Expand+SSJ20160 Race and Racism: Critical Perspectives

Academic Year 2021/2022

Racism is a global structural force of oppression shaping hierarchies of superiority/inferiority and dehumanization. This module will critically analyse different theories ...

Hide-SSJ20160 Race and Racism: Critical Perspectives

Academic Year 2021/2022

Racism is a global structural force of oppression shaping hierarchies of superiority/inferiority and dehumanization. This module will critically analyse different theories and debates on the concepts of ‘race,’ racism and racialization, by focusing on their links to colonialism, capitalism, orientalism, state formation and nationalism. The course explores how racism intersects with other forms of oppression, - such as sexism, classism, ageism, and ableism – as its shapes structural inequalities and everyday experiences of stigmatization and violence. Students will learn about the specificities of racism in Ireland, while also exploring global experiences of anti-black racism, islamophobia and anti-Semitism. White privilege and colour-blind ideologies will be critically unpacked and analysed in order to understand why and how racism is constantly denied, minimized or silenced. The final aim of the course involves mapping anti-racist experiences in Ireland and in other regions, assessing their strategies and limitations for achieving social change.

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able to:

1. Develop theoretically informed understandings on the concepts of race, racialization, racism and anti-racism.

2. Critically analyse the historical and contemporary links between race, racism, colonialism, capitalism, orientalism and nationalism.

3. Recognize and analyse how racism shapes structural inequalities, exclusions, hierarchies, stigmatization, privilege and violence in Ireland and in other regions.

4. Understand how racism intersects with other forms of oppression: sexism, classism, ageism, ableism.

5. Map and critically analyse anti-racist strategies, projects and organizations in Ireland and other regions.

6. Share and communicate knowledge with activists and non-academic actors.
7. Engage in processes of sensitization and reflexivity through autobiography and narrative approaches.