Office Hours:  W & Th: 11:00-12:00 (or by appointment)

This seminar is concerned with the question of belonging in the modern world and the paradox of growing ethno-nationalism in an increasingly borderless, transnational world. We examine ethnicity and nation-ness, two of the most crucial markers of contemporary social identity. How do they come to be? Why is there such variation in the way they are expressed across time and around the world? How do they connect or interface with class, gender, sexuality, and other components of personhood and social belonging? How have scholars gone about analyzing and explaining ethnicity and nationalism? Are these forms of community adequate to meeting the needs of collective social life in our present, more interconnected global condition?

We will work our way, in other words, to considering the contemporary phenomena of "transnationalism," and "globalization." But, with our focus primarily on the issue of the collective consciousness of the world’s peoples, we will consider not so much the economic imperative of globalization and the controversies, pro and con, they currently generate. Rather, our concern is with the prospects and possibilities for the development of a sense of planetary belonging and global culture. The course recognizes that "ethnicity," "nation," and "world community" are contingent, socially constructed realities. Assigned readings come at this idea from different vantage points, allowing us to achieve an ever deepening understanding of what the concept, social construct means, how such constructs come into being, and how they imprint themselves on the collective imagination.

This semester the dominant preoccupation of the seminar is with coming to a fuller understanding of the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and what they might mean for the world.

The seminar format places on all participants the responsibility of attending regularly and contributing fully to the work of the group. Assigned readings need to be read and re-read carefully, and thought given to how they relate to other texts and points that have come up in our group discussions, as well as to each of our research topics/papers. The class is also small enough that it may be possible to accommodate particular interests on the part of students to include other readings or films besides those I have planned out. I have tried to leave some flexibility in the class schedule to allow for such developments to occur.

There will be three 5 page papers based on assigned readings or films and spaced over the course of the semester: the questions for these papers will be distributed a week or so before your essays are due. In addition, participants are required to write a final paper of approximately 15 - 20 pages based on independent research conducted over the entire semester (final papers due April 2). One objective of this larger project is to apply some theoretical framework discussed in the seminar to achieving better understanding of a particular problem or case-study. I propose that this year all the research projects focus on some aspect of 9/11. You should start to develop a particular thematic and theoretical focus or question for your paper right away; hand in a 1-2 page prospectus by February 5; and do steady research on the paper over the course of the semester.

Coursepack (cp) containing most of the required articles.
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities.
George Lipsitz, Dangerous Crossroads.
Carolyn Marvin & David Ingle, Blood Sacrifice and the Nation: Totem Rituals and the American Flag.
Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace.

These are supplemented by my book, Postnationalism Prefigured: Caribbean Borderlands (in press), photocopies of which will be made available.