Unit name | Nations and Nationalism |
---|---|
Unit code | SOCI30082 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. Fox |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies |
Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
The content of the unit will focus on different scholarly perspectives on ethnicity, nationality, ethnic groups, and nations. The unit will be divided into three parts. We will begin by establishing an analytical framework for the study of ethnicity and nationalism that stresses the historic specificity and social construction of ethnic groups and nations. In the middle part of the unit, we will examine a range of ways in which ethnicity and nationality are experienced, legitimated, and reproduced in the modern world. The final part of the unit will be devoted to contemporary applications of these concepts: how ethnicity and nationalism manifest themselves in politics, culture, and everyday life. Combined, these three parts will establish different ways in which ethnicity and nationality are modern social constructs.
The unit aims to:
1. critically assess the social, political, economic, and cultural underpinnings of ethnicity and nationalism;
2. understand and appreciate ethnicity and nationalism as politically significant features of the modern era;
3. consider both the macro-structural and micro-interactional dynamics contributing to the construction and reproduction of ethnicity and nationality; and,
4. gauge the changing social significance of ethnicity and nationalism in historical perspective and in the contemporary world.
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
A. demonstrate a sociologically critical appreciation of ethnicity and nationalism as specifically modern social constructs;
B. appreciate the macro- and micro-dimensions of ethnicity and nationalism as well as the interplay between them; and,
C. apply the analytical concepts used in the unit across different historical and geographical cases.
1hr lecture and 2 x 1hr of seminars.
Formative: 1500 word essay or equivalent: this form of assessment is intended to reflect learning outcomes A, B, and C. Summative: 3,000 word essay: this form of assessment is intended to reflect learning outcomes A, B, and C.