African Americans, Mass Incarceration and Citizenship

Explores in depth the presence of African Americans within the phenomenon of U.S. mass incarceration and its implications for notions of citizenship. Surveys the history of prison build-up resulting from legislation and policy over the past forty years including the governmental discussions of drug policy and welfare reform that disproportionately affected African Americans. Course will explore definitions of citizenship and the means by which African American citizens were and are both included in and excluded from participation in the movement toward mass incarceration as part of their changing position in the U.S. polity.