The empirical focus of this seminar will be the frameworks through which members of various racial groups understand their experiences with racism and discrimination, and how they respond to such experiences. We will also consider the broader context in which groups experience racial equality and inequality. This requires delving into the sociological literatures on stigma, collective identity, group formation, symbolic boundaries, class cultures, and a range of other topics.

The practical focus of the seminar is to teach you how to conduct qualitative research. This involves learning how to formulate a problem and create a research design, how to collect and analyze data, and how to present results.