Education

Demonstrators march down Constitution Avenue during the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.

Inequality Studies Minor

Program Description

The Inequality Studies minor is a joint collaboration between the Samuel DuBois Cook Center and the Department of History. The minor is a way for students to advance their understanding of the causes and consequences of inequality and pursue research around issues of social equity across a range of social science methods. The minor can be completed independent of or alongside a major in History, and inequality studies minors come from across departments in both the sciences and humanities.

Demonstrators march down Constitution Avenue during the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.

Inequality Studies Minor Requirements: 6 courses

Core Courses
  1. HISTORY 288: History of Inequality
  2. HISTORY 323: Methods in Inequality Studies
  3. PUBPOL 435/645: Global Inequality Research Initiative (GIRI) Seminar
Electives

Complete 3 elective courses:

  • HIST 120; HIST 121; HIST 124; HIST 147; HIST 157; HIST 163; HIST 172; HIST 188; HIST 189; HIST 198; HIST 286; HIST 292; HIST 297; HIST 316; HIST 332; HIST 344; HIST 348; HIST 352; HIST 357; HIST 363; HIST 366; HIST 430; HIST 482
  • SOCIOL 202; SOCIOL 202S; SOCIOL 208S; SOCIOL 211; SOCIOL 215; SOCIOL 218; SOCIOL 222; SOCIOL 228; SOCIOL 230; SOCIOL 243; SOCIOL 256; SOCIOL 272S; SOCIOL 305S; SOCIOL 314S; SOCIOL 361; SOCIOL 364S
  • Requests for additional courses to go on this list should go to the History DUS and the Director of the Minor.

Additional Information

  • Courses taken S/U and AP credits do not count toward the minor.
  • For History majors who want to minor in Inequality Studies, three minor electives are allowed to overlap with the requirements for the major.
  • For Sociology majors who want to minor in Inequality Studies, two minor electives are allowed to overlap with the requirements for the major.
View All Cook Center Courses & Descriptions

Inequality Studies News

Spring Global Inequality Research Initiative (GIRI) Capstone Event to Showcase Student Research on Reparations and Disability Justice

March 17, 2025

Participatory Design, AI, and Research Ethics: Dr. Quran Karriem on Inequality in Research

March 7, 2025

GIRI Students Present Research at NC Global Health Alliance Conference

October 28, 2024

Cook Center Course on Gender and Development Inspires Rigorous Inquiry and Personal Growth

May 29, 2024

Duke University Students to Showcase Innovative Gender and Development Research at Spring Capstone Event

April 15, 2024

The Chronicle Details Growth of Inequality Studies Minor, Dr. Adam Hollowell Quoted

February 25, 2024

Cook Center Students visit Historic Stagville Plantation

February 22, 2024

Exploring Equity in the Digital Age: Highlights from Fall 2023 GIRI Seminar

December 7, 2023

Cook Center joins Mapping the Movement for Racial Equity Project

November 20, 2023

Duke Junior Ariella Chukwuma Awarded Udall Scholarship

May 9, 2023

Contacts

Adam Hollowell 2

Adam Hollowell

Senior Research Associate, Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity; Director of the Inequality Studies Minor; Director of the Global Inequality Research Initiative
(919) 613-1465
411 West Chapel Hill St, Suite 300, Durham NC 27701
https://scholars.duke.edu/person/adam.hollowell
https://sanford.duke.edu/profile/adam-hollowell/

Adam Hollowell serves as Senior Research Associate at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity and Director of the Inequality Studies Minor at Duke University. He is also the Faculty Director of the Benjamin N. Duke Memorial Scholarship Program and Director of the Global Inequality Research Initiative. An award-winning educator, he teaches ethics and inequality studies across multiple departments at Duke University, including the Kenan Institute for Ethics, the Program in Education, the Department of History, and the Sanford School of Public Policy. He is the co-author, with Jamie McGhee, of You Mean It or You Don’t: James Baldwin’s Radical Challenge (Broadleaf Books, 2022).

 

Scholars@Duke page

professional headshot of Shahrazad Shareef

Shahrazad Shareef

Research Associate and Assistant Director of the Inequality Studies Minor
919-660-8119
411 West Chapel Hill Street Suite 300 Durham, NC 27701

Shahrazad Shareef is a critical theorist and a historian who investigates the global expansion of capitalism in the modern era. She earned a BA in Economics from Duke University in 2006, as well as a Ph.D. in comparative literature and an Interdisciplinary Certificate in European Studies in 2021. Her dissertation was entitled: “From Crisis to Restoration: Technical Intellectuals and the Politics of Italy’s Post-war Development”. Her primary research interests include: historical capitalism and cycles of accumulation; theories of surplus value; economic development; Marxist theoretical approaches to historical analysis; the rise of Italian fascism; and philosophy and the development of worker’s consciousness. She is currently working on a book that studies the transformation of the world market through successive cycles of systemic accumulation (British and US-led). In her role at the Cook Center, Shahrazad is building the intellectual identity of the minor in inequality studies and expanding enrollment. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, she looks forward to a day when everyone is free.