Who do we think we are? How do we identify ourselves politically? What does it mean to belong to a particular group? In this lecture we will introduce the concepts and practices of identity and explore the notion of identity politics. Are identities stable and innate? Are they consctructed, and if so how and by whom/what? How are reproduced? experienced? How do different identities coexist, come into conflict with each other? How does power work through processed of identification? Can we distinguish between different identity categories? How do different identities shape politics in different ways? In this lecture will introduce these questions and themes, and provide you with an overview of different ways we can ask, respond to and frame the questions of identity in International Relations.

Lecturers: Maria Stern

Obligatory Reading:

Wibben, Annnick and Olivia Rutazibwa. 2019. ‘Who do we think we are?’ (Chapter 5), in Global Politics: A New Introduction, edited by Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfus. New York: Routledge, pp: 79-101.

Suggested readings/viewings

Articles/Books:

Anzaldua, Gloria. 2006. Borderlands/La Frontera: the new Meztiza. Aunt Lute books.

Alcoff, Linda Martin, 2003. ‘Introduction: Identities: Modern and Postmodern’, in Linda Martin Alcoff & Eduardo Mendieta, eds, Identities: Race, Class, Gender, and Nationality. Oxford: Blackwell (1–9)

Hall, Stuart, 1996. ‘Introduction: Who Needs Identity?’, in Stuart Hall & Paul Du Gay, eds, Questions of Cultural Identity. London: Sage.

Mendieta, Eduardo, 2003. ‘Afterword: Identities – Postcolonial and Global’, in Linda Martin Alcoff & Eduardo Mendieta, eds, Identities: Race, Class, Gender, and Nationality. Oxford: Blackwell (407–417).

Stern, Maria. 2006. 'We the Subject: The power and failure of security'. Security Dialogue 37(2):187-205 DOI:10.1177/0967010606066171

Films:

Cynthia Weber. 'I am an American: Video Portraits of Post-9/11 US Citizens.' https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/i-am-american-living-september-11-2001-ten-years-on/

Garam Hawa: 1973 Indian drama film directed by M. S. Sathyu. Available on this link, with sub titles. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHfrHDBxCFU).

Novels:

Azar Nafisi. 2003. Reading Lolita in Teheran, Penguin Random House