Introductory description

In this module, students encounter different theorists from across the world who reflect upon the relation between the law and the construction of racial difference. The history of Anglo-European colonialism is mobilized as a prism to explore the ways in which race, racism and the law intersect at different points in time and in various parts of the globe.
In particular, the module will focus on the case of the United States of America, understanding it as a colonial power, and also as a set of former British, Spanish, Dutch and French colonies.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The module will begin with an introductory week in which we will consider the fundamental question of “What is Race?” through Aníbal Quijano's classic work on Eurocentrism and coloniality of power. Noting the emergence of the category of ‘race’ during the early modern/colonial era, a period of rapid global capitalist expansion, I will introduce students to the notion of 'decolonial theory' and the idea that it is not possible to understand racial inequalities in the 21st century absent of a long historical perspective that sheds light on the lived experience of differently colonized peoples.
Next, in weeks 2 and 3, we will consider the distinction between 'coloniality' and colonialism in the context of different legal constructions of race. We will read Aimé Césaire's celebrated 'Discourse on Colonialism' dealing with French colonialism in the Caribbean, along with Sylvia Wynter's essay on the invention of 'Man' as a subject of rights during the Enlightenment and concurrent colonization of the Americas.
In week 4, we will discuss the role of colonial racial ideologies in the emergence of Liberalism during the Enlightenment. In particular, we will read John Locke's writing on property rights along with Barbara Arneil's analysis of Locke's theories on British colonizers' natural right to American land. For this lecture I will draw on my own work pertaining the relation between the colonization of New Jersey and the current illegalization of immigrants in the United States.
Having established the relation between the European colonial project and modern legal constructions of race, in week 5 we will introduce the much cited and misunderstood concept of intersectionality. In reading Kimberlé Crenshaw's seminal essays on the topic, we will analyze how race as a legally constructed category intersects with other legally constructed identity markers, such as gender, sexuality and class.
Following reading week, in weeks 7 and 8 we will consider the question of the relation between race and the law intersectionally. Specifically, we will discuss the legal construction of race in the contexts of gender and sexuality. We will read María Lugones' essay on the coloniality of gender along with Sally Engle Merry's work on the use of the law to regularize family structures during the U.S. colonization of Hawai’i. We will follow by reading Michel Foucault's 'History of Sexuality' along with Ann Laura Stoler's 'Race and the Education of Desire,' which places the relationship between biopower, bourgeois sexuality and what Foucault identifies as 'racisms of the state' under the light of the Dutch and French colonial archives.
In week 9, we will consider yet another intersecting category pertaining the legal construction of race: Citizenship. In particular we will focus on the ever-expanding prison industrial complex and the current illegalization of immigrants in the context of the United States. In juxtaposing Michelle Alexander's 'The New Jim Crow' with Nicholas De Genova's work on migrant 'illegality' and deportability, we will explore how certain bodies share histories of illegalization and dehumanization and therefore can/not gain access to citizen and human rights in the (post) colonial state. For this lecture I will draw on my own work on the relation between the illegalization of Black Americans and Latinxs in the United States.
Finally, in week 10 we will discuss Frantz Fanon's 'The Wretched of the Earth,' in particular his conceptualization of transcendence in the discussion of anti-colonial violence: that which works against the violence of the state and towards a new politics that can replace colonial structures of domination. We will close with Audre Lorde's essay on 'master's tools' and a discussion on whether or not modern law can be mobilized by legally minoritized peoples in order to advance their own empowerment and, quoting Lorde, 'dismantle the master's house.'
Throughout the module I will use a wide variety of materials, including music, poetry, film, and interactive media, to encourage interdisciplinary thinking.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of legal, historical, and political ideologies of ‘race.’
• Undertake advanced interdisciplinary study and research.
• Demonstrate enhanced key-skills including written and oral communication skills, problem solving, working independently and in groups, and broad research skills.
• Demonstrate their ability to construct and substantiate comprehensive and sophisticated scholarly arguments in written and oral work

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Research element

Interdisciplinary

Throughout the module I will use a wide variety of materials, including music, poetry, film, and interactive media, to encourage interdisciplinary thinking.

International

Subject specific skills

No subject specific skills defined for this module.

Transferable skills

No transferable skills defined for this module.