Anthropology of Race and Racism

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.

SCQF Credits: 20

Credit Level: 10

Year Taken: UG3