Comparative Race Studies Courses (CRPC)
Through the Comparative Race Studies Program (CRPC), the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture (CSRPC) provides students interested in the study of race and racialized ethnic groups with the opportunity to take courses and participate in programs that illustrate how race and ethnicity and their structural manifestations impact and shape our lives on a daily basis. CSRPC is an interdisciplinary research institution dedicated to promoting engaged scholarship and debate around the topics of race and ethnicity. The focus of CRPC is to expand the study of race and racialized ethnic groups beyond the black/white paradigm and to promote the study of race and processes of racialization in comparative and transnational frameworks.
SPRING QUARTER COURSES 2008
CRPC 24002 -- COLONIZATIONS 2
Kesha Fikes, Yi Wang
CRPC 24003 -- COLONIZATIONS 3
Hussein Agrama, Dipesh Chakrabarty
CRPC 29200 -- NATIVE AMERICAN WRITING IN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA Download course flyer here
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Native American
writers composed literary and critical works that challenged prevailing
cultural assumptions about Indians. Native Americans mobilized on a
national level during this time, gaining full citizenship rights by the
1920s and laying the groundwork for a re-orientation of national
discourse that recognized the value of Indian culture. In this course,
we will consider works by American Indian writers of this period,
including Simon Pokagon, Charles Eastman, and Zitkala-Sa, as well as
those of other authors writing in local newspapers, boarding school
journals, and for the fledgling Society of American Indians. Students
should expect to write two short essays and a longer research paper on
the course topic.
Jonathan Berliner
CRPC 28121 -- HISTORIOGRAPHY OF ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES
Asian American studies is a dynamic field with a forty year history. In recent years, scholarship on Asian Americans has undergone enormous growth and change, much of it reflecting the shifting demographics of Asians in the United States well as theoretical developments in the various academic disciplines that contribute to the field. This course is meant to be both an introduction to the field as well as an opportunity to critically examine the present state of Asian American scholarship and its future direction. During the quarter, we will familiarize ourselves with some of the classic texts in Asian American studies, identifying various approaches and debates, while also carefully considering historical contexts in which the works were written. Readings will alternate between historical narrative and theoretical works meant to provide the tools with which to think about how historical narratives are written. While tracing the development of the field from its founding in the late 1960s to the present, the course will also trace the 150 year history of Asians in the United States and encourage thoughtful discussion on related topics such as race, representation, immigration, gender, class, identity, community and politics.
Theresa Mah
CRPC 28600 -- RACE AND THE AMERICAN PRISON SYSTEM Download course flyer here
This discussion-based class will historicize the political, economic, and social conditions that produce the prison industrial complex, paying close attention to the racial and gendered discourses that enable the incarceration of over 2 million people in the United States. We will analyze these racial discourses to understand how incarceration can be made to appear necessary, natural, and inevitable. The class will examine historical concepts and practices regarding race and punishment, the war on drugs, racial dynamics of the politics of law and order, police brutality, the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on American penal practice and politics and inversely the impact of penal practices on civil rights advancements, the Anti-Prison Movement and the role of the prison in the Black Power Movement, as well as the significance of class in punishment practices and the growing impact of the carceral state on women of color. These questions will be put into the context of larger questions including the complex relationship between changes in American political economy-in particular, deindustrialization in the 1960s and 70s, and globalization in the 1990s-and changes in American penal practice and ideology. The last unit of this course will situate this discussion in relation to the U.S. "War on Terror" in an attempt to understand the linkages between state discourses of surveillance, policing, and punishment against racialized enemies in both domestic and global arenas.
Jessica Neptune
CRPC 28700 -- THE POLITICS OF THE HIP HOP GENERATION Download course flyer here
The politics of the hip-hop generation integrates scholarly work in Political Science and Black Studies, film, postmodern autobiographical narrative, critical race theory, and essays on hip-hop culture and race in America. The primary focus of this course will be the major social and political forces that have shaped young Blacks born between 1965 and 1984. Special attention will be focused on the hip-hop cultural explosion (from rap music and hip-hop savvy advertisements to fashion), the prison crisis, the changing economy, the new war of the sexes, and emerging hip-hop activism. A particular concern of this course is the generation gap between hip-hop generationers and their civil rights/black power generation parents and some of the ways these distinctions are played out, particularly as hip-hop's cultural movement attempts to transition into a political one.
