Unit information: Ethnicity and Racism in 2011/12

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)