Racialized Identity & Embodiment in the Caribbean

Catalog description

Looks do matter, notably when it comes to how one is perceived and treated in society. In this course we will investigate how various groups within the Caribbean region experience racialization and the methods they utilize to perform their various identities. In the first part of the class, we will address how race and color function in the Caribbean. How does an individual's appearance and how they are subsequently racialized affect their position and experiences in society? This will include an in-depth examination of racism and colorism: how they operate and how they differ. The second part of the class will be dedicated to ethnographic research that addresses how people in the Caribbean work to modify how they are racialized or perceived in their societies, often for a particular benefit or need. From skin bleaching in Jamaica, to hair straightening in the Dominican Republic, to codeswitching in Aruba, we will examine various examples of how different individuals in the Caribbean transform themselves to perform calculated (though sometimes simultaneously authentic) identities.