1. Accueil
  2. EN
  3. Studying at ULB
  4. Find your course
  5. UE
SOCA-D408

Ethnicité et nationalisme

academic year
2023-2024

Course teacher(s)

Pierre PETIT (Coordinator)

ECTS credits

5

Language(s) of instruction

french

Course content

First section: Ethnicity

Chapter 1 : Ethnic groups as cultural categrories Chapter 2 : Michael Moerman : Who are the Lue ? Questionning the cultural model of ethnicity Chapter 3 : Amselle, Dozon et M'Bokolo – Au coeur de l'ethnie Chapiter 4 : Fredrik Barth – Ethnic Groups and Boundaries Chapter 5 : Ethnicity adn urbanization – The Kalela Dance Chapter 6 : Ethnicity and impression management –When ethnic identity is a social stigma Chapitre 7 : Instrumentalist and primordialist approaches to ethnicity Chapter 8 : Categorizing Chapter 9 : Le power to name and label Chapter 10 : Ethnicity and race relations Chapitre 11. The issue of origins

Second section: Nationalism

Chapitre 1 : Gellner - Nations et nationalisme Chapitre 2 : Anderson - Imagined Communities Chapitre 3 : The genesis of Laotian nationalism during the colonial time Chapter 4 : The state and ethnic minorities - the case of Lao PDR

Objectives (and/or specific learning outcomes)

The lecture aims to provide students with epistemological, methoological and theoretical tools for a reflexive approach to the way collective identities are constructed. We will focus on how ethnic, regional, national or transnational identities are forged, with a special interest for the process of inventing traditions (history, institutions, ceremonies, heritage, etc.), and for the way this process legitimizes these identities through reference to cultural contents. Case studies will be taken from many subcontinental contexts to illustrate both the universality of the issue, and the need to develop an approach sensible to the diversity and the specificty of each historical and regional context.

Teaching methods and learning activities

Lecture ex cathedra (2 x 2 hours/week from mid-September to the end of October). Reading of texts and presence to conferences by guest scholars are both mandatory, and necessary for the exams. The lecture itself will present criticaly the different ways to approach ethnicity and nationalism in an anthropological perspective. Case studies are taken from all over the world, wiyh a focus on subsaharan Africa and South-East Asia.

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

Available at the same address (see over).

Other information

Contacts

Emails can be sent to pierre.petit@ulb.ac.be

Appointments should be taken by mail and usally take place on Tuesdays, between 10 and 12:30, at my office S15.123. (15th floor, Institut de Sociologie, avenue Jeanne, 44).

Evaluation

Method(s) of evaluation

  • Other

Other

Written examination in French or English.

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

The exam is made up of three open questions (with the same ponderation for the final mark) about the lecture ex cathedra, the mandatory readings, and the conferences. Grading takes into consideration the capacity for synthetizing specific issues discussed during the course, the capacity to link different chapters and ideas, and the ability to analyze specific cases basing on the methodological and theoretical tools provided during the lecture.

Programmes