Course Description
This course is structured around the metaphysical, ontological, and epistemological issues that are generated by our concepts of race and racism. The kinds of questions we will explore in the first part of the course include: What is race? Do races exist? If races exist, in what sense are they real? What would be necessary for races to be “scientifically objective” entities? What does it mean to call them “social constructions”? In the second half of the course, we will apply what we learned in the first half and address questions such as: What is racism? What sorts of things can be racist (e.g., persons, acts, beliefs, feelings, places, or institutions)? Is there such as thing as “unintentional” racism? What does it mean to say that racism is “structural” or “institutional”? Is it better to define racism in a narrow or broad sense? Is racism an ideology or a vice?
Meeting Times
This class will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:30-3:20pm, in Savery Hall 137
Office Hours
Office hours will be held Thursdays, 3:30-5:30pm, in Savery Hall 385
Readings for the Course
All readings will be available online. So, there are no books to buy for this course. See Course Reading Schedule below.
Course Grading Scale
(roughly each 1% increment between grades is equivalent to 0.1)
A 95% = 4.0
B 85% = 3.0
C 75% = 2.0
D 65% = 1.0
Assignment Guidelines for Undergraduates
1. Reading Quizzes (35% of course grade)
Each quiz will consist of about 5-20, mostly multiple-choice, questions. There is no time limit and the questions chronologically follow the reading. You are therefore strongly encouraged to take the quiz as you complete the readings. Quizzes will be available for only 14 days. So, do not fall too far behind and keep in mind there is no way to make up the quizzes once the quizzes are closed.
2. Short Writing assignments (30% of course grade)
There will be two short writing assignments (about 2,500 words in length) throughout the term.
3. Final Paper (35% of course grade)
This assignment should be between 2,500 to 6,000 words. The format for this paper is as follows: double-spaced, 12-point font, in Times New Roman or something similar, and margins should be at least one inch wide but no more than 1.25 inches wide. Citations should follow either APA, MLA, or Chicago style. Papers should be turned in through Canvas and NOT by email.
Assignment Guidelines for Graduate Students
Term Paper
No less than 10 pages, but be no longer than 25 pages.
Please meet with instructor about a topic by week 9.
Course Reading Schedule:
Week One (Sept 28th): The Story of "Race"
Required Viewing:
Sept 28th (Thursday): Race: The Power of an Illusion: “The Difference Between Us” (Episode 1)
Sept 28th (Thursday): Race: The Power of an Illusion: “The Story We Tell” (Episode 2)
Supplemental Readings:
(These readings are optional but are strongly recommended for grad students)
Francois Bernier: “A New Division of Earth” (1684)
Immanuel Kant: “Of the Different Human Races” (1777)
Thomas Jefferson: "Notes on the State of Virginia" ( 1787)
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach: “On the Natural Variety of Mankind” (1795)
Arthur de Gobineau: "The Inequality of Human Races" (1853)
Week Two (Oct 3rd & Oct 5th): The Concept of "Race"
Required Readings:
Oct 3rd (Tuesday): K. Anthony Appiah: "Why There Are No Races" (1999)
Oct 3rd (Tuesday): W.E.B. DuBois: “The Conservation of Races” (1897)
Oct 5th (Thursday): K. Anthony Appiah: “The Uncompleted Argument: DuBois and the Illusion of Race” (1985)
Required Viewing:
Oct 3rd (Tuesday): Black in Latin America (Episode 1) Haiti and Dominican Republic
Oct 5th (Thursday): Black in Latin America (Episode 4) Mexico and Peru
Supplemental Readings:
(These readings are optional but are strongly recommended for grad students)
Ashley Montagu: "The Concept of Race" (1962)
Lucius Outlaw: "Conserve Races? In Defense of W.E.B. DuBois" (1996)
Paul Taylor: "Appiah's Uncompleted Argument" (2000)
Ronald R. Sundstrom: "Racial Nominalism" (2002)
Michael O. Hardimon: "The Ordinary Concept of Race" (2003)
Supplemental Viewing:
Black in Latin America (Episode 3) Brazil: A Racial Paradise?
