Interdepartmental 102 - RACE/CLASS/GENDER/SEXUALITY

This course offers an interdisciplinary, critical examination of race largely in the context of the United States. Although race is no longer held by scientists to have any essential biological reality, it has obviously played a central role in the formation of legal codes (from segregation to affirmative action), definitions of citizenship, economics (from slavery to discriminatory loan arrangements), culture (dance, fashion, literature, music, sport) and identities. Where did the concept of race come from? How has it changed over time and across space? What pressures does it continue to exert on our lives? How does it intersect with gender, sexuality, social class, religion and abilities? By bringing together faculty from a variety of programs and disciplines -- and by looking at a range of cultural texts, social studies, and historical events where racial distinctions and identities have been deployed, constructed and contested -- we hope to give the students an understanding of how and why race matters. (E)