HI4322 Race and Ethnicity in American Social Thought since 1940

Module Organiser: Prof. Daniel Geary
Duration: Michaelmas term
Contact hours: 2 hours per week
Weighting: 10 ECTS
Assessment: 20% essay, 80% examination

This module surveys the development of American ideas about race and ethnicity from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day. This is a module in intellectual history and it will appeal to students who are interested in the methods of this historical approach. Ideas considered will, however, be related to their broader political and social context (in this case, particularly as they pertain to the history of American racism, the struggle for African American equality and the history of American immigration). Topics considered will include: scientific racism; the ‘melting pot’ ideal; cultural pluralism; African American civil rights; Black Power; and multiculturalism. While some secondary texts will be discussed, the primary readings will be works by American intellectuals who shaped debate on these issues. Figures studied include W.E.B. Du Bois, Randolph Bourne, Margaret Mead, Gunnar Myrdal, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Ralph Ellison and Richard Rodriguez.

Leaning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

• Analyse the principal themes, contours, and contexts of the major ideas about race and ethnicity that circulated among American intellectuals from 1880 to the present
• Identify and locate relevant secondary literature
• Engage with relevant theoretical and critical approaches to the history of race and ethnicity in modern America
• Apply different techniques of evaluation and interpretation to relevant primary sources
• Critique relevant historiography in the light of study of primary sources
• Present and discuss analysis of questions relating to the history of race and ethnicity in the United States since 1880
• Analyse the impact of different aspects of American politics, society and culture on attitudes towards race and ethnicity.