Courses

This course examines the history of race and race-making in a global context. We begin by framing theories of race, examining race as a social construct and understanding how race intersects with other structures of social difference such as gender and class. We then examine histories of race-making at several sites: race and the body (scientific racism, reproduction, and slavery), race and “civilization” (colonialism and orientalism), race and culture (identity and consumables), race and space (borders and segregation), and race and forgetting (privilege and memory). We may consider how race takes root in hair and ramen, soap and tap dancing, sex and policing. By the end of the course, students will understand how race travels across oceans and borders, but also how race is made every day, close to home.