This course examines the meanings of social categories such as gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, nationality, and species. What are the philosophical and religious foundations of the categorizations of beings operative in our contemporary cultures? How do attributions of same and different, normal and abnormal, rational and irrational, human and nonhuman shape social and political processes of inclusion and exclusion? Are social categories real, constructed, or both? This course focuses primarily on intersectional approaches to oppression and identity that see social categories such as gender, race, and class as mutually constitutive rather than separable. Course readings span a range of philosophical and religious traditions including Continental philosophy, analytic philosophy, Latina/o studies, feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory, disability studies, and environmental studies. Students may not earn credit for both PY 2716 and RE 2716. This course will be offered in 2021-22, and in alternating years thereafter.