looking for an easy GE. You will not pass.I am a third year student and this is the first class I have gotten below a B. She expects you to memorize her exact terms. If you don't exactly write what she wants, she will fail you. No room for opinion anywhere. Stay away!

As many people have said her class is hard and for an intro class it is a lot of work but its college deal with it. She is a great professor you need to go to office hours either the TA or hers. Find the time and put the effort in. Even only getting a B this has been one o my most rewarding classes

She expects an absurd amount of memorization and detail. You basically have to memorize a 400 page reader and on tests write 3 essays in 1 hour. The class is not worth the GEs it fulfills, I consider myself a very hardworking student and I got a B-. The average was a low D, if not an F. If you want an interesting, straightforward GE dont take this