The Heller School for Social Policy and Management s4

The Heller School for Social Policy and Management Brandeis University

515A Race, Ethnicity and Gender in Health and Human Services: Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and Applications

Syllabus for Fall 2017 Weds 5:20pm-830pm Spring 2017: (4 credits)

Course purpose:

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has produced powerful, empirically verifiable applications to reveal and address inequality, injustice, inequity, bias, ideology, hegemony and asymmetric structures of power within formalized academic research environments that inform mainstream social, public, and health policy. These structures of power and privilege crystallized across a broad spectrum within the social sciences, legal scholarship, and educational and pedagogical theories in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries up to the present.

Our goal is to examine those interdisciplinary domains and how that impacts the construction and formalization of interdisciplinary theories and methods germane to various concentrations in contemporary academic and scholarly social, public, and health policy. In other words, what began in professional graduate settings, such as law schools, and educational graduate studies in the 1980s as powerful tool of analysis -- namely CRT – by faculty and scholars of color has now reached into the depths of the humanities and social sciences too; the latter of which underpins the history and contemporary landscape of academic scholarship and graduate study in social, public, and health policy.

Organization of the Course:

Initially, we will examine the roots, assumptions, and epistemologies, or conditions by which research topics and goals are established and how knowledge of policy area concentrations are formalized, and the historical patterns that led to the contemporary landscape of social, public, and health policy. We will then address how various modalities of social exclusion and inclusion occur in the justification of certain forms of knowledge that inform legal, social, public, and health policy. Lastly, we will look at new ways to organize research and execute participatory

1 methods to achieve greater inclusion, equity, and justice for marginalized and minority racial, ethnic, gender, disability, indigenous, and intersectional Queer individuals and groups.

True to the core mission of the Heller School, students completing this course will be able to contextualize the historical and current-state application of racially-ethnically-gendered- disability-Queer/sexuality-indigenous relevant theoretical frameworks which come to bear in modern policy decision-making, including but not limited to social and cultural determinants of economic, health, education, and sociopolitical welfare. The purpose of this doctoral elective course is to complete an in-depth study of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and intersectionality with a focus on incorporating this theory within impactful social policy research.

Part I -- which is nearly 3/4ths of the number of weeks in the course -- will focus on precursors of CRT and critical theory (within and across disciplines) in general. We will analyze the major thinkers of this academic movement, who were mostly faculty and scholars of color initially. We will examine how their works have been applied within various disciplines, and examine criticisms and resistances to this theory by mainstream scholarship and its enduring roots in positivism, objectivity in the social sciences, mainstream liberalism and utilitarianism. To reiterate, many CRT pioneers are people of color working within predominantly white (but also heterogeneous) majorities who shape the discourse and pedagogy of particular fields and disciplines. CRT draws attention to the inherent power-dynamics when majorities, inclusive of their own internal political diversity, shape the discourse, research horizon, and methods of the social sciences, particularly when the topic of focus is that of minority experiences of injustice, oppression, inequality, sustainability/resistance, and vulnerability. Attention will be paid to the ways in which CRT can explain normative, mainstream, acceptable legal, political, socio-cultural and economic phenomena that informs standard social policy. CRT deconstructs ways in which these phenomena illustrate how intersecting disparities become normalized by constructs of power inequalities and hegemony within academic systems of knowledge, mainstream social, cultural and political institutions, and wider national and cultural contexts, even though those, like the U.S., that claim to be pluralistic and multicultural.

Part II of the course will build off this substantive analysis and attempt to find new connections to social policy theories and frameworks, particularly when it comes to methodological assumptions to engage in research with various intersectional marginalized and minority individuals, groups, and communities. Through this second phase of the course, we will begin to build social policy frameworks for CRT as we prepare for your individual final research papers.

*Although not required, students have an option to block twenty minutes for an informal presentation and Q&A/class discussion about their research and to receive feedback from colleagues before submitting their final papers at the end of the semester.

