Natural Science 0371 - Race: Science/Politics/PubHlth

Race is at the same time both a misguided way to think about human biological variation and a core socio-political idea, with profound effects on wealth and health. Race is both a biological myth and a tangible reality. Human biological variation is not reducible to race, yet the idea of race continues to "do work" in helping to maintain a racial-class economy. To understand race, and the work that it does, we will critically study both its historical construction from the 1800's forward and the evolving science of human biological variation. We will critically evaluate texts on the historical development of the idea of race in science and sources on how the idea of race is now deployed in sciences such as genetics, anthropology, forensics, medicine, and especially public health. Course requirements include reading 50-100 pages each week, extensive discussion, and a mid-semester and final paper and presentation.

Independent Work Multiple Cultural Perspectives Quantitative Skills Writing and Research In this course students are generally expected to spend at least 6 to 8 hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.