Prerequisite: None

Exam Type: No Exam

This course will explore interrelated issues of race, law, and capitalism in the global context. We will explore the origins of common and statutory law through a lens of empire and racial capitalism. The course will focus particularly on how law enabled exploitation and embedded norms of racial hierarchy as well as how various revolutionary movements used law and legal interpretation as a tool of resistance. The course will explore how laws related to markets (i.e. contracts laws, property laws, corporate laws, etc.) created a racial wealth gap in the US and a global trade gap abroad. We will also explore issues related to criminal justice, policing, and race-based political discourse. Students will explore the role of lawyers, courts, international bodies, the military, legislators, police, and other officials in enforcing a racialized economic and social order.

Note: This reading group will meet on the following dates: 9/12, 9/26, 10/10, 10/24, 11/7, 11/21