B8081 - Politics of Intersectionality (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims at providing students with the methodological and conceptual tools to analyze the interlocking of different systems of oppression in contemporary social experience. Consistently with international debates on intersectionality, it focuses on the issues of gender, race, and class, reconstructing their historical development and analyzing their mutations in the global present. At the end of the course, students: - manage the methods to analyze different forms of oppression and discrimination; - are aware of the basic questions at stake in international debates on intersectionality; - are able to investigate the specificity of social and political processes from the angle of gender, race, and class in a global perspective; - are able to apply acquired knowledges to the analysis of information and communication processes; - are able to widen their disciplinary training, establishing a relation between the knowledges acquired during the course and their more general educational path.

Course contents

The course is dedicated to a discussion of “intersectionality”, a body of theories and methods that aims at critically analyzing the interlocking of different systems of oppression centered on issues such as gender, race, class, and sexuality, as well as related practices of struggle and resistance. This year, the course will focus on the topic of race and racism in the African American historical experience, which in many ways lies at the root of the debates surrounding intersectionality. After introducing the concept of intersectionality, the course will examin the life and works of W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963), an eminent social scientist, historian, and activist. Particular attention will be given to the enduring relevance of his thought in contemporary debates on the intersections between race, gender, and class – also through his memorable images, like the “color line” and “double consciousness.”

Readings/Bibliography

Books required for the exam:

A. One of the following two:

A. Bohrer, Marxism and Intersectionality. Race, Gender, Class, and Sexuality Under Contemporary Capitalism, Bielefeld, transcript Verlag, 2019.

A. Davis, Women, Race & Class, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 2019.

P. Hill Collins, Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory, Durham, NC and London, Duke University Press, 2019.

B. The following work:

W.E.B. Du Bois Speaks. Speeches and Adresses 1890-1963, 2 voll., ed. by Ph.S. Foner, New York – Sydney – London, Pathfinder Press, 1970.

Further readings will be suggested during the course.

Teaching methods

Lectures will be combined with seminars, with direct involvement of students and possible participation of external guests. At the beginning of the course a syllabus will be distributed with recommended readings for each week.

Assessment methods

The exam will be oral. Students attending classes are encouraged although not required to present a paper (around 4.000 words), to be discussed during the exam. Students are required to turn in the paper at least one week before the exam.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the instructor, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

The course presupposes a basic knowledge of the history of modern and contemporary political theory. Students who do not have such knowledge in their curriculum can refer to one of the following texts:

S.S. Wolin, Politics and Vision. Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2006.

A. Negri, Insurgencies. Constituent Power and the Modern State, Minneapolis, MI: University of Minnesota Press, 1999.

C. Galli (ed), Manuale di storia del pensiero politico, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2011

A. Pandolfi (ed), Nel pensiero politico moderno, Roma, Manifestolibri, 2004

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and with the instructor in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

Links to further information

http://unibo.academia.edu/SandroMezzadra

Office hours

See the website of Sandro Mezzadra