Topics in Social Theory and Practice: Race and Racism

Readings

In addition to the readings in the table below, the following texts are also useful:

[BL] = Blum, Lawrence. “I’m Not a Racist, But…”: The Moral Quandary of Race. Cornell University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780801488153. [Preview with Google Books]

[BB] = Boxill, Bernard, ed. Race and Racism. Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780198752677.

[M] = Mills, Charles W. The Racial Contract. Cornell University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780801484636.

[S] = Shelby, Tommie. We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity. Belknap Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780674025714.

[Z] = Zack, Naomi. Philosophy of Science and Race. Routledge, 2002. ISBN: 9780415941648.

SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction	No readings assigned
I. What, if anything, is race?
2	A Tiny Slice of the History of the Concept of Race	Blumenbach, F. Joahann. “On The Natural Variety of Mankind.” In The Idea of Race. Edited by Robert Bernasconi and Tommy Lee Lott. Hackett Publishing Company, 2000. ISBN: 9780872204584. [Preview with Google Books] Stocking, Jr., George W. “The Turn-of-the-Century Concept of Race.” Modernism / Modernity 1, no. 1 (1994): 4–16.
3	“Our” Concept of Race	[BL] Chapter 6: “‘Race’: A Brief History, with Moral Implications.”
4	Race Eliminativism Screening: RACE - The Power of an Illusion, Ep. 1: The Difference Between Us. Directed by Christine Herbes-Sommers. Color, 57 min. 2003.	Bamshad, Michael J., and Steve E. Olsen. “Does Race Exist?" Scientific American, December 2003.
5	Appiah and the Meaning of ‘Race’	Appiah, Anthony K. “Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections.” (PDF) The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, delivered at University of California at San Diego, October 27 and 28, 1994. PhilPapers.
6	Race and Medicine	Burchard, M. D., Esteban González, et al. “The Importance of Race and Ethnic Background in Biomedical Research and Clinical Practice.” New England Journal of Medicine 348, no. 12 (2003): 1170–75. Root, Michael. “The Use of Race in Medicine as a Proxy for Genetic Differences.” Philosophy of Science 70, no. 5 (2003): 1173–83. Recommended Root, Michael. “How We Divide The World.” Philosophy of Science 67, Supplement. Proceedings of the 1998 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers. (2000): S628–39. Risch, Neil, Esteban Burchard, et al. “Categorization of Humans in Biomedical Research: Genes, Race and Disease.” Genome Biology 3, no. 7 (2002): Comment2007.1 –.12.
7	Race and Ethnicity	Kitcher, Philip. “Race, Ethnicity, Biology, Culture.” Chapter 4 in Racism: Key Concepts in Critical Theory. Edited by Leonard Harris. Humanity Books, 1999. ISBN: 9781573926393. Recommended Andreasen, Robin O. “A New Perspective on the Race Debate.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 49, no. 2 (1998): 199–225. Glasgow, Joshua M. “On The New Biology of Race.” Journal of Philosophy 100, no. 9 (2003): 456–74.
8	Kinds of Social Construction	Mallon, Ron. “A Field Guide to Social Construction.” Philosophy Compass 2, no. 1 (2007): 93–108. Recommended Haslanger, Sally. “Gender and Social Construction: Who? What? When? Where? How?” In Theorizing Feminisms: A Reader. Edited by Elizabeth Hackett and Sally Haslanger. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780195150094.
9	Intersectionality	Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Chapter 17 in After Identity: A Reader in Law and Culture. Edited by Dan Danielsen and Karen Engle. Routledge, 1995. ISBN: 9780415909976. [Preview with Google Books] Recommended Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Beyond Racism and Misogyny: Black Feminism and 2 Live Crew.” Boston Review: A Political and Literary Forum.
10	Race and the Construction of Social Identity	Gooding-Williams, Robert. “Race, Multiculturalism and Democracy.” Constellations 5, no. 1 (1998): 18–41.
11	Gender and Race Constructions	Haslanger, Sally. “Gender and Race: (What) Are They? (What) Do We Want Them To Be?” Noûs 34, no. 1 (2000): 31–55. Recommended Mallon, Ron. “‘Race’: Normative, Not Metaphysical or Semantic.” Ethics 116, no. 3 (2006): 525–51.
12	Racial Identities	Hacking, Ian. “Making Up People.” In Reconstructing Individualism: Autonomy, Individuality, and the Self in Western Thought. Edited by Thomas C. Heller, Morton Sosna, et al. Stanford University Press, 1986. ISBN: 9780804712910. Haslanger, Sally. “You Mixed? Racial Identity without Racial Biology.” Chapter 9 in Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique. Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780199892624. [Preview with Google Books]
13	Latina/o Identity and Race	Alcoff, Linda Martin. “Is Latina/o Identity a Racial Identity?” Chapter 1 in Hispanics / Latinos in the United States: Ethnicity, Race, and Rights. Edited by Jorge J. E. Gracia and Pablo De Greiff. Routledge, 2000. ISBN: 9780415926201. [Preview with Google Books]
14	Midterm Reflection	No readings assigned
