Readings

In addition to the readings in the table below, the following texts are also useful:

[BL] = Buy at Amazon Blum, Lawrence. "I'm Not a Racist, But…": The Moral Quandary of Race. Cornell University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780801488153. [Preview with Google Books]

[BB] = Buy at Amazon Boxill, Bernard, ed. Race and Racism. Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780198752677.

[M] = Buy at Amazon Mills, Charles W. The Racial Contract. Cornell University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780801484636.

[S] = Buy at Amazon Shelby, Tommie. We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity. Belknap Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780674025714.

[Z] = Buy at Amazon Zack, Naomi. Philosophy of Science and Race. Routledge, 2002. ISBN: 9780415941648.

SES # TOPICS READINGS
1 Introduction No readings assigned
I. What, if anything, is race?
2 A Tiny Slice of the History of the Concept of Race

Buy at Amazon Blumenbach, F. Joahann. "On The Natural Variety of Mankind." In The Idea of Race. Edited by Robert Bernasconi and Tommy Lee Lott. Hackett Publishing Company, 2000. ISBN: 9780872204584. [Preview with Google Books]

Stocking, Jr., George W. "The Turn-of-the-Century Concept of Race." Modernism / Modernity 1, no. 1 (1994): 4–16.

3 "Our" Concept of Race [BL] Chapter 6: "'Race': A Brief History, with Moral Implications."
4

Race Eliminativism

Screening: RACE - The Power of an Illusion, Ep. 1: The Difference Between Us. Directed by Christine Herbes-Sommers. Color, 57 min. 2003.

Bamshad, Michael J., and Steve E. Olsen. “Does Race Exist?" Scientific American, December 2003.
5 Appiah and the Meaning of 'Race' Appiah, Anthony K. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections." (PDF) The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, delivered at University of California at San Diego, October 27 and 28, 1994. PhilPapers.
6 Race and Medicine

Burchard, M. D., Esteban González, et al. "The Importance of Race and Ethnic Background in Biomedical Research and Clinical Practice." New England Journal of Medicine 348, no. 12 (2003): 1170–75.

Root, Michael. "The Use of Race in Medicine as a Proxy for Genetic Differences." Philosophy of Science 70, no. 5 (2003): 1173–83.

Recommended

Root, Michael. "How We Divide The World." Philosophy of Science 67, Supplement. Proceedings of the 1998 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers. (2000): S628–39.

Risch, Neil, Esteban Burchard, et al. "Categorization of Humans in Biomedical Research: Genes, Race and Disease." Genome Biology 3, no. 7 (2002): Comment2007.1 –.12.

7 Race and Ethnicity

Buy at Amazon Kitcher, Philip. "Race, Ethnicity, Biology, Culture." Chapter 4 in Racism: Key Concepts in Critical Theory. Edited by Leonard Harris. Humanity Books, 1999. ISBN: 9781573926393.

Recommended

Andreasen, Robin O. "A New Perspective on the Race Debate." British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 49, no. 2 (1998): 199–225.

Glasgow, Joshua M. "On The New Biology of Race." Journal of Philosophy 100, no. 9 (2003): 456–74.

8 Kinds of Social Construction

Mallon, Ron. "A Field Guide to Social Construction." Philosophy Compass 2, no. 1 (2007): 93–108.

Recommended

Buy at Amazon Haslanger, Sally. "Gender and Social Construction: Who? What? When? Where? How?" In Theorizing Feminisms: A Reader. Edited by Elizabeth Hackett and Sally Haslanger. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780195150094.

9 Intersectionality

Buy at Amazon Crenshaw, Kimberlé. "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color." Chapter 17 in After Identity: A Reader in Law and Culture. Edited by Dan Danielsen and Karen Engle. Routledge, 1995. ISBN: 9780415909976. [Preview with Google Books]

Recommended

Crenshaw, Kimberlé. "Beyond Racism and Misogyny: Black Feminism and 2 Live Crew." Boston Review: A Political and Literary Forum.

10 Race and the Construction of Social Identity Gooding-Williams, Robert. "Race, Multiculturalism and Democracy." Constellations 5, no. 1 (1998): 18–41.
11 Gender and Race Constructions

Haslanger, Sally. "Gender and Race: (What) Are They? (What) Do We Want Them To Be?" Noûs 34, no. 1 (2000): 31–55.

Recommended

Mallon, Ron. "'Race': Normative, Not Metaphysical or Semantic." Ethics 116, no. 3 (2006): 525–51.

12 Racial Identities

Buy at Amazon Hacking, Ian. "Making Up People." In Reconstructing Individualism: Autonomy, Individuality, and the Self in Western Thought. Edited by Thomas C. Heller, Morton Sosna, et al. Stanford University Press, 1986. ISBN: 9780804712910.

