Race, Language, & Identity

a Discovery Core Experience

This course may be taken as a BCORE 107 (Social Sciences) or as a BCORE 104 (Arts & Humanities) course. This course is linked with a BWRIT course (meaning you’d register for both, 10 credits total)

About This Course

How does language frame our perception of race and identity? In addition to introducing students to college resources, this course will explore interdisciplinary perspectives on the ways language shapes our understanding of race and identity. More specifically, we will consider how language contributes to the biological illusion of racial categories and the socio-political reality of racial injury, and explore the ever-evolving relationships between language, social justice, and race.

What Will We Study?

The majority of our course texts come from scholars, writers, filmmakers and performers who focus on diverse racial and linguistic experiences in the United States. We’ll dive into a mix of research articles, memoirs, poetry/spoken word, and creative nonfiction, as well as blogs and spoken word performances addressing the racialized politics of language in US-based communities. 

We will practice writing multiple genres, including formal emails, summary-response papers, literacy narratives, and open letters, but coursework will also include active participation in collaborative annotations, small, in-person group work, and informal reading responses. You should also expect lots of writing and multiple revisions, peer feedback, and small-group or individual conferencing. 

Why Take this Course?

The hope is that over the course of the quarter you’ll not only become more familiar with the resources UWB has to offer, but also expand your writing toolkit to navigate and articulate the relationship(s) of language, race, and identity.

Dr. Mira Shimabukuro (she/her/hers)

School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

About Professor Shimabukuro

B.A., Liberal Studies, Evergreen State College
MFA, Creative Writing, UW Seattle
Ph.D., Composition and Rhetoric, University of Wisconsin Madison

Contact

Office: UW1-337
Phone: 425-352-5067
Email: mshima2@uw.edu
Mailing Box: 358530, 18115 Campus Way NE, Bothell, WA 98011