Inclusion, Citizenship and Exclusion

Aim

After completion of the course, the students should on an advanced level be able to:

• conduct theoretical analyses of social inequality, social difference, ethnic exclusion and racialization
• account for and critically analyse ways in which social inequality, social difference, ethnic exclusion and racialization are encountered by minorities, migrants and subaltern groups
• critically interpret historical sources and primary documentation dealing with inclusion, citizenship and exclusion.

Content

The course is premised on the assumption that social division and difference are occurring in a horizontal dimension (inclusion and exclusion) as well as a vertical one (subordination/exploitation). The course offers in-depth knowledge of theories of cultural identity, social inequality, social difference, ethnic exclusion and racialization as well as of theories of populism, authoritarianism and claims to ethnic supremacy. Crucial components of the course are social and cultural explanations of exclusion/inclusion – for instance, theories of poverty, precarization, marginality and subalternity, as well as explanations of ethnic supremacy, racism, xenophobia and populism. In the course, students are encouraged to critically discuss, analyse and interpret the implications of theory for understanding the interconnection of social disadvantage, migration and ethnicity. The course is informed by a historical and global approach to these issues, especially stressing the importance of the interdependencies of global or regional political and economic change, transformations in migration policy, and cultural transformation.