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CS92PROD
Law, Race, and Literature: An Introduction to Critical Race Theory
ENGL 291
Spring 2009 not offered
Crosslisting: AMST 291, AFAM 291

Law and literature both inhabit the realm of interpretation, rhetoric, form, ethics, and epistemology; they mediate our relationship to society and shape how we imagine the world and ourselves. This course introduces critical race theory, an emerging movement in critical legal studies led by African American, Latino, and Asian American legal scholars. How does the law inform how we talk about and imagine race? Informed by literary studies, postmodernism, feminism, and continental political philosophy, this eclectic group of scholars and practitioners continues the civil rights tradition by challenging set liberal premises and racial orthodoxies to open up new ways of thinking about race and racism. Through careful close reading and writing assignments, the class will begin to explore a critique of liberalism, the legal construction of whiteness, how racism pervades civil institutions, and the complex, oftentimes incommensurate, intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality. The class will then apply these critical skills in analysis of four literary works and the issues they raise about race, desire, and the law.

Essential Capabilities: Ethical Reasoning, Intercultural Literacy
Explores how law legislates racial identies and relationships.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL
Course Format: Lecture / DiscussionGrading Mode: Student Option
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None

Last Updated on MAR-28-2024
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