Bakari Kitwana
CROSS-LISTED COURSES (Additional Cross-listings TBA)
CRPC 27403/37403 - AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES AND TIMES Thomas Holt
CRPC 60302 - IMMIGRATION AND ASSIMILATION IN AMERICAN LIFE Ramón Gutierrez
CRPC 50001 - GENDER AND COLONIALISM Rachel Jean-Baptiste
Course times and crosslisting information can be found here.
Winter Quarter 2008
CRPC 24001—COLONIZATIONS 1
Colonizations I, II, III must be taken in sequence. Two quarters (Col I and II) meet the general education requirement in civilization studies. This three-quarter sequence approaches the concept of "civilization" from an emphasis on cross-cultural/societal connection and exchange. We explore the dynamics of conquest, slavery, colonialism, and their reciprocal relationships with concepts such as resistance, freedom, and independence, with an eye toward understanding their interlocking role in the making of the modern world. Themes of slavery, colonization, and the making of the Atlantic world are covered in the first quarter. Modern European and Japanese colonialism in Asia and the Pacific is the theme of the second quarter. The third quarter considers the processes and consequences of decolonization both in the newly independent nations and the former colonial powers.
Julie Saville, Janette Gayle
CRPC 24002—COLONIZATIONS 2
John Kelly, Atiya Khan
CRPC 26250—"SAY IT LOUD!" BLACK POWER AND THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT
We will analyze essays, plays, poetry, and other writings from and about the Black Arts Movement, the artistic companion to the Black Power Movement. We will consider both the political and artistic resonance of the texts, and assess the BAM's importance to the larger aims of the BPM. Amiri Baraka, Larry Neal, Sonia Sanchez, and Adrienne Kennedy are among the authors included. Special attention will be given to the literary production of Black women during the era. We will also consider the photographic images and other material iconography that symbolize the period still today.
Summer McDonald
CRPC 28112/38112—ASIAN AMERICANS AND THE LEGACIES OF WAR
This is a course that explores the ways in which U.S. wars in Asia have transformed Asian American social, economic, political and cultural life in the United States. Focusing on political conflicts and their aftermath rather than on the diplomatic or political relations between nations, the course will open up discussions of migration, citizenship, U.S. imperialism, nationalism, neo- and post-colonialism, and the production and use of racial representations in political conflict. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which these conflicts affect social relations and the production of knowledge. During the quarter, we will trace Asian American histories and experiences through the Philippine-American War, World War II, the Korean War and conflict in Southeast Asia. The broad scope of this course will also allow us to examine such topics as race, gender, national identity, power, violence and cultural production within specific historical contexts.
Theresa Mah
CROSS-LISTED COURSES
CRPC 62702—RACIAL JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN CITY
Surveys of scholarship on racial justice in cities too often simplify the meaning of "race" and "justice," in order not to distract from the insurgent accomplishments of those movements concerned. This class will instead stress the contingency of these terms, so as to present social action in multiple forms (resistance, oppression, movement, empowerment, survival), commensurate in complexity with twentieth century urban communities themselves. Key themes may include: electoral activism and urban regimes; new approaches to residential segregation; labor consciousness as foundation of anti-racist activism; the enduring nexus of law, enforcement, violence and abuse; the struggle for dignity within urban religion; contradictions of home and family over time; the importance of environment to notions of quality of life; relations with strangers at all points along the color line; and, finally, the degree to which urban racial movements seek not only situated redress, but also comprehensive fairness in city life and form. Students taking this class can expect to come away with an overview of recent and classic books in this field, with ways to sophisticate conception of "race," "justice," "cities" and their correlation, and with encouragement toward formulating ambitious projects of urbanist research.
