ASM4450

Questions of identity: ethnicity, nationalism and globalisation

Penelope Graham

12 points -2 hours per week -First semester Clayton

Objectives On completion of this subject, students should be able to recognise and analyse key concepts informing anthropological and sociological approaches to nationalism; demonstrate a grasp of the arguments in the principle works on nationalism currently defining the topic in the social sciences; evaluate the arguments of particular authors on the subject; critically assess the debates around prominent theories of nationalism; analyse the relationship of nationalism to various wide-ranging sociological phenomena such as colonialism and globalisation.

Synopsis This subject examines the modern phenomenon of nationalism and reviews a range of theories that attempt to account for it. Despite predictions of its demise, nationalism is apparently flourishing as we continue to witness the forging of nations and the construction of national identities around the globe. Overall the subject explores the thesis that the nation, as a culturally defined community, is the highest symbolic value of modernity. Themes include the relationship of nationalism to ethnicity and migration, gender and sexuality, colonialism and globalisation.

Assessment Seminar participation: 10% -Essay (3000 words): 30% -Essay (6000 words): 60%

Prescribed texts

Anderson B Imagined communities rev. edn, Verso, 1991
Chatterjee P Nationalist thought and the colonial consciousness Zed Press, 1986
Comaroff J L and Stern P C (eds) Perspectives on nationalism and war Gordon and Breach, 1995
Eriksen T H Ethnicity and nationalism: Anthropological perspectives Pluto Press, 1993
Featherstone M Undoing culture: Globalization, postmodernism and identity Sage, 1995
Foster R J (ed.) Nation making: Emergent identities in postcolonial Melanesia Michigan U P, 1995
Gellner E Nations and nationalism Blackwell, 1983
Llobera J R The god of modernity: The development of nationalism in Western Europe Berg, 1994
Parker A and others (eds) Nationalism and sexualities Routledge, 1992
A reading package of selected journal articles and book chapters will be available for purchase.

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