Critical Social Inquiry 0186 - Color of Law

How do we explain the long history of treating people differently based on race in a nation formally committed to equality of "all persons"? Slavery, Indian "removal", Asian exclusion, Jim Crow laws, the illegalizing of Latino/a workers and today's disproportionate police killings of people of color suggest that the American legal system has hardly been color-blind. How has the judiciary participated in racializing the nation's "non-white" populations, and what ideological and material effects have its decisions produced? The course will help students develop answers to such questions through historical and legal analysis of judicial decisions purporting to determine the legal personhood of Native, African, Asian and Latino Americans. In addition to court decisions, readings in critical race theory, political theory and history will deepen our inquiry.

Power, Community and Social Justice Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research Students are expected to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time.