Module: 3
Sponsoring Program: Graduate Division
Administrator: D'Anne Duncan
STUDY LIST INFORMATION
Course Number: GRAD 219
Course Name: Research on Racism in Science: Race, Non-Consent, and Inequity
Units: 3
Grading Option: S/U
Course Director: D'Anne Duncan
Co-Course Director: Bri Matusovsky
MORE COURSE INFORMATION
Other Faculty: Halle Young
Dates: Monday, May 11 - Friday, May 29, 2026
*(No Class Monday, May 25)
Campus: Zoom
Schedule: M/TH, 1:30-3:30pm (PT)
Minimum Class Size: 4
Maximum Class Size: 12
This three-week mini course on "Race, Non-Consent, and Inequity" will draw on texts from the humanities and social sciences to examine the intersection of race, consent, and inequity in science and medicine. By considering texts, films, and historical documents, we will highlight the intersectionality of race, gender, consent, and health. Together, we will delve into the historical and ongoing technologies of medical racism and how people creatively maneuver around them to access the care they require. We will push students beyond anthropocentric conceptions of science to also question what it means to treat ethically not only people but also other non-human beings, including biological specimens, data, and environments. We will build on prior course material (Grad 202) to examine how the biological sciences intersect with categories of classification, including race, disability, gender, and the human. We will discuss the historical background and contemporary significance of these categories of difference, with particular attention to the concepts of extraction, reproductive injustice, and refusal as they are understood today. In week 1, "Non-Consent in Science and Research," we will read historical and contemporary sources about how colonial logics of extraction and ownership were foundational to contemporary logics of consent and experimentation. In week 2, "Reproductive Injustice," we will investigate how reproduction and sexual health are regulated and policed across race, sex, and gender, and the creative maneuvering people employ to garner the care they require. In week 3, "Refusal," we will discuss vaccine hesitancy, medical distrust, and refusal in the face of research.