Through literary and interdisciplinary methods, this course examines the nature of race. While current debates about race often assume it to be an exclusively modern problem, this course uses classical, medieval, early modern, and modern materials to investigate the long history of race and the means by which thinkers have categorized groups of people and investigated the differences between them through the ages. The course examines the development of race through discourses of linguistic, physical, geographic, and religious difference - from the Tower of Babel to Aristotle, from the Crusades to nineteenth-century racial taxonomies, from Chaucer to Toni Morrison. Considering the roles physical appearance has played in each of these arenas, we will thoughtfully consider the questions: How do we discern racializing discourses? What historical discourses have led to modern race? How do we best analyze literary and related materials to understand how racial ideology has impacted texts? And to understand how texts have impacted racial ideology? Through these and other inquiries, we will arrive at some answers for the big question, What Is Racial Difference? Fulfills the Diversity of Literatures in English requirement.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 15

Prerequisites: Open to all students who have taken two literature courses in the department, at least one of which must be 200 level, or by permission of the instructor to other qualified students. Not open to students who have taken ENG 291.

Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Not Offered; Spring

Notes: This course is also offered at the 200 level as ENG 291.