Political Science 703S:
Racial and Ethnic Minorities in American Politics 

Course Description 

This course in a graduate-level introduction to Race and Ethnicity Politics (REP) in the United States. The course will explore and analyze how the historical development and the structures of the American political system and its present operation seriously disadvantage blacks, Latinos, Asian Americans and American Indians as they attempt to gain the full benefits of American society.  We will examine and evaluate existing theoretical frameworks used by race and ethnic politics (REP) scholars and others to explain political and social phenomena, and also seek to lay the foundation for the development of new theories and analytical frameworks. At Duke we ground and connect the study of REP to the wider context of American politics. We study our subjects from a broad interdisciplinary social science perspective. This means that we utilize theories, questions, findings, and methods from the other social sciences in our search for explanations and understandings.  

 Some of the recurring questions that we will engage throughout out the semester are: What role has race played in American political development? Can previously disenfranchised groups or members of those groups be integrated and incorporated into the political and social system as equal participants, with equal opportunities to influence decision-making? Can small minorities operate in a majoritarian political system effectively? What institutions and processes shape, maintain, constrain, or destroy racial hierarchy? Why do some observers see increasing equality among groups while others see persistent stratification and disparities? How might changing racial and ethnic demographics affect politics and public policy? 

This course is one of the required core seminars for the Race and Ethnic Politics field in the Department of Political Science. As such, the course is designed to assist in preparing students for the field comprehensive exam, and to get students thinking about their own independent research agendas.