Ethnic Studies

The twelfth century was a period of rapid change in Ireland as the English conquest and the resulting foundation of an English colony remade the political, social and economic landscape of the island. This development, and in particular the presence of a significant population of colonists, led to major shifts in the way that the Irish envisioned themselves as a group and the way in which they were described by their English neighbors. This course traces the ways in which the ethnic identities of Irishness and of Englishness (to which it was so often opposed in contemporary sources) evolved through the high and later middle ages. Students analyze primary sources from the period to reflect on questions of identity, the terminology of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’, and what it meant to be ‘Irish’ in the middle ages.

This course focuses on race, discrimination, and racial inequalities. The course addresses three key questions: what is race as perceived in the U.S. and Europe, and what are the sources of racial inequalities; what does social science research tell us about patterns and trends of racial inequalities; and what policies can alleviate racial inequalities? The course systematically adopts comparative perspectives focusing on the North American and European contexts. It also addresses research on race and racial inequality within an interdisciplinary lens particularly building on sociology, economics, and social psychology.

This course examines the historical and contemporary social determinants of Indigenous wellbeing. Through an exploration of holistic Indigenous health and wellbeing frameworks, students identify a range of successful strategies that facilitate self-determination and transform Indigenous health and wellbeing outcomes. 

This course examines the ways in which Pacific peoples frame their contemporary world in the context of globalization. It also examines factors which shape contemporary Pacific life and popular culture as well as some of the challenges emanating from how Pacific peoples construct and make sense of their own and others’ historical, political, socio-cultural, economic and religious worlds.

Students will consider hegemonic understandings of the body as essentially linked to histories of colonialism and power. They will investigate frameworks about the body proposed by minoritized groups, developed out of collective struggle and political movements, found in feminism and critical indigenous studies. Students will recognize the essential differences between these frameworks as well as how they intermingle and intersect.

How do social divisions and differences shape our identities, actions, and life-chances? This course provides an introduction to key debates in contemporary sociology, examining the forces that drive social stratification and the construction of social identity. In this course, students gain a critical understanding of current research and analysis in the study of social inequalities around class, race, and gender, exploring how sociology helps us to address topical real-world issues. The course centers on the ways in which power relations, patterns of social stratification and inequality, and diverse identities are shaped in contemporary societies – focusing on structural divisions, social movements, and everyday experiences and identities in different international contexts.

This course examines Australia’s rich and complex Aboriginal linguistic heritage in contemporary and traditional contexts. It covers language and the land, kinship and social organization, narrative and conversation, language acquisition, language contact, language and education, language maintenance and revival. There will be a focus on how new ways of speaking are created, how languages are lost, and the ways in which Aboriginal speakers are teaching and reviving their traditional languages today. 

This course focuses on how race and ethnicity have been conceptualized over time, putting them into historical and contemporary context. It explores how race and ethnicity intersect with other social structures such as gender, class, and religion that affect advantages and disadvantages, inclusions and exclusions, and the ways individuals and groups challenge racialized and ethnicized inequalities. 

This course aims for students to understand the articulation between capitalism, colonialism and patriarchy based on the processes of women's struggles and resistance against racism in Chile. This approach implies challenging the European thinking on the categories of work and woman with the goal of decentering the Western idea of "humanity". The previous task requires having an epistemological vigilance at the time of researching women, particularly those belonging to stigmatized groups, such as sexual diversity, migrants, and the Mapuche people.