INR3084 – Culture and World Politics (Fall 2015)

Course Description

This course explores the interplay between culture and power in contemporary world politics by focusing on concepts such as identity, difference, and representation, which have emerged as objects of major political and theoretical contestation over the past two decades. The major purpose of the course is to expose political complexities of these concepts and to reveal their intimate and intricate relation with knowledge production, on the one hand, and economies of warfare and violence, on the other – or, in other words, with international relations as a discipline itself.
But as many of these concepts and ways of interpreting them are also challenges of our understanding of who we are and how do we – as individuals, relate to others, the course is likely to be a personal journey for each one of us. In this course, we will grapple with cultural stereotypes and prejudices that we carry, but also, hopefully, with the capacity to comprehend the unknown, the different, the other. Therefore, be prepared to encounter readings, films, questions and discussions that will often make you uncomfortable.

Time and Location

Class: M W F, Period 5 (11:45 am – 12:35 pm); CHE 237

Course Syllabus:

INR 3084 Culture and World Politics Syllabus