Spring 2008

ANT 391 • Nationalism and Gender

Course Description

This course will historically investigate the construction of the modern nation-state and focus on the role gender plays within it. Through a reading of anthropological, historical and literary texts we will discuss how the category of gender continuously disrupts and challenges the idea of a unitary people and a cohesive nation-state. Using ethnographic examples from South Asia and the Middle East the course will evaluate how gender linked to categories of class, ethnicity and religion can help us critique the globalizing tendencies of modern nationalism.

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