SEM 200: Second Year Seminar I

Number of Sections: 4 | Days and Times: Section A-Tuesdays & Thursdays (11:40-13:20 ICT), Section B-Mondays and Wednesdays (11:40-13:20 ICT), Section C-Tuesdays & Thursdays (08:00-09:40 ICT), Section D-Tuesdays & Thursdays (09:50-11:30 ICT)

Course Description

The four-sequenced seminar courses are part of a one mega-course (16 credits), that share the same objectives and learning outcomes. In Sophomore Seminar 1, we will explore how difference is socially and historically constructed, what it can mean to us, and how it can act on us. We will also ask critical questions on what we already know about differences among humans in today’s world. The Seminar will start with exploring the concept of “the Other”, which is one aspect of difference. We will look into different views on “the Other” from European history and different parts of the world through Ryszard Kapuściński’s accounts and insights. Then we will read Said’s Orientalism to understand power, difference, and otherness. Along with him, we will question knowledge production projects of the European colonizing countries which still condition how and what we know about differences. After this, we will study how “othered(ing) races” were born out of differences in modern, historical events reading Charles W. Mills’ “The Racial Contract”. Next, we will keep reflecting on differences through the literary perspectives of Toni Morrison. This will also lead us into the US context contemplated by Angela Davis. Angela Davis will help us understand the
intersectionality of gender, race, and class and how this embeds oppression, as well as how we can resist such oppression in collective movements. Finally, we will read Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks exploring “gendered otherness” and its intersectionality with social, political, ideological, and economic life across different times and spaces.