2 Our Learning Objectives and Broaching of Questions:

● Understand the history of CRT: explore the intellectual history of concepts and ideas that led to the birth of CRT in the late 70s and early 80s ● Examine the contemporary landscape of CRT today in its multifaceted, multidimensional, and intersectional scope ● How does CRT research relate to the politics of radical critique and reformulation of epistemologies and disciplines in relation to racial, ethnic, gender, disability, indigenous, queer/intersectionality in the academy and society in general? ● How does scholarly CRT relate to activism and social movements inside and outside the academy? ● How do we uncover new ways to deconstruct power and privilege across all the ‘variables’ of race, ethnicity, gender, Queer/sexuality, disability, intersectionality, indigenous? ● Is there a place for the identity politics (individual and inter- and intra-group) and the fight for social justice, equity, and inclusion in academic research and educational settings that aim to shape policymakers and practitioners in the realm of social, public, and health policy? ● Study how other scholars centralized CRT in applied research and methodological design within various disciplines ● Culminate learnings and application in a final paper, perhaps for a conference presentation or publication in an academic journal

Grading:

20% - Attendance, Reading & Participation It is entirely plausible that you will not be able to do all the readings for each week given your course load for the semester. I will help you prioritize the readings and even sections within readings for each week so you are not overwhelmed. You have total autonomy and freedom to read and come prepared to read any of the readings beyond my own recommendations; I am just saying don’t feel compelled because the volume is quite intense. However, each class meeting is predicated that you will have done some of the readings and grapple with major technical terms/definitions, concepts, theoretical frameworks, methodological applications, and consequences for future social, health, and public policy research.

80% - Final Paper Options (15-20 pages minimum, including footnotes, endnotes and references) - Date of Submission TBD. The last class meeting is Dec. 6th, and so slightly thereafter. 1. For 2nd year doctoral students, write the theory and methodology section of your research proposal using a CRT framework. This final paper option can inform a student’s research design section of their dissertation proposal. Students will infuse CRT and methodological frameworks that cultivate a CRT analysis within their dissertation research topic and question.

3 2. For 1st and 2nd year doctoral students, author a theoretical paper that summarizes the application of CRT with Social Policy Research whether that relates to a future comprehensive exam or dissertation proposal topic or not. 3. For Masters students, outline your CRT research interests within your chosen discipline. Students will describe their research topic interests and its intersection with CRT for final capstone projects for example. Or write a theoretical review of CRT concepts, methods as it applies to your area of interest in current future policy or practice.

4 Part I: History & Concepts of CRT In this section of the course we will begin with the precursors to CRT, twentieth century critical theory and poststructuralist thought, origins of feminist and black feminist thought, critical legal studies, and the official separation from mainstream, predominantly white critical legal studies, which informed the first decades of the CRT theoretical framework. We will explore various concepts within CRT starting with its roots in the African-American experience and pioneered by African-American legal scholars, intersectionality, LatCrit, FemCrit, disability, various ethnic groups developing CRT in the recent past, such as Asian American studies, indigenous studies, and LGBTQ critical theory. We will also explore critiques of CRT before we move to Part II of the course that looks at applications of CRT and extensions in new directions.

Introductory Resources- CRT

(URL links and PDFs are available on Latte for all readings listed on the syllabus. Check Latte if you are not able to access PDF readings from this syllabus.)

 Background Reference Works Page  UCLA School of Public Affairs- What is Critical Race Theory URL  Purdue- Critical Race Theory (1970s-Present) URL  The Bridge- Harvard: Critical Race Theory URL  Oremus: The Slate- What is Critical Race Theory URL  Oremus: The Slate- What is Critical Race Theory URL  Zuberi, Critical Race Theory of Society File  Delgado and Stefancic, Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge URL  Mari Matsuda, Charles R. Lawrence III, Richard Delgado, and Kimberle Crenshaw, Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendment URL  Wing, Critical Race Feminism URL  Delgado/Stefancic, Critical Race Theory: An Introduction File

Weeks 1 and 2: Crenshaw, Delgado/Stefancic, Lawrence III, and Valdes et al. Introducing CRT: Primary Sources and Founders Crenshaw - Introduction to Critical Race Theory Delgado and Stefancic- Parts 1-2 of Critical Race Theory Delgado and Stefancic - Introduction to Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge Lawrence III, "Foreword" to Crossroads, Directions, and a New Critical Race Theory

