SOCIOL 213
Ethnicity and Identity
Please note: this is archived course information from 2017 for SOCIOL 213.
Description
How are we to understand ‘cultural difference’ and the power relations and inequalities that operate between cultural groups – ethnic, national, indigenous, ‘racial’, migrant and native-born? How did these differences become key themes in the construction of identities and the focus of division and conflict? How do ideas of ‘race’ and ‘culture’ intersect and diverge? How are cultural identities constructed, negotiated and put to use in our everyday lives, discourse and practice?
We will explore these questions initially through looking at the history of the development of ideas of primitivism, race and nation as ways of defining ‘a people’ and how these histories are intertwined with the history of modernity and European colonialism. We will relate contemporary concepts of ethnicity and indigeneity back to this history and explore a range of key contemporary issues in the politics of ethnicity and peoplehood. The course will draw on international research and examples and, where possible, relate the key ideas to the New Zealand context.
Learning goals
On the successful completion of this course you should be able to:
- Explain the connections and differences between the concepts of primitivism, race, nation, ethnicity and indigeneity;
- Use these concepts to analyze contemporary instances of contestation between cultural groups, including within New Zealand society;
- Identify the use of these concepts in examples of identity discourse;
- Analyse your own ethnic and national biography in light of concepts taught in the course.
Availability 2017
Semester 1
Lecturer(s)
Lecturer(s) Dr Avril Bell
Reading/Texts
A course reader will be made available if required
Points
SOCIOL 213: 15 points
Prerequisites
30 points at Stage I in Sociology or 15 points at Stage I in Sociology with a minimum B+ pass
