Critical Perspectives on Race and Law

Course Description

This mini course is inspired by LAWS 3310A, a university-level course designed for 3rd and 4th year students. While the original syllabus I created for the university-level course engages with complex and nuanced theories, my goal here is to adapt these ideas in a way that is age-appropriate and accessible for young learners. The general themes – such as social protests, media, policing, and identity – are topics many students may have already encountered in their daily lives. However, the deeper purpose of this course is to help them unpack these experiences using approachable theories and ideological concepts. Through class activities, discussions, and short readings, students will be encouraged to think critically about their own experiences with race and law and begin developing the vocabulary needed to describe and make sense of their lived realities. This course will cover potentially sensitive topics pertaining to race and issues of race and marginalization. Students are required to attend every lecture as part of the class expectations.

Course Breakdown:
Day One: What is Race? Where did these Ideas Come From?
(Explores the following questions: how is race defined? How are experiences of racialization understood? What theoretical tools and frameworks can be used to understand the relationship between race and law?)

Day Two: Media and Stereotypes: Who Controls the Story?
(Explores the following questions: how do external media sources legitimize racial narratives? What is the relationship between race, media narratives, and crime discourses? What are the potential consequences of such media representations?)

Day Three: Race and Mental Health
(Explores the following questions: what is madness and how does it intersect with race? How are conceptions of mental health and race legitimized through intersecting fields like medicine and law?)

Day Four: Policing, Justice, and Real-World Impacts
(Explores the following questions: how has racial violence historically been perpetuated and normalized within policing structures, policies, and culture? What does state care look like for diverse communities?)

Day Five: Social Movements + Communities of Care: How Change Happens
(Explores the following questions: how do we define ‘resistance’ in contemporary contexts? What can it look like moving forward? How do communities foster mutual care as a tool for resistance? How do these communities develop strategies for problem-solving and conflict resolution outside of formal legal structures? What is the significance of cultivating communities of care within marginalized spaces?)