Module description
What do we talk about when we talk about 'social justice'? Over the last decade, 'social justice' has emerged as a powerful discourse used by actors as diverse as the social movements, politicians and policy makers, development workers and academics, sidelining the previous discourses about human rights, democracy, development, and progress.
Rather than debate 'social justice' in abstract terms, this course engages with anthropological approaches to social justice that query the very terms associated with it justice, inequality and hierarchy, poverty, aid and charity - and discuss why and how a lot of forms of (in)justice remain invisible and normalized in the world of today. By focusing on a number of concepts, such as structural and symbolic violence, labour and work, embodiment and habitus, citizenship and hierarchies of life, gift and its relationship to aid and fair trade, infrastructure and its relationship to citizenship and well-being, this course aims to illuminate the ways in which issues around social justice lie at the very heart of everyday life, its social, ethical and political dimensions, even for those of us who do not engage in explicit political action or activism striving for social change. The course foregrounds the notion of power in its various disguises, domination and exploitation, habitus and symbolic violence, the right to kill/let die and to make live to explore why inequalities persist, and why well-meaning projects of aid and even resistance might reproduce the very power structures they seek to challenge/address. We will discuss the politics of humanitarian aid and charity, thinking about different ideologies that often underpin allegedly similar projects. Looking into various practices of resistance and collective organizing, the course explores how people turn into political subjects (and volunteers), what projects of resistance and aid can tell us about modes of power, and finally how projects of resistance and aid might be culturally patterned. The course concludes with the discussion of the ways in which anthropological research can make a difference in the world and the ethical dilemmas of engaged, public anthropology.
The aim of the course is to introduce students to anthropology and anthropologica ways of looking at the world, and to provide students with concepts and theories from anthropology and critical social theory - that will enable them to engage with core issues around social justice, inequalities, and different forms of violence in the world of today.
Students will be expected to do a lot of reading while preparing for class, including readings parts of ethnographic monographs. Classes will be based on the discussion of two to three required readings, complemented by presentations and practical exercises.
Assessment details
- 1,200 Word Book Review (30%)
- 1,800 Word Essay (70%)
Educational aims & objectives
- Introduce students to anthropology and anthropological way of thinking about social justice, poverty, and power - and anthropological way of looking at the world more generally.
- Provide students with concepts and theories from anthropology and critical social theory - that will enable them to engage with core issues around social justice, inequalities, and different forms of violence in the world of today.
- Develop students ethnographic sensitivity: their capacity to appreciate the role of ethnographic methods in understanding (in)justice across various contexts; critically engage with ethnographic texts and understand the principles underlying ethnographic methods.
- Prompt students to reflect on the ethical as well as analytical pros and cons of being engaged in projects for social justice while studying them; reflect on their own subject positions/positionality not only as researchers, but also political subjects, consumers of news etc.
Learning outcomes
- Familiarity with some of the core anthropological concepts and approaches for understanding social (in)justice, power and inequalities around the world.
- Developing anthropological way of looking at the world in general and development in particular.
- Understanding of the role of power and politics in any project for social justice and in understanding how social injustice becomes normalized.
- Capacity to critically reflect on projects of social justice and humanitarian aid.
- Understanding what anthropology as a discipline and ethnography as a distinct methodological approach can contribute to understanding social justice and inequality.
Employability Skills
- Critical thinking, research and analysis.
- Ability to produce clear, structured written work.
- Teamwork, interpersonal skills, valuing diversity and difference.
Teaching pattern
One weekly lecture and seminar (or one weekly two-hour workshops).