The Racial Life of Power: (Trans)national Experiences of Race

In this course we will explore the emergence of race as a category of classification, social construct, and real experience in conjunction with the consolidation of different forms of power including colonialism, slavery, nationhood and globalization. We will take a global and interdisciplinary approach to our study by examining how race operates in national, transnational, and transcontinental power dynamics and imaginaries. Our interrogation of race will consider its central intersections with class, gender, and sexuality in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, and North America at different moments in history. Course materials will include visual media, literary texts, primary historical sources, critical theory, and music. (Taught in English) 3 hrs. sem.