Annotation
OUTLINE The interest in the concept of “identity” and the centrality that specific, discreet identities have acquired in the public sphere in recent times are unprecedented. Why this shift, why now? This course offers an introduction to the analytical study of collective identities and their psycho-social foundation, that is, a sense of “belonging”, from the perspective of social sciences and anthropology more in particular. It will introduce the critical study of identity and belonging to students that are perhaps not familiar with it, but also foster the understanding of a variety of social phenomena and dynamics related to identity construction, negotiation, and expression. Identity, understood not as an essential aspect or a natural fact, but as a historical, contingent, relational, and processual phenomenon, is in fact now recognised as an extremely important dimension at different levels: for the individual, for supra-individual configurations (such as work, family, the locality), but also and perhaps especially for greater social/collective spheres, which express themselves in terms of identities that can be sportive, religious, regional, national, or even supranational (e.g., European or cosmopolitan). We shall draw attention to the historical, cultural, and institutional processes that have led to the emergence and crystallization of specific collective identities, both as bottom-up historical phenomena (e.g., the collective national movements of the 1840s) or top-down political initiatives (e.g., the recent EU identity policies). Special attention will be given to the symbolic substances identities are made of (language, traditions, collective memories, histories, rituals, among others) and how such aspects are incorporated in – and expressed by – social actors, for example through body expressions (tattoos, hairstyle, clothing style) and collective forms of actions such as rituals. Analytical concepts like “nested identities”, “group dynamics” (“in-group” vs “out-group”), “presentation of the self”, and others shall be presented and analysed in the classroom, and also operationalized vis-à-vis concrete examples. To this end, an array of empirical case studies will be presented that will be chosen from the pertinent literature as well as from the lecturer’s historical and ethnographic investigations in several European contexts. STRUCTURE Tentative course structure
1) Introduction: Identity and belonging, individual vs social
2) Invited guest: religious and national identities, the case of Danmark
3) What is social or collective identity made of? Language, traditions, memories, histories, networks, institutions, and more
4) Identity of the self, identity of the body
5) Nested identities, identity markers, and sense of belonging at the micro- and meso-levels: family, neighbourhood, village, locality, city, region
6) Nested identities and identity markers at the macro-level: class, politics, religion, and sport fandom
7) Identities that shake the world: nation, nationhood, nationality, national identity, nationalism, and cosmopolitanism in different scholarly traditions (primordialism, modernism, and ethnosymbolism)
8) Conclusions and final discussion with the students