Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An interdisciplinary course which aims to bring together different disciplinary perspectives on international affairs through the study of influential texts which, between them, involve study of core themes to the program: development, governance and civil society, war and peace, human rights and questions of culture and ethnicity.

COURSE DETAILS:

Students of International Studies face the opportunity and challenge of reading across many fields of expertise to harness the best ideas and knowledge possible for addressing their particular interests. This course is designed as an opportunity to read thoroughly and critically a select number of texts that have proven influential across the social sciences and beyond academia. We will read these texts to improve our understanding of major political, economic, and social transformations and their implications. Moreover, we will focus on reading books to hone our appreciation of what can be learned when the longer form of an argument (e.g. a book) is digested.

Given the interdisciplinary nature of International Studies, there is no established cannon of what are its ‘core texts’. For this class, I have selected 6 books, including 2 works of literary fiction, that will challenge us to navigate through differences in substance and style to develop multifaceted analyses. These texts will allow us to study major topics in the field, including: histories of state formation and underpinning logics of governance; processes and experiences of colonialism; the rise and spread of capitalism, neoliberalism, and inequality; aspirations and threats to democracy; international politics of fossil fuels; realities of war in the twenty-first century; and questions of identity and belonging in an unevenly globalized world of transnational migration and cultural production.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

There are several goals for this course, including: students will: (i) deepen their understandings of major ideas and theoretical strands in international studies and other internationally-oriented disciplines; (ii) enhance their substantive knowledge of modern and contemporary historical forces shaping international affairs; (iii) develop their ability to read different kinds of texts critically; and (iv) develop their skills in critically analysing texts and ideas in written and oral forms.

This course is reading-intensive: expect to read for several hours (e.g. 120 pages) every single week. The course will be organized as a mix of lectures and seminars with a strong emphasis on group discussions and collaborative learning.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: