ASRC 1833

FWS: The Global Color Line: Culture, Politics, Resistance

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2026-2027 Catalog.

W.E.B Du Bois famously warned that “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” In this class we ask what it means to think about the color line, that is, the problem of race and racial domination. Moving across disciplines, geographies, and national boundaries we explore how race and racism shape modern life. We will study how race and racism function and how they relate to politics, culture, and resistance. Students will read a range of influential thinkers — W.E.B Du Bois, Frantz Fanon, Angela Davis, Stuart Hall, Saidiya Hartmann, and Denise Ferreira da Silva — whose work engages race and racial domination from various vantage points. By engaging these thinkers, we explore the global color line as something that is produced, lived, and contested. This Freshman Writing Seminar (FWS) is designed to sharpen students’ ability to critically think and reason. By the conclusion of this seminar, students should be confident to develop and express their ideas in a clear and persuasive manner.

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