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Unit name |
Race in America |
Unit code |
HISTM0084 |
Credit points |
20 |
Level of study |
M/7
|
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
|
Unit director |
Dr. Stephen Mawdsley |
Open unit status |
Not open |
Pre-requisites |
none
|
Co-requisites |
none
|
School/department |
Department of History (Historical Studies) |
Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
This unit examines the ideology of race in America and how it has shaped the nation from the antebellum era to the end of the twentieth century. Through a series of thematic case studies, students will explore the social construction of race and its consequences for laws, customs, and practices. The aim of this unit is to offer a nuanced account of race relations, by incorporating several types of sources and perspectives. Some example subjects that will be explored in this unit include:
- Whiteness (construction and practice)
- Identity (formation and activism)
- Intersections (race, gender, class, and region)
- Migration (domestic and international)
- Sexuality (constructions and meanings)
- Eugenics and the ‘science of race’
- Violence
Intended Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit students will be able to:
- Identify and analyse recent historiographical developments and longer-term trends in American history and the history of race.
- Analyse, synthesise and evaluate a range of primary sources using appropriate methodologies.
- Design and frame a research question within relevant historiographies, theories and methodologies.
- Compose an extended historical argument rooted in primary source analysis.
Teaching Information
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions, including group seminar-style discussion and self-directed exercises.
Assessment Information
5000-word essay (100%). [ILOs 1-4].
Reading and References
- Gail Bederman, Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917
- Peter Cozzens, The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West
- Matthew Frye Jacobson, Whiteness of a Different 'Color': European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race
- Rachel A Feinstein, When Rape was Legal: 'the' Untold History of Sexual Violence during Slavery
- Siobhan B. Somerville, Queering the 'Color' Line: Race and the Invention of Homosexuality in American Culture
- Julie M. Weise, Corazón' de Dixie: 'Mexicanos' in the U.S. South since 1910