Race and Ethnic Politics

Race has served as an enduring organizing principle of American politics. This course will survey how race shapes politics and how politics shapes race in the United States. In the first of the semester, we focus on the political processes and institutions that “make” race and interrogate what we mean exactly when we say race is socially constructed. In the second half of the semester, we turn to looking at how racialized groups engage in politics on multiple fronts, paying particular attention to electoral politics and social movements. Throughout the course, we grapple with both the challenges to and possibilities of diversity and racial justice in the contemporary America. Topics include but are not limited to political representation, voting, intersectionality, citizenship, immigration, community activisms, and solidarity