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The UK has seen a recent, significant, rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric in the news, from political parties across the spectrum, on social media, and in person, alongside a rise in nationalist slogans across the globe, and increasing concerns of 'far right' agendas and politics taking hold in the UK.
What underlies these changes? What factors are driving them? Is this new? Or is this in reality nothing new? Is it a new phase, or just a continuation of racial inequality that has existed in the UK for hundreds of years?
This short six week course will engage directly with the current arguments, language and rhetoric in the UK today ; breaking down, analysing and critiquing the contemporary, and through discussion, lecture, and small group work, bringing clarity to the present by drawing on key intellectual thinkers and developments in sociology as well as linking the history of race to the question “was ever really about the boats?”
By the conclusion of this taster course, we will have a much better grasp on some of the complexities of the current political climate, and be able to give an answer to whether it is ever really about the boats...
No previous knowledge is needed, but some basic knowledgeof the wider discipline of sociology would be helpful.
This course is for anyone interested:
· Gaining a deeper understanding of race and racism, and its relationship to far right ideologes
· Challenging practices of racism
· questioning their own presumptions on what denotes racism
This course covers a range of topics pertinent to understanding the history and social trajectory of race and racism, as well as considering on a number of theoretical approaches to the concept
Drawing on the works of key racial scholars we consider, discuss, explore and critique what they can tell us about contemporary examples and situations of race, racism and the return of far-right ideology and politics in the second decade of the 21st Century
Week 1: Introduction: Edward Said's Orientalism, and the History of Race
Week 2: W.E.Dubois's Double Consciousness, and Black Lives Matter
Week 3: Franz Fanon, racialisation, and the continuous reconstruction of Race
Week 4: bell hooks' Femininst Theory, from Margin to Centre: Race, gender, and Intersectionality
Week 5: Cedric Robinson's Racial Capitalism: Race, the State, and Capitalism
Week 6: Robin Diangelo, Whiteness, and the 'nice racist'
Learning and teaching methods include tutor presentations, discussions, small and large group activities, watching documentaries, film, and ongoing critical reflection on past and present experiences of, and prior aweness of, racism, and the processes of racialisation.
There is no formal assessment. Although informal essays may be written, and feedback received, should the student wish.
Your progress will primarily be monitored and supported through observation and discussion.
No materials needed.
Texts, videos, and questions to engage with will be provided prior to each seminar, as further recommended viewings and readings should they be desired.
Additional resources, sources, and links will also be made available to those who wish to explore topics further.
Self-directed study: detailed further / secondary reading lists and videos are supplied by the tutor for this purpose.
Students might go on to studying more about sociology. Students could go on to study one of the longer courses; on Gender and Society, Contemporary Inequalities, or a politics module.
See how long it will take you to get to college. Please select the campus of the course you wish to study.