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 136-007 Ethnic Nationalism and the Modern World

Note

Formerly available as 136-272/372. Students who have completed 136-272/372 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Availability

2nd and 3rd year

Credit Points

12.5

Coordinator

Dr Roger Just

Prerequisites

see Prerequisites

Semester

1 (view timetable)

Contact

A 2-hour lecture and a 1-hour tutorial per week

Subject Description

Ethnic nationalism is one of the most potent political movements in the world today, its force being experienced by all peoples in all parts of the word. From so-called tribalism to the more conventional ethnicity and ethnic nationalism, the constructions of identity in modern political circumstances involve special valuations of language, culture and tradition. As such, ethnicity is of special concern to anthropologists, especially in instances where anthropology becomes part of nationalist discourse. The course considers a variety of ethnic contexts from Africa, Europe and Australia to the Americas, Asia and the Pacific. It examines different approaches to nationalism, the formation and reproduction of ethnic boundaries, nationalism myths and historiography, colonialism and post-colonialism and the relationship between individual, state and nation in the modern world economy.

Assessment

An essay of 3000 words and a 1-hour exam.

Prescribed Texts

  • B Anderson, Imagined Communities. Verso 1983.
  • M Banks, Ethnicity: Anthropological Constructions. Routledge 1996.
  • E Gellner, Nations and Nationalism. Blackwell 1986.


Search : Index : Faculty of Arts : Anthropology
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Status:                   Official 1999
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Email Enquiries:          Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au