This unit focuses on the salience of ethnic and national identities in the modern world. It examines the continuing construction of these distinct collective identities, as may seem paradoxical in an age of globalism. The unit approaches these forms of identification through an anthropological lens as socio-culturally defined forms of community, exploring their high symbolic value and propensity for violent expression. Themes include the relation of ethnic identification and nation formation to issues of power, politics, gender, religion, migration, the heritage of the colonial encounter and the differing forms of multiculturalism in case studies from around the world. -- Course Website
Instructor: Dr Irfan Ahmad
Prerequisites: A first-year sequence in International Studies or Anthropology or History or Politics or Sociology or a cognate discipline or by permission.
