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The Alchemy of Race and Racism (Spring) (L3125B)

15 credits, Level 5

Spring teaching

This module explores how race and racism can be grasped, traced and resisted across geographical, temporal locations and social positionalities. We begin by reflecting on key concepts such as race, racialisation and racism. We examine what they (have the potential to) do in practice and which definitions are more and which are less helpful.

The first half of the module traces the political economy of the making of ideas of race and their structural embedding within different geographical contexts – including within the Americas and Europe. This involves the emergence of multiple registers of ‘otherness’ and the thickening of ideas of ‘Whiteness’ and ‘Europeanness’.

The second half of the module then examines how racism persists and operates today – via case studies of ‘doing race’ through genetics and ancestry testing, and the criminalisation of bodies and their movement.

Finally, we discuss how racism can be resisted – via everyday intimacies and social struggles, but also paradigms of redress, such as reparations and abolitionism.

Topics include:

• thinking racism across positionalities: making race and doing race
• the making of race as a system and systematic racism 
• the making of Whiteness
• the making of racial subjects: the Americas (part 1)
• the making of racial subjects: Europe (part 2)
• doing race through genetics and ancestry testing
• doing race through criminalising bodies 
• intimacies and modes of resistance
• reckoning and reparations
• reflections and exchanges.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2025/26. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.