Adam Green
CRPC 50101—HISTORY OF SEXUALITY IN MODERN AFRICA
The course examines transformations in how African societies conceptualized sexuality over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Changes in practices and conceptions of sexuality took place within the historical contexts of the Atlantic World, colonial conquest and rule, the transition to independent African nations and socio-political change in contemporary Africa. The course will examine how individuals, societies, and states debated sexual norms and deviancy through the following themes: marriage; sex work; youth and popular culture; gender identity and homosexuality; health, disease, and reproduction; travel and migration; and the local and global politics of AIDS. Course content includes case studies from West, East, and Southern Africa, as well as transnational migration. Course materials include written, oral, and visual sources. Open to undergraduates with instructor's consent.
Rachel Jean-Baptiste
CROSS-LISTED COURSES
CRPC 27300/37300—AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1877 Thomas Holt
CRPC 20140—QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS Omar McRoberts
CRPC 20301—HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA. Babafemi Akinrinade
CRPC 20802—INTRO TO AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS-2 Rachel Jean-Baptiste
CRPC 20200—SIERRA LEONE: SLAVERY AND FREEDOM IN THE ATLANTIC WORLD Emily Osborne
CRPC 50201—COLONIAL AFRICAN HISTORY Emily Osborne
CHECK LISTINGS UNDER “CRPC” IN THE TIME SCHEDULE FOR UPDATES
Spring Quarter 2008
CRPC 24002—COLONIZATIONS 2
Kesha Fikes, Yi Wang
CRPC 24003—COLONIZATIONS 3
Hussein Agrama, Dipesh Chakrabarty
CRPC 28121—HISTORIOGRAPHY OF ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES
Asian American studies is a dynamic field with a forty year history. In recent years, scholarship on Asian Americans has undergone enormous growth and change, much of it reflecting the shifting demographics of Asians in the United States well as theoretical developments in the various academic disciplines that contribute to the field. This course is meant to be both an introduction to the field as well as an opportunity to critically examine the present state of Asian American scholarship and its future direction. During the quarter, we will familiarize ourselves with some of the classic texts in Asian American studies, identifying various approaches and debates, while also carefully considering historical contexts in which the works were written. Readings will alternate between historical narrative and theoretical works meant to provide the tools with which to think about how historical narratives are written. While tracing the development of the field from its founding in the late 1960s to the present, the course will also trace the 150 year history of Asians in the United States and encourage thoughtful discussion on related topics such as race, representation, immigration, gender, class, identity, community and politics.
Theresa Mah
CRPC 29200—NATIVE AMERICAN WRITING IN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Native American writers composed literary and critical works that challenged prevailing cultural assumptions about Indians. Native Americans mobilized on a national level during this time, gaining full citizenship rights by the 1920s and laying the groundwork for a re-orientation of national discourse that recognized the value of Indian culture. In this course, we will consider works by American Indian writers of this period, including Simon Pokagon, Charles Eastman, and Zitkala-Sa, as well as those of other authors writing in local newspapers, boarding school journals, and for the fledgling Society of American Indians. Students should expect to write two short essays and a longer research paper on the course topic.
Jonathan Berliner
CRPC 28600—RACE AND THE AMERICAN JUSTICE SYSTEM
Jessica Neptune
CROSS-LISTED COURSES (Additional Cross-listings TBA)
CRPC 27403/37403—AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES AND TIMES Thomas Holt
CRPC 60302—IMMIGRATION AND ASSIMILATION IN AMERICAN LIFE Ramó Gutierrez
CRPC 50001—GENDER AND COLONIALISM Rachel Jean-Baptiste
CHECK LISTINGS UNDER “CRPC” IN THE TIME SCHEDULE FOR UPDATES
Fall Quarter 2007
CRPC 24001 -- COLONIZATIONS 1
Colonizations I, II, III must be taken in sequence. Two quarters (Col I and II) meet the general education requirement in civilization studies. This three-quarter sequence approaches the concept of "civilization" from an emphasis on cross-cultural/societal connection and exchange. We explore the dynamics of conquest, slavery, colonialism, and their reciprocal relationships with concepts such as resistance, freedom, and independence, with an eye toward understanding their interlocking role in the making of the modern world. Themes of slavery, colonization, and the making of the Atlantic world are covered in the first quarter. Modern European and Japanese colonialism in Asia and the Pacific is the theme of the second quarter. The third quarter considers the processes and consequences of decolonization both in the newly independent nations and the former colonial powers.
