Please note! For this minor and its courses a restricted number of places are available.
Enrollment takes place through a Selection Committee, which means you can only register for the course and the minor within the first four days of the course registration period (Monday – Thursday 16.00 hrs). The Selection Committee decides whether or not you can enroll. More information about registration can be found here.
Why are people prepared to die for the notion of a ‘mother country’, a nation or a religious group? What moves people to fight their neighbours, city members or acquaintances in the name of ‘ethnicity’? In the current academic debate social identities and communities are seen as constructed: as ‘inventions’ and ‘imaginings’. Nevertheless, in times of conflict, constructions like the nation, the ethnic group, or any other putative identity can crystallize as a powerful, compelling reality.
This course introduces students to a selection of analytical approaches that explore the connection between identity and violence through an emphasis on social and spatial processes of boundary making and unmaking. The course examines the role of violent practices and violent imaginaries in the cementing of antagonistic identities, and the connections to elite machinations and predatory mythologies. It introduces students to social constructivism, spatiality, phenomenology and critical discourse analysis, and concepts such as identity, ethnicity, reification, framing, and everyday primordialism.
Early exit option
Students who are required to return to their home university by the end of December, are allowed to choose an early exit option. Students must always make individual arrangements with the course coordinator. In general, there are two options that can be facilitated:
1. Finishing the course before Christmas break, receiving 5 ECTS for the course.
2. Completing the course by 'distance learning' (extra assignments, papers etc) in the month of January, receiving 7,5 ECTS for the course.
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