Race, Politics, Society, and Culture (460-0-20)
Instructors
Mary E Pattillo
847/491-3409
1860 Campus Dr. Crowe 5-111
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-325: Tues 2:00PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
How have the notions of "race" and "Blackness" functioned across time and space? How do these categories reflect, inflect and inscribe inequality as well as group consciousness, struggle, and everyday life? What are the mechanisms that maintain racial inequalities? How have Black populations questioned, practiced, analyzed, embraced, and struggled with and against these categories and their effects. These questions guide our reading of texts from the fields of political science, history, law, anthropology, and sociology, among others. The readings address the topics of race and Blackness, politics, culture, class, place, social movements, gender, sexuality, and inequality. Emphasis will be on empirical explorations of Black communities and the societies in which they are embedded, both inside and outside of the U.S. Each class session will involve brief introductory comments by the professor, and then in-depth discussion lead by assigned facilitators.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course students should be able to:
• Identify how social scientists approach research on Black life, which includes understanding methods, theories, and analytical strategies
• Evaluate texts for their methods and empirical strengths and weaknesses
• Comprehend and utilize core vocabulary in the social sciences, such as socioeconomic status, secondary marginalization, neoliberalism, and respectability
Class Materials (Required)
Cathy Cohen, The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics
*Steven Gregory, The Devil Behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the Domincan Republic
*Ian Haney, White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race
*Paul Johnson, Diaspora Conversions: Black Carib Religion and the Recovery of Africa
*Mignon Moore, Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships, and Motherhood among Black Women
Alondra Nelson, The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome
Tianna Paschel, Becoming Black Political Subjects: Movements and Ethno-Racial Rights in Colombia and Brazil
*Zandria Robinson, This Ain't Chicago: Race, Class, and Regional Identity in the Post-Soul South