Comparative Study of Race

The Comparative Study of Race graduate research cluster connects students across the fields of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, Ethnic Studies, Queer Studies, African American Studies, American Indian Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicanx/Latinx Studies, and others to advance the critical and comparative study of race at the UW and other institutions.

Understanding race as a shifting and contradictory historical formation, we recognize the need to develop comparative frameworks for the study of race across disciplines, institutions, and national boundaries. We explore key sites of contestation over the meaning and significance of racial differences in comparative contexts. We are particularly interested in investigating how neoliberal discourses on race structure the university and the production of knowledge about race.

As a group of scholar-activists, we are also committed to working in collaboration with on-campus groups, activists, and community partners to examine and address how racism operates within our institutions and communities. In doing so, we aim to theorize the role of “the scholar” in both perpetuating and disrupting racial inequity. We believe this type of interdisciplinary and collaborative scholarship creates pathways for meaningful action as we consider the relationship between critical race scholarship and work to address racial inequity in diverse public settings.