Stephan Palmió, Ramón Gutierrez, Rael Salley
CRPC 28110 – ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY
This class examines the history of Asians in America from the late 19th century to the present from a transnational perspective that situates Asians in the American context, as well as the context of the larger Pacific World. The negotiation of Asian Americanness is a dynamic and ongoing process, framed by changing constructions of race, class, gender, sexuality, inter-generational conflict and intra- and inter-group conflict, stratification and fracture. The historical texts, literary works, primary documents and films we will consider in this course highlight these complex dynamics and the way they have operated within, and have been produced by, Asian American history.
Meredith Oda
Download flyer [PDF]
CRPC 21400— MIGRANT RELIGIONS AND ETHNICITIES IN THE AMERICAS, 1870-1940
This course examines religious diasporas among migrants to and between the Americas from 1870 and 1940, using specific case studies to question theories of ethnic assimilation. After reviewing both assimilation theories and the general history of global migration during this period, we will use a variety of primary and secondary sources in order to investigate the religious activities and political goals of these migrants. Our case studies will include Irish and Mexican migrants fighting for political causes with the help of the Catholic Church; Armenian refugees whose parishes organized around the cause of independence; Zionist Eastern European Jews; and Japanese emperor- worshiping nationalist associations. In the final weeks of the course, we will return to theoretical questions, asking how the cases we have examined help us to challenge and question theories of assimilation.
Julia Young
CRPC 21300—RACIALIZATION AND THE PRIVATE SPHERE IN THE U.S.
This course explores the ways in which people’s private lives—their homes, families, and intimate relationships—have been crucial to the reproduction of race and racial difference in American law, culture, and social life. By examining primary documents such as films, photographs, and court cases, as well as by reading historical texts, we will consider various ways ideas about race have been interwoven with those about gender, sexuality, marriage, and family in US history. In particular, we will interrogate racialized communities’ efforts to define and embody “proper” family forms in relation to other groups, attempts on the part of the state and colonial projects to gain authority through interventions in people’s domestic and sexual lives, and the politicization of the family in different contexts to achieve racially progressive or conservative ends.
Sarah Potter
CRPC 21500—U.S. THIRD WORLD FEMINISMS
This interdisciplinary course examines key works by those women of color whose political and cultural investments in a collaborative, cross-cultural critique of U.S. imperialism and heteronormativity, has been called "U.S. Third World Feminism". Texts include This Bridge Called my Back. Anzaldua and Moraga eds. The Angela Davis Reader ed. Joye James. Feminism Without Borders by Chandra Mohanty in addition to articles and films.
Nicole Guidotti-Hernandez
CRPC 28300— HOUSING SEGREGATION IN THE US
This course examines the historical development of racially segregated metropolitan areas in the United States from the end of the 19th century to the present. During the quarter, we will look at the historical roots of division along lines of race and class in spatial as well as economic and cultural terms. We will discuss the impact of various phenomena such as migration, economic shifts, housing legislation, changing social and cultural ideals, and notions of the “American dream.” The course will also touch on currently relevant topics such as housing discrimination, urban renewal, public housing, urban sprawl, homelessness, and gentrification, paying particular attention to the ways in which these developments relate to racial and economic inequality. Our explorations will cover metropolitan areas across the country, but will include a special focus on the Midwest in general and Chicago in particular. The goal of the course is to increase our understanding of the historical origins of our contemporary surroundings and to deepen our awareness of the ways in which the social world around us has been shaped by both individual and institutional forces.
Theresa Mah
CROSS-LISTED COURSES
CRPC 27704 – CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN AMERICAN FICTION Madhu Dubey
CRPC 20701—INTRO TO AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS Emily Osborne
CRPC 42500—THE AFRO-ATLANTIC WORLD Stephan Palmió
CRPC 59701—LATIN AMERICAN AND LATINO SEXULAITIES Ramón Gutierrez
CHECK LISTINGS UNDER “CRPC” IN THE TIME SCHEDULE FOR UPDATES
