Race, Racial Conditioning and the Oneness of Humankind

In this FIG, students will examine the concept of “race” and how society has come to have racial divisions. Students will explore the historical, biological, psychological, and cultural issues that have contributed to our ideas about race. The “synthesizing course” in this FIG, Inter L&S 118, “The Oneness of Humankind,” will focus especially on processes of racial conditioning as they play out in education, the media, and in campus relations. Through readings, writings, videos, discussions, and presentations by guest speakers, students will gain more comfort and sophistication in dealing with diversity. In Consumer Science 360, “Sustainable and Socially Just Consumption,” students will explore the effects of a “consumer economy” on societies around the world. In Literature in Translation 277, “Minority Literature in Germany,” students will read literary works in translation and examine how issues of race and ethnicity have been handled by German writers.