5 Valdes, Culp, and Harris, " Introduction: Battles Waged, Won, and Lost: Critical Race Theory at the Turn of the Millennium" to Crossroads, Directions, and a New Critical Race Theory

 Crenshaw File

 Delgado-Stefancic- Parts 1-2, Critical Race Theory File  Delgado and Stefancic- "Introduction" to Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edges URL

 Lawrence III, "Foreword" to Crossroads, Directions, and a New Critical Race Theory File

 Valdes, Culp, and Harris, " Introduction: Battles Waged, Won, and Lost: Critical Race Theory at the Turn of the Millennium" to Crossroads, Directions, and a New Critical Race Theory File Weeks 3 and 4: Bell, Harris, Delgado-Stefancic, Sampath, DiAngelo CRT Concepts of "Interest Convergence," "Whiteness as Property,' and "White Fragility": Bell, "Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest Convergence Dilemma" (pages 20-28) in Crenshaw et al., Critical Race Theory Bell, "Chapter 10: The Parameters of Racial Protest" (pages 595-611) in the Derrick Bell, Race, Racism, and American Law, 6th Edition (2008) Harris, "Whiteness as Property" (pages 276-291) in Crenshaw et al., Critical Race Theory Delgado-Stefancic, Part 3 of Critical Race Theory DiAngelo, "White Fragility"

 Delgado-Stefancic- Part 3 of Critical Race Theory File

 Bell File

 Harris File  Sampath, "Anticipating the 2016 Presidential Election in Light of Major Supreme Court Decisions on Voting Rights in Obama's Second Administration" URL

 Bell, "Parameters of Racial Protest" in Race, Racism, and American Law File

 DiAngelo, "White Fragility" File

Weeks 5 and 6: Collins, Delgado-Stefancic, Bonilla-Silva Intersectionality and Structural Racism: Also see Collins, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment Delgado-Stefancic- Parts 4 and 5 of Critical Race Theory

6 Collins's "Intersectionality's definitional dilemmas" Collin's "Learning from the outsider within" Bonilla-Silva, Racism without Racists Jacqueline Jones, "Back to the Future and the Bell Curve: Jim Crow, Slavery, and G" in Delgado-Stefancic, eds., Critical White Studies

 Delgado-Stefancic- Parts 4 and 5 of Critical Race Theory File  Collins's "Intersectionality's definitional dilemmas" URL  Collins's "Learning from the outsider within" URL

 Bonilla-Silva, Racism without Racists File

 Jones- Back to the Future with the Bell Curve File

Weeks 7 and 8: Davis, Crenshaw, Mills, and Williams Gender, Race, and Class: Davis, "Women and Capitalism: Dialectics of Oppression and Liberation," in the Angela Davis Reader Davis, "Racism in the Women Suffrage Movement," in Women, Race, and Class Crenshaw, "Race, Reform, and Retrenchment: Transformation and Legitimation in Antidiscrimination Law" in Critical Race Theory Crenshaw, "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics,and Violence Against Women of Color," in Critical Race Theory Williams, "Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. FCC: Regrouping in Singular Times" Mills, The Racial Contract Mills, Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism Mills, Blackness Invisible: Essays on Philosophy and Race National Domestic Workers Alliance, "The Status of Black Women in the U.S."

 Crenshaw chapters File

 Introduction to Angela Davis Reader File

 Extra Davis Readings File

 Davis- "Women and Capitalism: Dialectics of Oppression and Liberation" File  Mills, Blackness Visible: Essays on Philosophy and Race URL

 Davis Racism in the Women Suffrage Movement File  National Domestic Workers Alliance URL

