This course will focus on race, institutions of racism, and the histories of race theories. It will address the following questions: what kind of difference does the word race connote, and is this connotation stable or historically changing in relation to racist institutions and practices such as slavery, colonialism, Nazism, caste? Is race a biological concept (about the body) or a social and cultural concept (i.e., a relational concept)? Can racism be combatted by scientific refutation of false notions of race or by some other efforts at the social and cultural level? Why are the contemporary forms of racism a continuation of older forms in many respects, and why are they unaffected by scientific dismissals of the concept of “race”?
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