Racial Formation in Comparative Perspective: South Africa and the United States

Catalog description

How do histories of colonialism and exploitation construct the political meanings attached to race? How do politics, in turn, crystallize racial groupings and divisions? In this course, we will assess the historical dynamics and systems of state power that have created racial categories, identities, and fostered racial tensions in South Africa, a country whose population is predominantly Black but that also includes Africa's largest communities of people of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. We will compare the sociopolitical construction of race in South Africa with that of the U.S., given important parallels between the two countries: both are multi-ethnic democracies that share a history of colonialism, white exploitation of indigenous and Black peoples, high levels of race mixing, and, for decades, institutionalized racial segregation (imposed in South Africa via apartheid, and in the U.S. via state and local Jim Crow laws). Both countries also have large, historically marginalized Black populations who were socially and politically oppressed by Whites, the dominant racial group. However, South Africa is distinct on a key dimension: Blacks are the overwhelming majority racial group, comprising 80% of the national population (whereas in the U.S., Blacks comprise about 13% of the population). We will assess how South Africa's unique history and culture has shaped popular racial ideologies - and, consequently, the nation's political identity.