7 Weeks 8 and 9: Butler, Garland-Thomson, Misawa, Howard, Johnson/Henderson, Cohen, Means & Jaegar, and Wing Queer, LGBTQ Intersectionality and Disability Rights: Butler, J. (1993). Critically Queer. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 1(1), 17-32. Garland-Thomson, R. (2002). Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory. NWSA journal, 14(3), 1-32. Misawa, M. (2010). Queer race pedagogy for educators in higher education: Dealing with power dynamics and positionality of LGBTQ students of color. The International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 3(1), 26. http://www.outdoorfoundation.org/pdf/QueerRacePedagogy.pdf Howard, S., Ed. (2014). Critical Articulations of Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Articulations-Gender-Sexual- Orientation/dp/0739199161/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1498045833&sr=8- 8&keywords=critical+race+queer+theory Johnson and Henderson, Eds. (2005). Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology https://www.amazon.com/Black-Queer-Studies-Critical-Anthology/dp/0822336189/ref=sr_1_1? ie=UTF8&qid=1498045833&sr=8-1&keywords=critical+race+queer+theory Cohen, C. J. (1997). Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 3(4), 437-465. http://glq.dukejournals.org/content/3/4/437.full.pdf+html Wing, "Introduction: Global Critical Race Feminism in the Twenty-First Century" in Global Critical Race Feminism: An International Reader Means, D.R., & Jaeger, A.J. (2013). Black in the rainbow: “Queering” the Black gay male student experience at historically Black universities. Journal of African American Males in Education, 4(2), 124-140.https://works.bepress.com/darrismeans/2/

 Judith Butler, "Critically Queer" File

 Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, "Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory" File

Weeks 10 and 11: Bell, Delgado-Stefancic, Subotnik, and Chang Addressing the Critiques of CRT: Bell, "Who's Afraid of Critical Race Theory" in The Derrick Bell Reader Delgado-Stefancic, Critical Race Theory: ● Part 6 - Critiques and Responses to Criticism ● Part 7 - Critical Race Theory Today ● Part 8 - Conclusion

8 Subotnik, D. (1998). What's Wrong with Critical Race Theory?: Reopening the Case for Middle Class Values. Reopening the Case for Middle Class Values, 7. Chang, "Critiquing 'Race' and its Uses: Critical Race Theory's Uncompleted Argument" in Crossroads, Directions, and a New Critical Race Theory

 Bell, "Who's Afraid of Critical Race Theory" File

 Delgado-Stefancic- Parts 6-8, Critical Race Theory File

 Subotnik, What's Wrong with Critical Race Theory? File

 Chang, "Critiquing 'Race' and its Uses: Critical Race Theory's Uncompleted Argument" FileTop of Form Part II: Applications and Extensions of CRT

Weeks 11 and 12: CRT Readings- Applied CRT and Applied Research Methods: Tukufu Zuberi and Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, eds., “Introduction” to White Logic and White Methods: Racism and Methodology Mari Matsuda, Charles Lawrence III, Richard Delgado, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw, “Introduction” to Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendement Ian Haney Lopez, “Introduction” to White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race, 10th Anniversary Edition Sean Elias and Joe R. Feagin, Racial Theories in Social Science: A Systemic Racism Critique https://www.amazon.com/Racial-Theories-Social-Science- Viewpoints/dp/1138645222/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498046155&sr=8- 1&keywords=critique+of+critical+race+theory Justice Thomas's Dissent in Virginia v. Black Justice Sotomayor's Dissent in Schuette v. Bamn Justice Ginsburg's Dissent in Shelby v. Holder

Weeks 13 and 14: CRT Readings- Applied CRT and Applied Research Methods cont'd White Logic, White Methods cont'd Words that Wound cont'd White by Law cont'd Racial Theories in Social Science: A Systemic Racism Critique cont'd Justice Thomas's Dissent in Fisher v. University of Texas

9 Justice Ginsburg's Dissent in Gratz v. Bollinger Justice Thomas's Concurrence and Dissent in Grutter v. Bollinger Justice Thomas's Dissent in Texas vs. Inclusive Communities Project Chief Justice Roberts's Dissent (with Justices Thomas and Scalia joining) in Obergefell v. Hodges

 Justice Thomas's Dissent in Fisher v. University of Texas File

 Justice Ginsburg's Dissent in Gratz v. Bollinger File

 Justice Thomas's Concurrence and Dissent in Grutter v. Bollinger File

 Justice Thomas's Dissent in Texas v. Inclusive Communities Project File

 Chief Justice Roberts's Dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges