UCSD

Sociology D183                                                                              Professor Gershon Shafir

Spring 2006                                                                                    Office: 494 SSB

In this course we will examine the rise and diffusion of nationalism as the cultural foundation of the predominant form of modern political life - the nation-state. We will examine the division of nationalism into civic and ethnic varieties and the latter’s pernicious effect on national minorities. Finally, we will examine current and theoretical alternatives to the nation-state: post-nationalism, fundamentalism, and cosmopolitanism.

Weekly quizzes on the readings (brief essay questions and concepts or names for identification - 40%) and final exam (60%). The quizzes will also have bonus questions from the previous week’s New York Times on topics relevant to the class.

REQUIRED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Week One: The Components of the Nation

Ernest Rennan, "What Is a Nation?’ in Homi Bhabha ed., Nation and Narration, London, Routledge, 1990 [1882], pp. 8-21. READER, pp. 1-11.

Week Two: Grievances and Nationalism

Tom Nairn, "The Modern Janus," in his The Break-Up of Britain, London, NLB, 1975, pp. 329-363. READER, pp. 11-30.

Week Three: Minorities

Rogers Brubaker, "National Minorities, Nationalizing States, and External National Homelands in the New Europe. (What Future for the State?)," Daedalus Vol. 124, No. 2, Spring 1995, pp. 107-133. READER, pp. 31-48.

Week Four: France and Civic Nationalism

Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1984, Chapter 1: "The Rhetoric of Revolution," pp. 19-51. READER, pp. 49-66.

Olivier Roy, "Get French or Die Trying," New York Times, November 9, 2005. READER, pp. 67-68.

Weeks Five: Germany and Ethnic Nationalism

Harold James, A German Identity, 1770-1990, N.Y., Routledge, 1989, Chapter 2: "The Origins of German Nationalism," pp. 34-54, Chapter 6: "The Brown Nation," 136-160. READER, pp. 69-94.

Michael A. Weinstein, "'Hungary's Referendum on Dual Citizenship: A Small Victory for Europeanism," 13 December 2004, Power and Interests News Report READER, pp. 121-122.

Week Seven: The Ottoman Empire and Turkey

Howard Eissenstat, "Metaphors of Race and Discourse of Nation: Racial Theory and the Beginnings of Nationalism in the Turkish Republic," in Paul Spickard ed., Race and Nation: Ethnic Systems in the Modern World, N.Y., Routledge, 2005, pp.239-256. READER, pp. 123-140.

"Turkey: Islamic Secularism or Secular Islam? Conversation with Ihsan Dagi," Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, February 16, 2003 READER, pp. 141-142.

Week Eight: Iraq

Ofra Bengio, "Nation Building in Multiethnic Societies: The Case of Iraq," in Ofra Bengio & Gabriel Ben-Dor eds., Minorities in the Arab World, Boulder, Lynne Rienner, 1999, pp.149-169. READER, pp. 143-154.

Patrick Cockburn, "Iraq’s Election Results: A Divided Nation," The Independent, December 21, 2005 READER, pp. 155-166.