15	Panethnicity	Espiritu, Yen Le. “Ethnicity and Panethnicity.” Chapter 1 in Asian-American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities. Temple University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9781566390965. [Preview with Google Books] Recommended ———. “Pan-Asian American Ethnicity: Retrospect and Prospect.” Chapter 7 in Asian-American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities. Temple University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9781566390965. [Preview with Google Books]
16	Are Arabs a Race?	Naber, Nadine. “Introduction: Arab Americans and U.S. Racial Formations.” Chapter 1 in Race and Arab Americans Before and After 9/11: From Invisible Citizens to Visible Subjects. Edited by Amaney Jamal and Nadine Naber. Syracuse University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780815631774. [Preview with Google Books] Jamal, Amaney. “Conclusion: Arab American Racialization.” Chapter 12 in Race and Arab Americans Before and After 9/11: From Invisible Citizens to Visible Subjects. Edited by Amaney Jamal and Nadine Naber. Syracuse University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780815631774.  Recommended Racial Formation of Arab Americans, University of Michigan.
II. Racism
17	Extrinsic, Intrinsic & Cultural Racisms	[BL] Chapter 1: “‘Racism’: It’s Core Meaning.” Appiah, Kwame Anthony. “Racisms.” Chapter 1 in Anatomy of Racism. Edited by David Theo Goldberg. University of Minnesota Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780816618040. [BB] Modood, Tariq. Chapter 9 in “‘Difference’, Cultural Racism and Anti-Racism.”
18	Racism in the Heart	[BB] Garcia, J. L. A. “The Heart of Racism.” Chapter 10. Shelby, Tommie. “Is Racism in the ‘Heart’?” Journal of Social Philosophy 33, no. 3 (2002): 411–20.
19	Oppression and Institutional Racism	Ezorsky, Gertrude. “Overt and Institutional Racism.” Chapter 1 in Racism & Justice: The Case for Affirmative Action. Cornell University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780801499227. [Preview with Google Books] Young, Iris Marion. “Five Faces of Oppression.” Chapter 2 in Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton University Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780691152622. [Preview with Google Books]
20	Equality and Social Justice	Anderson, Elizabeth S. “What is the Point of Equality?” Ethics 109, no. 2 (1999): 287–337. Recommended MacKinnon, Barbara. “Economic Justice.” Chapter 13 in Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues. 6th ed. Wadsworth Publishing, 2007.
21	Equality and Respect	LeBron, Christopher. “Equality from a Human Point of View.” Critical Philosophy of Race 2, no. 2 (2014): 125–59. Recommended Nozick, Robert. “Justice does Not Imply Equality.” Chapter 10 in Equality: Selected Readings. Edited by Louis P. Pojman and Robert Westmoreland. Oxford University Press, 1997. Lucas, J. R. “Against Equality.” Chapter 11 in Equality: Selected Readings. Edited by Louis P. Pojman and Robert Westmoreland. Oxford University Press, 1997. Benn, Stanley I. “Egalitarianism and the Equal Consideration of Interests.” Chapter 12 in Equality: Selected Readings. Edited by Louis P. Pojman and Robert Westmoreland. Oxford University Press, 1997.
22	Inter-culturation, Cultural Appropriation, and Commodity Fetishism	Mercer, Kobena. “Black Hair / Style Politics.” (PDF) New Formations 3 (1987): 33–54. Recommended Camp, Elizabeth. “The Socio-Aesthetics of Pink.” November 5, 2014. Aesthetics For Birds. Callan, Eamonn. “The Ethics of Assimilation.” Ethics 115, no. 3 (2005): 471–500. Young, James O., and Conrad G. Brunk, eds. The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. ISBN: 9781405161596. [Preview with Google Books] Coombe, Rosemary. “Sports Trademarks and Somatic Politics: Locating the Law in a Critical Cultural Studies.” York University, 1999.
23	Screening: Free Angela and All Political Prisoners. Directed by Shola Lynch. Color, 102 min. 2012.	No readings assigned
24	Racial Profiling	Lever, Annabelle. “Why Racial Profiling is Hard to Justify. A Response to Risse and Zeckhauser.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 33, no. 1 (2005): 94–110.
25	Prisons Note: This session was taught by guest lecturer Jerome Hodges	Alexander, Michelle. “Introduction.” In The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press, 2012. ISBN: 9781595586438. The Abolitionist Toolkit, Part 2: Information Sheets (PDF). Critical Resistance. Recommended Davis, Angela Y. Are Prisons Obsolete? Seven Stories Press, 2003. ISBN: 9781583225813.
26	The Case for Reparations	Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “The Case for Reparations.” The Atlantic, June 2014. Rosen, Rebecca J. “Ta-Nehisi Coates on Not Knowing How Much You Don’t Know.” The Atlantic, June 13, 2014. Note: The Rosen reading also contained a video of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jeffrey Goldberg discussing Coates’ article “The Case for Reparations.” The class watched a clip from the video and then had an open discussion based on questions provided in this session’s lecture notes.
27	Short Student Presentations	Recommended hooks, bell. “gangsta culture: a piece of the action.” Chapter 2 in We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity. Routledge, 2003. ISBN: 9780415969277.

Related Resources

The following site includes sections on race, racism, and related topics:

Elizabeth S. Anderson’s Race, Gender, and Affirmative Action: Resource Page for Teaching and Study, University of Michigan.