Black in Latin America (Episode 2) Cuba: The Next Revolution
Week Three (Oct 10th & Oct 12th): Racial Eliminativism and Racial Formation Theory
Required Readings:
Oct 10th (Tuesday): Naomi Zack: "Philosophical Aspects of the AAA Statement on Race" (2001)
Oct 12th (Thursday): Michael Omi and Howard Winant: "The Theory of Racial Formation" (2015)
Required Viewing:
Oct 10th (Tuesday): Race: The Power of an Illusion: “The House We Live In” (Episode 3)
Supplemental Readings:
(These readings are optional but are strongly recommended for grad students)
Richard Lewontin: "The Apportionment of Human Diversity" (1972)
American Anthropological Association: "AAA Statement on Race” (1998)
Ernst Mayr: "The Biology of Race and the Concept of Equality" (2002)
A.W.F. Edwards: "Human Genetic Diversity: Lewontin’s Fallacy" (2003)
Week Four (Oct 17th & Oct 19th): The Normative Dimension of "Race"
Oct 17th (Tuesday): Sally Haslanger: "A Social Constructionist Analysis of Race" (2012)
Oct 19th (Thursday): Ron Mallon: "Race: Normative, Not Metaphysical or Semantic" (2006)
Supplemental Readings:
(These readings are optional but are strongly recommended for grad students)
Robin O. Andreasen: "A New Perspective on the Race Debate" (1998)
Philip Kitcher: "Race, Ethnicity, Biology, Culture" (1999)
Sally Haslanger: "Gender and Race: (What) Are They? (What) Do We Want Them to Be?" (2000)
Joshua Glasgow: "On the New Biology of Race" (2003)
The debate on race "passing" and race "traveling"
Adrian Piper: "Passing for White, Passing for Black" (1992)
Walter Benn Michaels: "The No-Drop Rule" (1994)
Charles Mills: "But What Are You Really? The Metaphysics of Race" (1998)
Week Five (Oct 24th & Oct 26th): Contemporary Debates Over Racial Naturalism
Required Readings:
Oct 24th (Tuesday): Adam Hochman: "Against the New Racial Naturalism" (2013)
Oct 26th (Thursday): Quayshawn Spencer: "A Radical Solution to the Race Problem" (2014)
Required Viewing:
Oct 24th (Tuesday): The Eugenics Crusade
Supplemental Readings:
(These readings are optional but are strongly recommended for grad students)
Neven Sesardic: "Race: A Social Destruction of a Biological Concept" (2010)
Neven Sesardic: "Confusions About Race: A New Installment" (2013)
Adam Hochman: "Racial Discrimination: How Not To Do It" (2013)
Quayshawn Spencer: "The Unnatural Racial Naturalism" (2014)
Adam Hochman: "Unnaturalised Racial Naturalism" (2014)
Michael O. Hardimon: "Four Ways of Thinking about Race" (2019)
Week Six (Oct 31st & Nov 2nd): Deflating "Race"?
