ANTH 365(S) Citizens and Civil Societies
Nationalist ideologies and political movements spread around the world from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries; in recent decades, the spread of democratic ideals and practices has been a key political development. In this course, we will develop a theoretical understanding of citizenship and civil society as they relate to the nation-state and to democracy. How do citizens and states define the rights and responsibilities of citizenship? How are political boundaries between citizens and non-citizens negotiated in an era of economic globalization and growing refugee populations? What kinds of organizations and networks comprise civil societies and public spheres in different contexts, and how do they relate to the state? We will read ethnographic case studies from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, enabling us to compare and contrast the construction of citizenship and civil society in these places with our own experience and understanding of these concepts in the Western American world.
Format: seminar. Requirements: active class participation, reading response papers, 12- to 15-page research paper, presentation.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 16 (expected: 12). Open to all classes, but preference given to Anthropology and Sociology Majors.
Hour: HAUGH