Race & Ethnicity in America
setas available!

Professor Mara Loveman

This FIG will explore issues of race and ethnicity in the United States and Latin America in comparative perspective. Sociology 134, “Problems of American Ethnic and Racial Minorities,” will introduce students to the meaning and consequences of race and ethnicity in contemporary U.S. society. History 242, “Latin American History,” will provide the historical and cultural background necessary for understanding the complexities of race and ethnicity in Latin American countries and cultures. The main “synthesizing” course of this FIG, Inter L&S 106, “Race and Ethnicity in the Americas,” will examine racial and ethnic dynamics of contemporary Latin America against the backdrop of U.S. experience. Together, this cluster of courses will offer students the opportunity to explore how the historical development and contemporary circumstances of societies throughout the Americas are connected to the concepts of “race” and “ethnicity.” More generally, this FIG introduces students to the benefits of adopting a comparative perspective to improve understanding of any social issue or problem