Topics in Latina and Latino Social and Political Issues (392-0-1)

Topic

Race, Gender, and the Carceral State

Instructors

Elvia Mendoza
Crowe Hall, Room 1144

Meeting Info

Parkes Hall 215: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

What constitutes the carceral state? What does analyzing the carceral state through an intersecting lens of race, gender, and sexuality reveal to us about its punitive orientations? To explore these questions, we will take an interdisciplinary approach to analyze how systems of surveillance, policing, incarceration, detention, and punishment have been produced by and continue to reproduce racialized and gendered forms of power. We will draw on scholarship from critical race studies, feminist and queer studies, history, human geography, and case studies to examine the colonial roots of carcerality while analyzing how its logics extend beyond the prison into everyday life, ranging from schools, family, and borders. Engaging with abolitionist theory and debates around reform, we will also discuss how communities are mobilizing through critical understandings of transformative justice.

Learning Objectives

What will the student be expected to know by the end of the class?
• Analyze how the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality shape, produce, and reproduce the carceral state as a disciplinary power.
• Discuss the colonial histories of carcerality and how they continue to shape systems of punishment and surveillance.
• Assess and analyze racialized and gendered systems of punishment and social control beyond the prison.

Class Materials (Required)

Students will need to purchase Citizenship: Notes on an American Myth, by Daisy Hernandez
Other class readings will be available via Canvas.

Class Attributes

Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
Interdisciplinary Distro-rules apply
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area
Ethics & Values Distro Area

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Registration is reserved for Latina and Latino Majors and Minors during pre-registration. Regular registration will be open to all majors/minors after the pre-registration period.