How does who we are influence how we understand and engage with politics? Is identity always political? Should political decision making take our identities into account? This module will give you the ability to evaluate contemporary debates about identity politics, and develop your own responses to these and other questions. You will explore scholarly literature on identity politics as well as certain key texts from a range of approaches that explore the significance of identity within the field of Politics and International Relations. Bringing these together, you will then be able to assess how these traditions may inform contemporary debates about ‘who we think we are’ while also investigate ways in which we may think about ourselves at the limits of, or even outside of, those traditions. You will be encouraged to apply this material in two ways: as a framework for reflecting upon your own identity and as a way of critically understanding how or if we should judge the identity of others. The module will therefore develop your knowledge of identity politics and the relationship between them with a view to being able to apply these to your own sense of identity in relation to other people.
Lecture 8, Workshop 8, Seminar 16
Portfolio. Assessment Details: 1,000 Words Critical Exploration of Identity worth 30%.
Extended Writing. Assessment Details: 3,000 Words Essay worth 70%. This Assessment is Pass Compulsory.
Reassessment Method: Like for like
On successfully completing the module, students will be able to:
1) Demonstrate systematic understanding of key aspects of contemporary identity politics, accurately drawing on key texts on the theory and nature of identity.
2) Intervene within and make judgements upon debates about identity and difference in their own words in a coherent manner.
3) Critically evaluate different perspectives in modern and contemporary identity politics and have the ability to situate them alongside one another.
4) Analyse and make judgements upon the challenges contemporary theories of identity pose to mainstream theories of politics.
5) Critically evaluate the relationship between identity-oriented theories and developments within practical politics and reflect independently on the place of their own identity in these developments.
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