ClassInfo

To fully endorse a course called "American Race Relations," we must first interrogate the extent to which racialized groups relate. Through such examination, we will question how race is used as a classificatory system of difference and differential relations of human value and valueness. We will explore how these differences are magnified through processes of racialization and how race is used as a tool for domination through systemic racism producing stark inequalities between groups. It's often said that race may be a social construct, but it is real in its implications. We will discuss the limitations of conceptualizing race as a "social construct" when it has denied many racialized groups access to the social and thus, the possibility humanness. As a class, we will attend to the role of relationality between groups. What factor does race play in esteeming some groups at the expense and further marginalization of others? Without conceptualizing race in relation to other classificatory systems of difference such as a gender, class, indigeneity, sexuality, ability, and citizenship, the study of race relations is incomplete. Hence, we will continuously explore the ways both oppression and privilege multiply based on the entanglement of difference.