Research

The Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture (CSRPC) at the University of Chicago is an interdisciplinary program dedicated to promoting engaged scholarship and debate around the topics of race and ethnicity. We are especially interested in how these ideas and their structural manifestations impact and shape people’s daily lives. Researchers affiliated with the Center recognize the significance of the black/white paradigm in the United States, however, we are committed to expanding the study of race and ethnicity beyond the black/white paradigm. Broadly, our research program encourages the study of race and processes of racialization in comparative and transnational frameworks. Thus, the work of faculty affiliates ranges from an examination of processes of racialization among dominant groups to the study of racialized minorities within the United States and black and/or indigenous populations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Asian Pacific, and Europe.

Workshop on the Reproduction of Race and Racial Ideologies

With the conviction that intellectuals have a responsibility to help clarify discourses of racial difference, we convened this workshop to provide a forum for faculty and graduate students at the University of Chicago and area institutions to explore the problematics of race and racial ideologies in the modern era. The issues we examine cut across academic and policy divisions as well as across disciplinary and national boundaries. Click here for more information on the workshop.

Provost’s Career Enhancement Postdoctoral Scholarships

As part of an effort to promote a diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences among its faculty, the University of Chicago established the Provost’s Career Enhancement Postdoctoral Scholarship (PCEPS). Successful candidates will be selected on the basis of academic achievement; scholarly promise; a demonstrable commitment to the ideals set forth in the University of Chicago Diversity Statement and the likelihood that the individual may become a qualified and competitive candidate for a faculty position at the University of Chicago upon the completion of the Scholarship. Each cohort of PCEPS holders will include at least one scholar whose research furthers the mission of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture.

Dissertation Fellow

The dissertation fellow is awarded to an exceptional University of Chicago doctoral student at the advanced stage whose research is devoted to the study of race and ethnicity. Funding for a full year and office space are provided to make it possible for the student to devote his or her full energies to the completion of the dissertation. Click here for more information on the fellowship.

Graduate Research & Travel Fellows

Graduate research fellows are outstanding University of Chicago graduate students whose research focuses on race and ethnicity. Fellows are awarded small grants to cover expenses associated with a clearly defined research project. Funded activities include travel-related expenses associated with field research, primary archival research, conference presentation as well as transcription costs and duplication services. Click here for more information on the graduate research and travel grant.