WMNST 103Racism and Sexism

3 credits · Women's Studies · Penn State

This survey course examines racism and sexism as cultural, political and economic processes that shape contemporary social life in the United States. It provides an historical overview of the roots of modern racism and sexism and will explore these structural inequalities continue to matter in a "post-racial" and "post-feminist" era. Students will engage a broad range of texts that discuss these forms of inequality as intersecting, mutually constituted forms of marginalization. Students will develop a deeper understanding of how race, gender, sexuality, and class conditions identity formation; racism as a structural process that shapes and limits the life chances of non-white communities; and the long tradition of resistance that women and communities of color have developed to combat these social inequalities. The course is divided into two sections. The first introduces a range of terms: race, gender, class, sexual politics, intersectionality and neoliberalism. The second half considers various case studies: mass incarceration, toxic waste, (un)natural disasters, reproductive justice, and Islamophobia in the war on terror. Students will leave with both an understanding of key theoretical terms in the study of racism and sexism and be able to apply these concepts to contemporary social issues.