Multiculturalism As A Policy In Postcolonial Countries

Timetable

The course starts on the 7th of March, 2024

Thursday, 12.30-14.00

room, 2.19, Institute of Anthropology and Ethnology

Address:

ul. Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 7, 61-614 Poznań (building called Collegium Historicum)

Module aim (aims)

Reflection on specific cases of contemporary approaches towards cultural, racial, social and ethnic diversity in socio-cultural sciences and nation-states policy.Acquainting students with theoretical and practical issues and terminology such as the plural society thesis, concept of cultural pluralism and multicultural, multiracial, inter-ethnic politics, preferential policies, affirmative action policies, diverse ethnic groups status, citizenship, social mobility, hegemony, legitimization, discrimination and “positive” or “reverse” discrimanation, migration, and minorities-majorities interplay in different countries

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

The group size is supposed not to exceed 15 persons

Syllabus

1. Approaches towards mulitucturality and ethnic diversity in social and human sciences (social and cultural anthropology, sociology, social economy, social geography, history, political sciences, philosophy, and their critical subdisciplines): discussion and critique of terminology, discourses and their impact on social imaginaries/ representations (so called public and private discourses) 2. Habituses and power relations – social imaginaries and memory; axiological sources of socio-economical and ethno-racial stratification; legitimisation of power and hegemony; regimes of identity – comparative analysis based on ethnographical and historical data, as well as public discourse (e.g. newspapers) deconstruction3. Relation to Otherness. Outlining different models of multiculturality/cultural plurality; concepts of political ethnicity, multucultural politics, cultural differentness, nationalism, discrimination, affirmative and preferential policies, social mobility and equality 4. Local power relation (from bottom-up perspective). Social, ethnic, racial and economic stratification and exclusions on the background of imaginaries of social roles of individuals and groups. Discussing different approaches and attitudes towards a belonging to community in the context of a material status and social prestige (communal familiarity, cultural intimacy, social utility; citizenship, hierarchies of the power, respect and insolence; conformism, agency) 5. Ethnic and racial segregation, stratification and exclusion in society and space – cases from different countries. 6. Conclusion: Tasks of anthropology in the area of multiculturality and social diversification and stratification. Promoting qualitative research methods and bottom-up perspective in science, administration and local activity.Assessment: performance and final essay

Reading list

Anderson B. (1991) Imagined Communities. Reflections on Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London-New York: Verso.
Barth F. (1969) “Introduction.” [in:] Fredrik Barth, ed., Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. The Social Organization of Culture Difference. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget (Scandinavian University Press).
Eriksen T.H., (2002) Ethnicity and Nationalism, London-Sterling, Virginia: Pluto Press.
Gupta A., Ferguson J. 1992, Beyond "Culture": Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference, “Cultural Anthropology” Vol. 7, No. 1, (Feb., 1992), pp. 6-23.
Jakubowicz A., (1981) State and Ethnicity: Multiculturalism as Ideology, Australia and New Zealand Journal of Sociology Vol. 17, No 3 (November).
Sibley D. 1995, Geographies of Exclusion: society and difference in the west Routledge: London;
Herzfeld M. (2004),Cultural Intimacy: Social Poetics in the Nation-State. New York and London: Routledge, ch. 9;
MacCannell D. 1992, Empty Meeting Grounds: The Tourist Papers, Routledge: London & New York, ch. 5 “White culture”, pp. 121-146.
Vertovec S., Wessendorf S. (eds.), The Multiculturalism Backlash. European Discourses, Policies and Practices, London/ New York.