Identity Politics

Whether one considers the partisan and electoral choices citizens make or the judgements citizens render in response to officer-involved shootings or other salient social and political events, the centrality of identity in our politics is indisputable. But what is an identity? What are the conditions under which identities become politicized? How do identities work to structure attitudes and affect behavior? This course is all about identity and its intersection with politics. Taking an interdisciplinary and cross-subfield approach, this course seeks to bring students into conversation with scholarship that demonstrates the powerful ways that identities influence all aspects of the political. Though much of our time will be spent reading about race and racial identification in the context of American politics, students will be encouraged to think critically and creatively about identity as it relates to their own intellectual interests. In addition to being active and engaged seminar participants, students will be required to submit a final research paper that uses concepts, themes, and ideas from the course to explore a research question of their choosing.