Students explored how various statistical frameworks treat and measure the “causal effect” of social categories such as race, and ultimately, how such methods are seen to back normative claims about racial discrimination and inequalities broadly. In addition to reading Hu’s work, students listened to a recent NPR interview Professor Hu did, where she was asked about the troubling resurgence on TikTok and Instagram of some of the ideas and methods that undergirded 19th-century “scientific” disciplines like phrenology and physiognomy. From "witch skulls and angel skulls," to the skull geometry of so-called “transvestigations,” to the question of whether AI can detect gay faces — Professor Hu asked why it seems like more and more people want to categorize each other with just a look at their heads.