SEM 200: Second Year Seminar I: Dealing with Difference

Number of Sections: 3 | Days and Times: Section A-Tuesday & Thursday (11:30-1:00 PM ICT), Section B-Tuesday & Thursday (1:30-3:00 PM ICT), Section C-Monday & Wednesday (9:45-11:15 AM 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.