SO337-15 Racisms and Antiracisms

This is not a module which is about deciding whether something-or-other is ‘racist’, ‘not-racist’ or ‘antiracist’. It is about helping you think through social and historical processes that have created differential treatment along lines of “race”, how these inequalities are manifested today in our everyday lives, and the theory and practice of struggles against racism.

The module takes a sociological approach to understanding racisms, that is:

• Recognising race and racisms as produced through practices of people and institutions
• Understanding racism as a structure of power, entangled with other structures of power including gender, class, sexuality, disability and citizenship.
• Paying attention to how formations of race and racism can function in different ways in different places, times and situations (racisms rather than racism).

You will learn about different practices of antiracism that have taken place or are happening now and explore how different theoretical approaches to anti/racism can help us understand political struggle and social life. That is, antiracisms will be discussed both as an empirical real-world practice and as a resource for theorising political struggle and social life.

We will engage with social theory and relate this directly to empirical, real-life examples. You will be encouraged to think each week about how experiences in your everyday life, and in current affairs and the news, relate to the concepts and examples we are discussing.

Being respectful: The module focuses on socio-historical ideas and analysis and present-day examples. Some discussions may bring up strong feelings or experiences from students’ own lives. We encourage open and critical discussion in seminars and lectures, but please be respectful of one another. If you feel particularly disturbed by anything in the module, you are welcome to talk to the module convenor or seminar tutor about this.

Key Information

Optional Module

15 CATS

Summative Assessment: 3000 word essay (100%)

Teaching: 1 hour lecture and 1 hour seminar per week

Module Convenors: Hannah JonesLink opens in a new window