About Us

Race, diaspora, and indigeneity emerge from distinctive yet overlapping structures of power. At the same time, these categories have become the sites of collective meaning making politically, socially, and aesthetically. With a particular focus on their intersections and interactions, this department studies the constitution and transformations of race, diaspora, and indigeneity.

Committed to boundary-crossing scholarship, RDI facilitates and encourages cross-fertilization of thought in relation to key research topics that are too often analyzed in isolation from each other. As engaged in teaching as in research, we offer all students the opportunity to deepen their knowledge, sharpen their analytic tools, expand their means of expression, and participate in collaborative knowledge production on race, diaspora, and indigeneity both within the University and beyond.