GCS 420 Race, Gender, and Empire
The history of race and racism begins with the history of imperialism and colonialism. Often, scholars of race and racism ignore this history and study race within a specific nation state without making global connections. In this class, we will explore the history of racism that is deeply gendered and a project of empire building. We will examine how race was historically constructed as a result of empire building and how it continues today. It is therefore important to note that race is a social construction that shifts and changes over time, depending on the imperial project but that there are threads within history that must be examined. In other words, while race and racism shift over time, its history and connection to colonialism and imperialism cannot be ignored. In this class you will read theories on race, colonialism, post-colonialism, settler colonialism, and global feminism. I expect by the end of the class we are able to show how racial projects are global and gendered. We will do this from an interdisciplinary perspective employing perspectives from disciplines ranging from Sociology, Philosophy, Psychology, Literary Analysis, Anthropology and Women's and Gender Studies.