Race, Ethnicity & Community Development

This course will explore the history and politics of community building with an emphasis on the relationship of race, ethnicity, and equity to the goals of citizen engagement and community planning. We will cover community development's historical roots, as well as the contemporary thinking informing its current directions. In this course, students will gain experience evaluating community-based interventions and insight into the processes of working with diverse communities. Together we will examine case studies of community and social change projects organized by communities of color. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the sociopolitical context in which community development operates, explicitly addressing issues of structural racism and privilege.