IR5417 Political Theory of Race and Caste

Academic year

2025 to 2026 Semester 2

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 11

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Planned timetable

Tues 10am - 12noon

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr R Rao

Dr R Rao
This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr R Rao

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This module gives students an opportunity to study forms of social hierarchy and injustice based on race, caste and descent. We will read key texts in political theory that grapple with conditions of racial and caste subordination and that articulate strategies for emancipation from them. The module will enable students to familiarise themselves with the preoccupations, conceptual underpinnings and forms of political thinking that are central to the Black radical tradition (including recent manifestations of it, such as Black Lives Matter) as well as anticaste struggles waged by the Dalit movement in South Asia. Rather than examining these movements and categories in analogical juxtaposition, the focus will be on trying to investigate and understand their genealogical entanglements. The module draws primarily on work in political theory, international relations and history as well as cognate fields such as anthropology and literary studies

Assessment pattern

Coursework = 100%

Re-assessment

Examination = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

Weekly 2-hour seminar x 11 weeks

Intended learning outcomes

  • By the end of this module, students should be able to articulate how racial and caste subordination are distinct from, but also intersect with, other forms of hierarchy based on class, gender, nationality, etc
  • By the end of this module, students should be able to understand the genealogies of 'race' and 'caste' as categories of social hierarchy as well as how these genealogies have come to be entangled with one another
  • By the end of this module, students should be able to read key texts in political theory with a view to identifying both their analytical insights into how racial and caste subordination are constructed and their normative claims about how they might be overthrown
  • By the end of this module, students should be able to appreciate what theoretical issues are at stake in particular instances of social movement mobilisation against racial and caste supremacism
  • By the end of this module, students should be able to apply the insights they have gained in this module to the range of academic, intellectual and professional pursuits that they will follow upon completion of their programme of study