Government 217 - Colloquium: Race & the Problem of American Citizenship

This course will examine the relationship between race and the discourse, concept, and practice of citizenship as it has developed in the United States. We will interrogate how ideologies and experiences of race and citizenship have constituted each other over time, enabling forms of unequal political belonging to coexist with claims to equality, liberty, and democracy. We will also consider how the meaning of citizenship has been challenged and reformulated by those who have contested racialized hierarchies and exclusions. While this course will cover texts from early settlement and antebellum periods, focus will be on the modern era, from the late 19th century through the present, drawing on historical texts as well as political theory to analyze both race and U.S. citizenship. Enrollment limited to 20.