Required Readings:
Oct 31st (Tuesday): Lionel K. McPherson: "Deflating Race" (2015)
Nov 2nd (Thursday): Adam Hochman: "In Defense of the Metaphysics of Race" (2017)
Supplemental Reading:
(These readings are optional but are strongly recommended for grad students)
Lawrence Blum: "Racialized Groups: The Sociohistorical Consensus" (2010)
Sally Haslanger: "Language, Politics, and The Folk: Looking for The Meaning of Race’’ (2010)
David Ludwig: "Against the New Metaphysics of Race" (2015)
Adam Hochman: "Replacing Race: Interactive Constructionism about Racialized Groups" (2017)
Week Seven (Nov 7th and Nov 9th): "Racism": Doxastic, Institutional, or Volitional
Required Reading:
Nov 7th Tuesday): Judith Lichtenberg: “Racism in the Head, Racism in the World” (1992)
Nov 9th: (Thursday):Jorge L.A. Garcia: "Current Conceptions of Racism" (1997)
Supplemental Reading:
(These readings are optional but are strongly recommended for grad students)
Kwame Ture and Charles V. Hamilton: "White Power: The Colonial Situation" (1967)
K. Anthony Appiah: "Racisms" (1990)
Gertrude Ezorsky: "Overt and Institutional Racism" (1991)
Jorge L.A. Garcia: “The Heart of Racism” (1996)
Week Eight (Nov 14th & Nov 16th): Responses to the Volitional Account
Required Readings:
Nov 14th (Tuesday): Charles W. Mills: “Heart Attack: A Critique of Jorge Garcia's Volitional Conception of Racism" (2003)
Nov 16th (Thursday): Tommie Shelby: "Is Racism in the “Heart”?" (2002)
Supplemental Reading:
(These readings are optional but are strongly recommended for grad students)
Clevis Headley: "A Critique of the Individualistic Perspective" (2000)
D. C. Matthew: "Against Institutional Racism" (2022)
Michael O. Hardimon: "Is Racism Essentially Systemic" (2023)
Amelia M. Wirts: "What Does it Mean to Say The Criminal Justice System is Racist?" (2023)
Lots more Jorge L.A. Garcia
Jorge L.A. Garcia: "Philosophical Analysis and The Moral Concept of Racism" (1999)
Jorge L.A. Garcia: "Racism and Racial Discourse" (2001)
Jorge L.A. Garcia: "Three Sites for Racism: Social Structurings, Valuings, & Vice” (2004)
Week Nine (Nov 21st): Narrow-Scope "Racism"
Required Readings:
Nov 21st: (Tuesday): Lawrence Blum: "Racism: Its Core Meaning" (2002)
Nov 23rd: (Thursday): No Class (Thanksgiving Break)
Supplemental Reading:
(These readings are optional but are strongly recommended for grad students)
Robert Miles: "The Unity of Racism: A Critique of Conceptual Inflation" (1989)
Robert Miles: "The Diversity of Racism: A Critique of Conceptual Deflation" (1989)
Lawrence Blum: "What Do Accounts of ‘Racism’ Do?” (2004)
D. C. Matthew: “Racial Injustice, Racial Discrimination and Racism: How Are They Related?” (2017)
Week Ten (Nov 28th & Nov 30th): Wide-Scope "Racism"
Required Readings:
Nov 28th: (Tuesday): Tommie Shelby: "Racism, Moralism, and Social Criticism" (2014)
Nov 30th (Thursday): Michael O. Hardimon: "Should We Narrow the Scope of Racism to Accommodate White Sensitivities?" (2019)
Supplemental Reading:
(These readings are optional but are strongly recommended for grad students)
Tommie Shelby: “Ideology, Racism, and Critical Social Theory” (2003)
Sally Haslanger: "Racism, Ideology, and Social Movements" (2017)
Vanessa Wills: “And He Ate Jim Crow: Racist Ideology as False Consciousness" (2021)
Week Eleven (Dec 4th & Dec 7th): Xenophobia and "Racism"
Required Readings:
Dec 4th: (Tuesday): Ronald Sundstrom and David Kim: “Xenophobia and Racism" (2014)
Dec 7th: (Thursday): José Jorge Mendoza: "Go Back to Where You Came From! Racism, Xenophobia, and White Nationalism" (2023)
Supplemental Reading:
(These readings are optional but are strongly recommended for grad students)
Alia Al-Saji: “The Racialization of Muslim Veils: A Philosophical Analysis” (2010)
Ronald Sundstrom: “Sheltering Xenophobia” (2013)
Grant J. Silva: "Embodying a “New” Color Line" (2015)
Anna Sophie Lauwers: "Is Islamophobia (Always) Racism?" (2019)