Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2017 - HUM 385 D100

Selected Topics in European Studies (4)

European Identity and Politics

Class Number: 9164

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 4 – Apr 7, 2017: Mon, 1:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An interdisciplinary approach to a topic focusing on European thought and culture.

COURSE DETAILS:

European Identity and Politics
This course takes an interdisciplinary approach so as to reflect on collective and individual identity from a 20th / 21st c. perspective. Focusing on European thought and culture, it addresses themes and issues that emerge from that examination; loss, freedom, conflict, isolation, love, politics, sense of self, relation to other(s), culture, authority, memory. By reflecting on collective and individual identity in the selected texts, the course examines their relevance and importance to current debates, film and art.

Grading

  • Participation 15%%
  • Presentation 15%%
  • Midterm 30%%
  • Term Paper 40%%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Camus, Albert. 1988. The Stranger. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. *
Orwell, George. 2008. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Penguin Books. *
Arendt, Hannah. 1998. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kundera, Milan. 1999. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. Harper Collins. *
Golding, William. 2012. Lord of the Flies. London: Faber and Faber. *
Russell, Bertrand. 2005. Authority and the Individual. London: Taylor and Francis. *  
* Available online

RECOMMENDED READING:

Lawler, Steph. 2008. Identity: Sociological Perspectives. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Nicholson, Linda. Siedman, Steven. (eds.) 1999. Social Postmodernism; beyond Identity Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Halliwell, Andrew. Mousley, Andy. (eds.) 2003. Critical Humanisms: Humanist/Anti-Humanist Dialogues. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Gilbert, Alain. 1990. Democratic Individuality. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dooley, Mark. Kearney, Richard. 1999. Questioning Ethics: Contemporary Debates in Continental Philosophy. London: Routledge.
Glover, Jonathan. 2012. Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century. New York: Yale University Press.

Registrar Notes:

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS