MRPI: New Racial Studies in the Age of Obama
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: PI/Director: Howard Winant, Prof. of Sociology UCSB Host Campus: UCSB -- The UCSB Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research (ISBER), the umbrella social sciences ORU, will house and provide space for the MRPI; hosting will shift among other participating campuses at 2-3 year intervals. Other Campuses: UCLA (College of Law - Critical Race Studies Program - Law Prof. Devon Carbado; UC Berkeley (Institute for the Study of Social Change Director and Ethnic Studies Prof. Michael Omi); UC Irvine (Department of Criminology, Law and Society - Prof. Geoff Ward), UC Davis (Comparative Racial/Ethnic Studies Graduate Working Group - Ethnic Studies Prof. Sunaina Maira), and UC Riverside (Anthropology Prof. and Assoc. Vice Chancellor for Excellence and Diversity - Yolanda T. Moses) Proposed Scope of Research and Activities: What is the significance of race in the post-civil rights era, post-colonial era, the era of Obama? Enormous transformations are occurring in racial dynamics: not only in the momentous 2008 election, but also in the transition to a US national demographic of a "majority-minority" society. That pattern was established in California in the year 2000, and now exists in numerous other states, and many of the nation's major cities, as well. As usual California leads the nation, but according to current projections the entire US will become "majority-minority" around the year 2042. What are the implications of these transformations for social policy, political processes, and cultural life? How will such transitions affect patterns of social organization and control, legal regulation, employment and residence, culture, and overall socio-economic status? What effects will this "identity shift" in the US have upon the country's foreign relations and its international role? A great transformation is underway in the meaning and social structure of race, and UC is uniquely situated to play a positive role in it. The MRPI proposed here will be an active network that links race-oriented UC scholars through five Research Working Groups based at appropriate UC campuses: 1. Race-Making, Race-Neutrality, and Race-Consciousness 2. The Nation and its Peoples: Citizens, Denizens, Migrants 3. Race/Gender/Class "Intersectionality" 4. The Racial State: Democratic and Despotic Dimensions 5. Global Raciality: Empire, Post-Coloniality, and Identity on the World Stage Funding will support the RWGs through three mechanisms: 1. Faculty Research Seed-Grants (with a preference for collaborative initiatives) 2. Pre- and Post-Doctoral Research Grants 3. Working Group Meetings, Support for UC-wide Symposia, and Networking Research proposals will be selected through a competitive process and reviewed by our Steering Committee. We will seek concurrent extramural funding as well. Through research, publications, networking, and policy-oriented efforts we will transform and deepen understandings of race, both at the academic level and among the general public in California.