Buy at Amazon Haslanger, Sally. "You Mixed? Racial Identity without Racial Biology." Chapter 9 in Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique. Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780199892624. [Preview with Google Books]

13 Latina/o Identity and Race Buy at Amazon Alcoff, Linda Martin. "Is Latina/o Identity a Racial Identity?" Chapter 1 in Hispanics / Latinos in the United States: Ethnicity, Race, and Rights. Edited by Jorge J. E. Gracia and Pablo De Greiff. Routledge, 2000. ISBN: 9780415926201. [Preview with Google Books]
14 Midterm Reflection No readings assigned
15 Panethnicity

Buy at Amazon Espiritu, Yen Le. "Ethnicity and Panethnicity." Chapter 1 in Asian-American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities. Temple University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9781566390965. [Preview with Google Books]

Recommended

Buy at Amazon ———. "Pan-Asian American Ethnicity: Retrospect and Prospect." Chapter 7 in Asian-American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities. Temple University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9781566390965. [Preview with Google Books]

16 Are Arabs a Race?

Buy at Amazon Naber, Nadine. "Introduction: Arab Americans and U.S. Racial Formations." Chapter 1 in Race and Arab Americans Before and After 9/11: From Invisible Citizens to Visible Subjects. Edited by Amaney Jamal and Nadine Naber. Syracuse University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780815631774. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Jamal, Amaney. "Conclusion: Arab American Racialization." Chapter 12 in Race and Arab Americans Before and After 9/11: From Invisible Citizens to Visible Subjects. Edited by Amaney Jamal and Nadine Naber. Syracuse University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780815631774. 

Recommended

Racial Formation of Arab Americans, University of Michigan.

II. Racism
17 Extrinsic, Intrinsic & Cultural Racisms

[BL] Chapter 1: "'Racism': It's Core Meaning."

Buy at Amazon Appiah, Kwame Anthony. "Racisms." Chapter 1 in Anatomy of Racism. Edited by David Theo Goldberg. University of Minnesota Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780816618040.

[BB] Modood, Tariq. Chapter 9 in "'Difference', Cultural Racism and Anti-Racism."

18 Racism in the Heart

[BB] Garcia, J. L. A. "The Heart of Racism." Chapter 10.

Shelby, Tommie. "Is Racism in the 'Heart'?" Journal of Social Philosophy 33, no. 3 (2002): 411–20.

19 Oppression and Institutional Racism

Buy at Amazon Ezorsky, Gertrude. "Overt and Institutional Racism." Chapter 1 in Racism & Justice: The Case for Affirmative Action. Cornell University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780801499227. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon Young, Iris Marion. "Five Faces of Oppression." Chapter 2 in Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton University Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780691152622. [Preview with Google Books]

20 Equality and Social Justice

Anderson, Elizabeth S. "What is the Point of Equality?" Ethics 109, no. 2 (1999): 287–337.

Recommended

Buy at Amazon MacKinnon, Barbara. "Economic Justice." Chapter 13 in Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues. 6th ed. Wadsworth Publishing, 2007. 

21 Equality and Respect

LeBron, Christopher. "Equality from a Human Point of View." Critical Philosophy of Race 2, no. 2 (2014): 125–59.

Recommended

Buy at Amazon Nozick, Robert. "Justice does Not Imply Equality." Chapter 10 in Equality: Selected Readings. Edited by Louis P. Pojman and Robert Westmoreland. Oxford University Press, 1997.

Buy at Amazon Lucas, J. R. "Against Equality." Chapter 11 in Equality: Selected Readings. Edited by Louis P. Pojman and Robert Westmoreland. Oxford University Press, 1997.

Buy at Amazon Benn, Stanley I. "Egalitarianism and the Equal Consideration of Interests." Chapter 12 in Equality: Selected Readings. Edited by Louis P. Pojman and Robert Westmoreland. Oxford University Press, 1997.

22 Inter-culturation, Cultural Appropriation, and Commodity Fetishism

Mercer, Kobena. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."Black Hair / Style Politics." (PDF) New Formations 3 (1987): 33–54.

Recommended

Camp, Elizabeth. "The Socio-Aesthetics of Pink." November 5, 2014. Aesthetics For Birds.

Callan, Eamonn. "The Ethics of Assimilation." Ethics 115, no. 3 (2005): 471–500.

Buy at Amazon Young, James O., and Conrad G. Brunk, eds. The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. ISBN: 9781405161596. [Preview with Google Books]

Coombe, Rosemary. "Sports Trademarks and Somatic Politics: Locating the Law in a Critical Cultural Studies." York University, 1999.

23 Screening: Free Angela and All Political Prisoners. Directed by Shola Lynch. Color, 102 min. 2012.
No readings assigned
24 Racial Profiling Lever, Annabelle. "Why Racial Profiling is Hard to Justify. A Response to Risse and Zeckhauser." Philosophy & Public Affairs 33, no. 1 (2005): 94–110.
25

Prisons

Note: This session was taught by guest lecturer Jerome Hodges

Buy at Amazon Alexander, Michelle. "Introduction." In The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press, 2012. ISBN: 9781595586438.

This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.The Abolitionist Toolkit, Part 2: Information Sheets (PDF). Critical Resistance.

Recommended

Buy at Amazon Davis, Angela Y. Are Prisons Obsolete? Seven Stories Press, 2003. ISBN: 9781583225813.

26 The Case for Reparations

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. "The Case for Reparations." The Atlantic, June 2014.

Rosen, Rebecca J. "Ta-Nehisi Coates on Not Knowing How Much You Don't Know." The Atlantic, June 13, 2014.

Note: The Rosen reading also contained a video of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jeffrey Goldberg discussing Coates' article "The Case for Reparations." The class watched a clip from the video and then had an open discussion based on questions provided in this session's lecture notes.

27 Short Student Presentations

Recommended

Buy at Amazon hooks, bell. "gangsta culture: a piece of the action." Chapter 2 in We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity. Routledge, 2003. ISBN: 9780415969277.

Related Resources

The following site includes sections on race, racism, and related topics:

Elizabeth S. Anderson's Race, Gender, and Affirmative Action: Resource Page for Teaching and Study, University of Michigan.