AFRC1151 - Race, Space and Place in American History

This course provides with a historical introduction to America's racial and ethnic groupings by examining the social, spatial and historical forces that have defined these groups. Weekly lectures and readings trace American racial formations, identities and experiences from the age of Columbus to the present day. Following the work of historians and geographers who emphasize the importance of space and place in constructions of racial and ethnic identity, most of the class readings chart the evolution of such identities within specific regions or communities. Early readings illuminate the origins of categories such as "white," black, "Native American" and "Asian" by exploring the colonial encounters in which these identities first took shape; while later readings trace how these identities have been maintained and/or changed over time. Less a product of racial attitudes than of economic and political interests, early American conceptions of race first took shape amidst contests over land and labor that pitted European immigrants against the indigenous peoples of North America, and ultimately led to the development of racial slavery. Colonial legal distinctions between Christians and Heathens were supplanted by legislation that defined people by race and ethnicity. Over time these distinctions were reinforced by a variety of other forces. Distinctive from place to place, America's racial and ethnic groupings have been shaped and reshaped by regional economies such as the slave South, political initiatives such as Indian Removal and Chinese Exclusion Acts, a changing national immigration policy, and sexual and social intermixture and assimilation. Course readings will examine the links between race, region, labor, law, immigration, politics, sexuality and the construction and character of racialized spaces and places in America.