Undergraduate Course: Anthropology of Race and Racism (SCAN10097)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course examines the social and cultural circumstances that produce 'race' and 'racism'. In doing so, the course emphasizes the historically contingent nature of these concepts and explores them ethnographically as a process. The course explores the racist history of anthropology and the myriad ways anthropologists have fought to combat this history. |
| Course description |
Since Social Anthropology's institutionalisation at the University of Edinburgh in 1946, 'race' has been an important theme for the subject area. This course draws our attention back to the centrality of race for anthropology by examining the myriad relationships between race and racism. Early anthropologists sought to understand the relationships between race and other perennial anthropological topics such as economics, kinship, politics, and religion. In this course, we build on this tradition by examining historical and contemporary anthropological engagements with other important areas of research such as environmental studies, gender and sexuality, and science and technology studies.
Instead of taking 'race' as a given, we explore the methods and circumstances by which race is produced. Learning from developments in Black studies, decolonial theory, historical anthropology, and political economy among others, this course encourages us to see race as not simply a social construct but also as an ongoing process with material ramifications. Therefore, in this course we understand race as a process of racialization.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Short essay - 30% - max 1500 words
Long essay - 70% - max 3000 words |
| Feedback |
Feedback on all assessed work shall normally be returned within three weeks of submission. Where this is not possible, students shall be given clear expectations regarding the timing and methods of feedback. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Engage with ongoing academic and public debates regarding race and racism.
- Examine a range of anthropological approaches to race and racism, including Black studies, political ecology, post- and decoloniality, and queer theory.
- Apply theories of racialization to understand the complex ecological, economic, political, and scientific and technological issues they entail.
- Compare cross-culturally manifestations racialization in different contemporary social settings.
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Reading List
Baker, L. (1998) From Savage to Negro: Anthropology and the Construction of Race, 1896-1954. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Benedict, R. (2019) Race: Science and Politics. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
Checker, M. (2005) Polluted Promises: Environmental Racism and the Search for Justice in a Southern Town. New York: New York University Press.
Silva, D.F.d. (2007) Toward a Global Idea of Race. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Ranid, J. (2019) "Anthropology and the Riddle of White Supremacy." American Anthropologist 122(1): 99-111. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
-Cognitive skills: evaluation of ethnographic evidence and critical analysis of social theory, independent research.
-Communication skills: Essay writing,
-Social skills: Peer learning through seminar discussion.
-Reflexive skills: understanding their own and others' identities through empathy. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alejandro Escalante
Tel: (0131 6)50 3935
Email: alejandro.escalante@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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