German Studies 230: Conceiving and Re-conceiving Race

This course adopts a genealogical approach to the project of conceiving and re-conceiving race, focusing on the history of German thought and a range of contemporary responses to it. The course is divided into four units: an overview of the Enlightenment invention of the concept of race and racial classification (Kant, Blumenbach, Herder and others); a specific examination of current debates surrounding Kant's status in the canon; and an exploration of the Nazi invention of scientific racism and its debt to the US eugenics movement. The final unit considers current discussions about race in Germany, including the Black Lives Matter movement and the rise of anti-Semitism. The course is particularly concerned to show the historical construction of the European, or "Aryan," in its positioning against Blackness and the non-phenotypical categorization of Jews as a "race," and incorporates recent critical work by Black and Jewish authors. Course taught in English. Students electing to take the German Studies section will complete some reading in the original German equivalent or consent of instructor and may complete some writing, and discussion assignments in German. May be taken for credit toward the Indigeneity, Race, and Ethnicity Studies major or minor.