This graduate seminar aims to lay the groundwork for qualified exchanges around the discussions on nation and nation-state in contemporary sociological theory. Nation has been at the center of the revolutions and counter-revolutions shaking the world over last three centuries and continues to shape contemporary forms of governance and political claim-making. It is not possible to have an in-depth understanding of some of the main pillars of modernity (self-determination, sovereignty, modern state, citizenship, human rights, secularism, homeland, capitalism) without opening a discussion addressing questions concerning the nature, types, and history of nation. Different schools of contemporary social theory, from historical sociology and neo-Marxism to feminism and post-colonial theory, produce texts, analyses, and concepts shedding light on different aspects of nation and nation-state. To be familiar with these theories, we will read excerpts from the works of path-breaking theorists like Jürgen Habermas, Michel Foucault, Partha Chatterjee, Slavoj Zizek, Giorgio Agamben, Michael Mann, Julia Kristeva.
- Kursleiter:in: Dr. Ilker Corut