136-257/357 Identities in Conflict: Social Theory and the Politics of Identity

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Objectives:

Students who complete this subject should:

• possess a knowledge of some major approaches to the study of identity or subjectivity;

• possess a grasp of the ways in which a politics of identity is central to both the new social movements and resurgent ethnic and national politics;

• possess an awareness of some major approaches to the formation and enactment of gender identities;

• have an acquaintance with some major approaches to understanding the psychological, cultural and social dimensions of the politics of racial, ethnic and national identities;

• possess an expanded notion of what constitutes the political, i.e. an understanding of the pervasiveness of politics beyond conventional political institutions.

• have a recognition of the ways in which social theory can provide a critical perspective on standard approaches to the politics of identity;

• possess a knowledge of a repertoire of social theory concepts and approaches which can be drawn upon to develop an understanding of the ways in which identities, or subjectivities, are central to a series of social and political conflicts;

• have a background of relevant knowledge and skills on which to base further study of social theory and its uses in the analysis of social and political identities and conflicts.

Content:

This subject investigates identities in conflict by studying witchcraft accusations, Nazi doctors, Malcolm X, the bonds of love, formations of violence, ethnic and racial conflict, gender relations and everyday life in high or post modernity. Each of these settings highlights the social, cultural and psychological processes involved in the ongoing politics of identity. These settings provide the context within which a series of social-theoretical issues are raised regarding the relationship between the subjective and the social. Theories of ideology, discourse, agency, structuration, violence, intersubjectivity and subjectivity are drawn upon to analyse the centrality of individual and group identities to the organisation of social and political relations. Students completing this subject should develop a recognition of the ways in which social theory can provide both a range of approaches and a series of concepts for the analysis of the politics of identity, along with a critical perspective on standard approaches to identities in conflict.

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