Race, Politics, Society, and Culture (460-0-20)
Instructors
Mary E Pattillo
847/491-3409
1860 Campus Dr. Crowe 5-111
Meeting Info
Parkes Hall 212: 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, psychology, 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 Blackness and Black people and the societies in which it/they/we 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 theoretical approaches, methods and empirical strengths and weaknesses
• Comprehend and utilize core vocabulary in the social sciences, such as socioeconomic status, secondary marginalization, neoliberalism, respectability, etc.
Class Materials (Required)
Cohen, Cathy. 1999. The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN-10 : 0226112896
Mills, Charles. 1997. The Racial Contract. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN-10 : 1501764284
Roberts, Dorothy E. 1997. Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN-10 : 0679758690
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: PRE-REG: Reserved for Black Studies majors & minors.