Ethnic Studies

This course provides an introductory, holistic overview and understanding of North Korean political, ideological, cultural, and economic structures. The course will analyze principles governing these structures and their relationship to the everyday lives of its citizens and to the country's foreign relations with neighboring countries.

What was the attitude of European culture towards non-Europeans in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance? How were African, Arab, Turk, Mongol, but also Native American and Jewish people represented in Western art and why? From the fabulous East described by Marco Polo to the myth of Prester John, from the clash with the Islamic world to the conquest of America, the imagery of non-European peoples reveals a broad spectrum of symbolic, social, and religious meanings. The analysis of these portrayals provides insight into the processes of self-identification of Western Europeans and the emergence and development of categories of "otherness". This course enables students not only to understand the classification of human groups in the past, but also to better assess critically the modern and present-day use of such categories. The course takes a thorough multidisciplinary approach, encompassing social, political, religious, and broader cultural history. Florence offers a unique opportunity to analyze on-site, and often in their original context, works representing non-Europeans from the 13th to the 17th century. 

Students taking this course learn about the history, theory, and practice of decolonization. This includes a critical look at decolonization versus decolonial thinking in practice, including the institutionalization of calls to ‘decolonize’ which seek finalized end points rather than ongoing modes of decolonial critique. Students undertake specialized study through examples and case studies which may include topics such as decolonizing history, heritage, public history and museums, decolonizing universities, curricula and education, decolonizing environmental activism, art and art history, literature and public spaces.

This course examines histories of sovereignty, land and water protection, decolonial activism, and artistic movements, focusing on connections between Indigenous peoples' in Aotearoa, the Pacific, Australia, and the Americas, as well as Asia, and Northern Europe.

In this course, students explore the German-speaking world through a range of cultural materials drawn from the Medieval period to the contemporary. Work in the course is rooted in an understanding of race as a culturally constructed category whose meanings shift in different historical and cultural contexts. From year to year the course’s primary texts might include films, short literary texts, performances, objects, visual artefacts, music and other forms. These are allocated to thematic blocks that focus on key concepts including borders, language, and the body. Weekly exercises in close analysis, alongside key short readings in theory and method, equip students with the critical skills to analyze how cultural materials both construct and challenge ideas about race and ethnicity. 

This course examines Pacific Studies and the worlds of Te Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa (The Pacific). Through the study of taonga or cultural treasures drawn from specific cultures and societies, insights into Indigenous Pacific knowledges and practices are developed. Spanning deep history and the contemporary moment, this course provides a critical understanding of change in the Pacific over time and space.

This course examines the dynamics of contemporary racism in France through a knowledge of long history. It traces the genealogy of racism as it is expressed, both in the processes at work and in the debates that run through our society. To achieve this, the seminar focuses in particular, but not exclusively, on the legacy of our colonial past in terms of the expression of racism. This focus is directly linked to the lively debates that have arisen since the late 1990s as French society questions its colonial past. The seminar also develops the ability to reflect on the issues raised in a complex and problematized way.

This course is divided into two parts: civilization and literature. The civilization part covers the history of Australia since the beginning of the 20th century. It studies the major events that shaped Australian identity: the world wars and their impact on Australia's place within the British Empire, the major stages of indigenous activism, and the socio-cultural impact of immigration. The literature part of the course introduces the main paradigmatic change of 1980s Britain: the advent of shifting, plural, unstable identities. Hanif Kureishi’s THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA is the perfect introduction to these themes and also, at the time, brought a new light on the political and cultural period. The importance of drama and television writing is also discussed. Additional topics include Thatcher’s Britain, postcolonialism, marketing marginal voices, suburbia, and the pop scene.