Module POC2018 for 2022/3
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POC2018: National and Community Identity
This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.
Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.
Module Aims
This module explores the politics of identity, through the concepts of memory, belonging, otherness and difference.
In practical terms, it introduces students to the idea of communities as imagined narratives which have a function within society, which is extended to national identity where we consider questions relating to the extent to which identity is learned or an accident of birth. The module next takes in the idea that identity is not just about ‘belonging to’, but also about asserting ‘difference from’ other groups. This, and belonging has an impact not just on how groups see themselves, but also how they are perceived by others which affects the kinds of opportunities and courses for action that lie open to group members. The effects of this have impacts throughout local, national and global politics, extending to the terms of political discourse and social justice.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate a substantive understanding of the importance that identity plays for individuals and communities, and the impact that this has locally and globally. |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 2. use primary and secondary sources to identify and construct arguments on a policy and theoretical level. They will also be able to make informed judgements about the implications of abstract concepts, and assess possible outcomes. 3. Understand and apply key concepts around the politics of identity |
| Personal and Key Skills | 4. formulate complex arguments about theory and policy, with clarity and precision in written and oral presentations. 5. formulate their own conclusions based on differing forms of evidence. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover all or some of the following topics:
Imagining the community and narratives of identity.
The function of identity
National identities
The politics of memory
Identity and ‘difference’,
The construction of difference.
Power, rurality, and the politics of representation.
Case Study : Cornish Nationalism.
Case Study : Britain and the legacy of colonialism..
Case Study: Europe, the nation, and refugees
Identity and political discourse.
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 128 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and teaching activity | 11 | 11 x 1 hour lectures |
| Scheduled Learning and teaching activity | 11 | 11 x 1-hour seminars, some of which will be student led with formal presentations and student facilitation of discussion |
| Guided Independent study | 5 | Preparation for student led seminar |
| Guided Independent study | 40 | Preparation for 1st Essay (summative) |
| Guided Independent study | 40 | Preparation for 2nd Essay (summative) |
| Guided Independent study | 43 | Private study |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Web-based and electronic resources:
- ELE (Exeter Learning Environment (Moodle)) – College to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Basic reading:
Anderson, B. Imagined Communities; Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1991, Revised Edition).
Connolly, W. Identity/Difference: Democratic Negotiations of Political Paradox, (London, Cordell University Press, 1991)
Croucher, S. 2018. Globalization and Belonging: The Politics of Identity in a Changing World Rowman and Littlefield.
Durkheim, E. Suicide, A Study in Sociology (London: Routledge, 1987 [1897]).
Eriksson, M. 2008. (Re)Producing a ‘peripheral’ region – Northern Sweden in the news. Geografiska Annaler Series B 90 (4) pp. 369–388.
Gilroy, P., 2013. There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack: The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation. Routledge Classics
Freud, S. Civilization and Its Discontents (London: Penguin Books, 2004 [1930]).
L, Hinchman., S, Hinchman (eds) Memory, Identity, Community; The Idea of Narrative in the Human
Sciences (New York: State University of New York Press, 2001).
Hutchinson, J. Nations as Zones of Conflict (London: Sage Publications, 2005).
Lawson, T., 2014. Memorializing Colonial Genocide in Britain: The Case of Tasmania. Journal of Genocide Research 16 (4). 441-461
Modood, T., 2013. Multiculturalism.
Norton, A. Reflections on Political Identity (London: John Hopkins, 1988).
Nietzsche, F. On the Genealogy of Morality, K, Ansell-Pearson (ed) (Cambridge: Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, (1994) [1887]).
Said, E. Orientalism (London: Penguin Books, 2003).
Smith, A. Nationalism and Modernism (Oxon: Routledge, 1998).
Tonnies, F. Community and association : Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft (Imprint London : Routledge & K.Paul, 1955).
Payton, P (ed) Cornish Studies Series 1-18, University of Exeter Press.
Viet Thanh Nguyen. 2016. Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War. Harvard University Press
Willett, J. 2016. The Production of Place: Perception, Reality, and the Politics of Becoming Political Studies 64 (2) 436-451.
Zack, N. 2018. Reviving the Social Compact: Inclusive Citizenship in an Age of Extreme Politics. Rowman and Littlefield
