PHR 324 History of Race
The meaning of the idea of race has always been under revision. Race is an idea with a history. In this course we first explore the meaning of race as a constructed regime of bodies. And then trace the discursive history of race in modern times following its traces the many fields where the idea was written into existence: philosophy, medicine, sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis, feminism, and queer theory. The social, political, economic, and cultural forces that shape the meanings of race across time and how these meanings, in turn, shape society and culture will be a central theme of the trajectory of this course.