Taught By:
Laura Barrio-Vilar
Associate Professor of English and Gender Studies Coordinator
English Department
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Read profile here.
Motivation for Teaching Social Action:
Because I specialize in African American literature, gender studies, and postcolonial studies, my courses tend to address literature as a form of social justice. In fact, some of my courses include service-learning. I would like to redesign an existing course with the help of the institute programming.
Course Description:
This course provides an overview of the key concepts and issues in the interdisciplinary study of race and ethnicity. The course serves as an introduction to complex issues such as the social construction of race and ethnicity, the role of media in that construction, the effect of immigration on conversations about race, individual and institutional discrimination, multiple differences and intersecting oppressions. Students will engage with interdisciplinary perspectives from sociology, anthropology, history, and cultural studies to understand how race and ethnicity shape identities, experiences, and power dynamics. This course counts toward the Minor in Race and Ethnicity.
