Optional Spring Course - 948M1
30 credits
Tutor: Alana Lentin

Race Critical Theory is based on the premise that the conceptualisation of race from a political perspective is vital for a more nuanced understanding of the complexities of the politics of states and the nature of sociality in the modern era. The course will therefore be grounded in a political sociological, theoretical and historical sociological reading of race, racism and the responses to them from the outset of modernity to the present day. It will interest students committed to a furthering of their understanding of the social and political theory of modernity, as well as those with a specific interest in themes related to race such as migration, (post)colonialism, multiculturalism, human rights, "terrorism", identity politics etc. The course runs over ten weeks and consists of the following topics: Why race?; The Racial State; Europe, Race & Nation; The Lived-Experience of Race; Responding to Racism - Race and culture; Racism and Human Rights; The End of Race?; Race and the Idea of "Human Security"; Take a case; Seeing a future without race?

Reading

In preparation for the course, students should engage with the following texts:

Balibar, Etienne. 1991. 'Racism and Nationalism',
in Etienne Balibar and Immanue Wallerstein, Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous
Identities. London: Verso; pp. 37-67.

Fanon, Frantz. 1967. Black Skins, White Masks. London: Pluto Press.
(Chapter 5: 'The Fact of Blackness'); pp. 109-140.

Essed, Philomena and Goldberg, David T. 2002. 'Introduction: From racial
demarcations to multiple identifications', in P. Essed and D.T. Goldberg (Eds.)
Race Critical Theories: pp. 1-14.

Winant, Howard. 2000. 'The Theoretical Status of the Concept of Race',
in L. Back and J. Solomos (Eds.), Theories of Race and Racism.
London: Routledge; pp.181-190.