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After completing this course students are able to:
- Demonstrate a substantive understanding of the history of the concept of citizenship as a legal as well as a performative position from various disciplinary angles;
- Demonstrate broad knowledge of critical perspectives on dominant notions of citizenship and as well as develop knowledge of non-Western traditions, with a focus on active and engaged forms of citizenship;
- Engage with theories and concepts on activism and social movements.
- Apply theories on citizenship and decoloniality for the staging of micro-actions which can be artistic, performative, or mediated.
- Present research and micro-actions in collaboration with peers (small groups) to the wider community.
- Practice positionality and listening to other perspectives in classroom conversations and in writing.
| Description of assignment |
Weight |
Assesses which learning goals? |
- Preparation, homework assignments and participation
- Review essay - part 1 of the course
- Portfolio (three micro-actions: process and outcome) - part 2 of the course
- Campus-wide event/festival (group work)
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20 %
30 %
30 %
20% |
1, 2, 3 & 6
1, 2 & 3
3, 4, 5 & 6
5 & 6
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What makes us ‘good’ citizens? The question of citizenship has been firmly put on the social and political agenda in the last decades. Increasingly, it has become clear that citizenship is more than a legal category – it is about the various struggles over who belongs where. About gender and sexuality; about nativity, heritage, and race; and about the right to the city. Any discussion about citizenship today is about the future of the nation-state as a political category – but also about the global flows of refugees, expats, and multinational companies. And about how we shape the cities and towns we live in. Indeed, in many parts of the world we have seen a “culturalization” and “moralization” of citizenship, as people are increasingly asked to demonstrate their loyalty, responsibility, and moral value vis-a-vis the societies they live in. These processes have however also met with new forms of activism from both the right and the left. To understand these developments, it is important to understand the notion of citizenship from a historical perspective.
In this course you will learn about the performativity of engaged citizenship through an array of practices that includes theoretical discussion and experiential learning, especially through the lens of creative activism and decolonial practice. In the first part of the course, you will get acquainted with a historical and theoretical framework in which debates on engaged citizenship will be raised, especially touching on issues regarding rights and democracy (sovereignty and subjectivity, non/territorial and psychological citizenship), Western and non-Western conceptions of citizenship (indigenous movements, migration, decolonial politics) as well as issues of inclusion and exclusion (feminist and queer critique, racial politics, planetary citizenship, civil disobedience). In the theoretical part of the course, you will thus develop activist, relational and post-national accounts of citizenship.
The second half will mainly be taught from a media and performance studies lens, centering on decolonial theory and experience-based learning. You will learn how to sketch, plan, and enact “micro-actions” - on and off campus, live or mediated - and thereby probe concepts pertaining to engaged citizenship. The practice-based exercises (such as live-action prompts, improvisation, visual projection, culture jamming, tactical media) will be oriented towards a plural, diverse, and open society, earth justice and planetary citizenship.
Format
The instructors will teach from the perspective of inclusive and decolonial pedagogies. This includes cooperative teaching, collaborative, dialogic learning, active student participation and combining formal academic knowledge with practical competencies.
Paul Mepschen and Tatiana Bruni introduce students to the history of and the theories on citizenship and civic engagement through the perspectives of democratic practice, social theory and queer and feminist discourse. Teaching methods include interactive lectures by the teachers, class discussions and close analysis of texts. Furthermore, students prepare and moderate discussions about the topic of the weekly reading(s).
Konstantina Georgelou and Nina Köll co-teach the second half of the course. Here the students will expand conventional ways of scholarship by applying concepts which are taught in the first part through creative practice and embodied, explorative learning also known as practice-based research. Students will learn how to sketch, plan, and enact “micro-actions” that probe concepts pertaining to engaged citizenship. These exercises will be framed within decolonial ethics, to create interventions that are oriented towards an equitable, and inclusive society, planetary citizenship, and earth justice. The students will eventually select and curate a few examples and present these to the UCU community at a campus-wide event in week 15.
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