CIS 276 - Racial Justice Seminar

In this class, we explore philosophical and theoretical definitions of racial justice and their implications in three different fields of study and in contemporary American life. To accomplish this task, the course is divided into five sections. In the first section, we look at explorations of racial justice by philosophers and social science theorists. In the course’s signature annual lecture, we will invite a leading scholar to discuss the changing contours of racial justice discourse. In the subsequent three sections of the course, we will examine the implications of what we learned in the first section on research in three different fields. For this iteration of the course, we will examine racial justice in sociology, theology and activism, and computational physics. Our examinations will not just be about scholarship in these fields. They will also be about contemporary racial justice problems studied in each of these disciplines. In the section about sociology, we will study race and migration; in the section about theology and activism, we’ll study racial disparities in housing; and in the section about computational physics, we will study algorithmic bias. In the final section of the class, we reflect on what we learned.

Satisfies Sociology major requirement.
Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.
Satisfies Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.

Prerequisites & Notes
This course is part of a series of initiatives by The Vann Fund. The course is restricted to second-year students.