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| Unit name |
Ethnicity and Racism |
| Unit code |
SOCI30055 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
H/6
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
| Unit director |
Professor. Therese O'Toole |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Description including Unit Aims
The unit provides a theoretical understanding of ethnicity in the modern world. Students are encouraged to think about ethnicity not in a narrow sense of 'minority groups' but in the much wider sense of the social and cultural mobilisation of ancestry, communal identities and culture. The unit examines a number of concepts to which ethnicity is related - race, nation, multiculture, caste and diaspora - and the contexts in which ethnic identities are mobilised, those of class, state, postcolonial societies and migration.
The aims of this unit are to:
- highlight the distinctive contribution of sociological concepts and methods to the analysis of ethnicity, race and racism
- communicate the contested nature of concepts of ‘ethnicity’ and ‘race’
- consider the development of the sociological study of ethnicity, race and racism and reflect on the emergence of areas of study within the discipline
- locate ethnicity, race and racism within broader contexts of the nation-state, globalisation and the governance of ethnic and cultural diversity
Intended Learning Outcomes
At Level 6 (third year), on successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
- demonstrate an understanding of the contested nature of ethnicity and race
- critically engage with the different sociological approaches to analysing ethnicity, race and racism
- evaluate the ways in which the sociological study of ethnicity, race and racism has developed
- making detailed and appropriate use of empirical studies, show an ability to apply sociological concepts and theory in a specific area such as the relationship between ethnicity, race and national identity, the relationship between race, ethnicity and gender, the impact of globalisation on ethnic identities, or the implications of a politics of recognition for governing ethnically diverse societies.
Teaching Information
Option 1 – A 1hr lecture and 2 hour seminar
Option 2 – A 3 hr seminar
Assessment Information
Formative: 2000 word essay or equivalent
Summative: 3000 word essay or equivalent
Reading and References
- Les Back and John Solomos (eds.) (2009) Theories of Race and Racism: A Reader (London: Routledge)
- Martin Bulmer and John Solomos (eds.) (1999) Racism (Delhi: OUP)
- Floya Anthias and Nira Yuval-Davies (1992) Racialized Boundaries (London: Routledge)
- Montserrat Guibernau and John Rex, (eds.) (1997) The Ethnicity Reader: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Migration, (Cambridge: Polity Press)
- Steve Fenton (2003) Ethnicity (Cambridge: Polity Press)
- Peter Ratcliffe (2004) ‘Race’, Ethnicity and Difference (Maidenhead: Open University Press)
