Course Schedule and Catalog

Department: Anthropology

Meeting: 3:00PM - 5:30PM M (12-JAN-2026 - 24-APR-2026) 

Part of Term: Full Term

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Method of Instruction: Face to Face

Credit Hours: 3

 

Section Max Enrollment: 18

Section Enrolled: 8

Total Cross-list Max Enrollment: 18

Total Cross-list Enrolled: 12

Enrollment data as of: 25-NOV-2025 7:27AM

 

 

Final Exam: GR Course-Dept Schedules Exam

 

Description: What is a nation? How has the nation become the standard global political unit over the past century? What might a possible post-nation-state world order look like? Nations are popularly understood to be a natural political unit for a territory and a group of people, who are imagined to share commonalities such as ethnicity, race, religion, language, and culture. And yet, a closer historical and anthropological examination of “the nation” reveals the contradictory, often violent, and contested processes of nation-building and maintenance. The course traces the conceptual political genealogy of modern ethnonationalism, emerging from European warring and imperial contexts to its global spread through the decolonial period. By exploring the transformations of nationalism over time and across different contexts, we will trace academic theories (and critiques) of the idea of nationalism and populist ethnonationalism. Drawing on sources ranging from Black critical theory and diaspora studies to postcolonial novels and contemporary art, we will examine representations and imaginations both about nationalism and by people marginalized and excluded by the modern nation-state to unsettle and re-theorize contemporary conceptions of globalization, nationalism, and the politics of belonging and political obligation. Cross-list: ANTH 388. Mutually Exclusive: Cannot register for ANTH 587 if student has credit for ANTH 388.