Ethnic Studies

This course explores concepts of race and ethnicity. Theories and models of inter-group relations provide the tools for understanding and analyzing race/ethnic relations and ethnicity in selected societies. This course refers to Malaysia/Singapore, Southeast Asian, and other societies where relevant. The topics explored also include race/ethnicity and the nation-state; ethnicity and citizenship/multiculturalism; ethnic identity; gender and ethnicity; race/ethnicity and its representations; race/ethnicity and crime. 

This course enables students to understand the ways in which race has been used as a mode of resistance to various inequalities generated by capitalism. The course teaches students about how capitalism has to be seen through the prism of racial capitalism and draws attention to how anti-racist forms of resistance have targeted the historical entanglement of race and class.

This course studies the main cultural practices in the Caribbean and relates them to the study of culture in general and the Caribbean in particular. Students analyze the impact of race, class, and gender experiences in Caribbean cultural practices, and interpret cultural expression in its broadest political sense. By the end of the course, students are able to show familiarity with the leading intellectual interpretations of Caribbean culture.

Laws have deeply affected the lives of minority groups in the U.S., and have been a source of both empowerment and deprivation. This course examines some of the U.S. laws and legal issues surrounding minorities, with attention to historical, political and social contexts, focusing on African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, women, and LGBTQis.

This course considers the role of ethnicity as a social and political cleavage. It examines the impact of immigration and ethnic diversity on party politics and political behaviour, using the experiences of countries in Europe and North America. Immigration and ethnicity are one of the major long-term social issues of today, and studying the effects of these phenomena on politics allows students to gain a deeper understanding of long-term political change - as well as current affairs. The approach taken is to consider both the political engagement and representation of immigrants and ethnic minority citizens, and the broader consequences and development of ethnicity and immigration as political issues in their own right. This includes a consideration of racism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and Brexit. This course has an empirical emphasis, teaching students to evaluate empirical (including quantitative) research.