An interdisciplinary investigation into the role of race and racism in the formation and operation of the global political economy. Our explorations will place traditional historic examples in counterpoint with contemporary research, using both qualitative and quantitative social-science skills to understand how racism/dispossession has occurred and continues to flourish. International and intercultural context will be emphasized, to see these problems as part of a global challenge. We aim to empower students with tools to identify, challenge and counteract these corrosive social forces in today’s society and in our own lives.

This course focuses on understanding poverty and inequality from a management and economics perspective. We will look at a broad range of factors that contribute to persistent poverty in both emerging and developed markets. Our goal is to understand how poverty and systemic inequality pose challenges for managers and the entrepreneurial innovations that managers have employed to overcome market failures. We will examine managers and entrepreneurs with a range of goals from alleviating poverty to generating profits and how these goals are impacted by the markets they chose to operate in. This course will have a particular focus on Indigenous issues and race, gender, and identity both in developing countries and in the United States. In addition to a number of case studies, we will also read a memoir and a novel by female Native American writers.