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Special Topics in Social Policy (351-0-21)

Topic

Racialized Stress and Human Development

Instructors

Keira Bryn Leneman

Meeting Info

Annenberg Hall 345: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

This course will examine how systemic racism shapes human development across multiple levels (from the cultural to the biological) and ways that youth resist these influences. With a focus on the U.S., we will name and interrogate the causes and consequences of racism and white supremacy and explore stress biology as a mechanism of racial disparities in health and well-being. We will also identify sources of joy, cultural assets, and resilience against the negative consequences of racism and identify pathways of resistance against systemic oppression. Topics will include: how the social construct of race is reinscribed by individuals and embedded in systems, how biological stress responses play a role in the consequences (but also causes) of racism, and what stress buffers and resistance processes exist to combat systemic inequities. We will think about these topics in the context of and in application to social policy. A large portion of this class will be discussion-based.

Evaluation Method

Final grades will be based on participation in class, short reflections on assigned materials, a final policy memo assignment, and smaller writing and creative assignments related to the final memo.