Course syllabus
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Contact Information
Lecturer: Richey Wyver
HSB Room 906
Office hours: TBC
Māori and Pasifika Academic Advisor:TBC
Course timetable
Lectures – Thursdays, 11am - 1pm
Tutorials - Refer to SSO
What is this course about?
- How are we to understand ‘cultural difference’ and the power relations and inequalities that operate between cultural groups – ethnic, national, indigenous, ‘racial’, migrant and native-born?
- How did these differences become key themes in the construction of identities and the focus of division and conflict?
- How do ideas of ‘race’ and ‘culture’ intersect and diverge?
- How are cultural identities constructed, negotiated and put to use in our everyday lives?
- How can we make sense of our own cultural identities in terms of 'race', ethnicity and national identity?
We will explore these questions initially through looking at the history of the development of ideas of primitivism, race and nation as ways of defining ‘a people’ and how these histories are intertwined with the history of modernity and European colonialism. We will relate contemporary concepts of ethnicity and indigeneity back to this history and explore a range of key contemporary issues in the politics of ethnicity and peoplehood. The course will draw on international research and examples and, where possible, relate the key ideas to the New Zealand context.
Throughout the course these key themes will recur:
- The construction of cultural identities
- The relationship to place in constructing types of peoples
- The practices of negotiation, boundary-making, inclusion & exclusion
Learning goals
On the successful completion of this course you should be able to:
- Explain the connections and differences between the concepts of primitivism, race, nation, ethnicity and indigeneity;
- Use these concepts to analyze contemporary instances of contestation between cultural groups, including within New Zealand society;
- Identify the use of these concepts in examples of identity claims;
- Analyse your own ethnic and national biography in light of concepts taught in the course.
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To achieve a good understanding of the material covered in this course and a good grade in the course assessments you will need to:
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Provisional Course Outline
Please note, this may change slightly as the course progresses. To keep up to date, please follow the weekly course newsletters that I will post on Canvas.
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Week |
Week Beginning |
Topic and Reading |
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1 |
July 27th |
Introduction: Categories, Power and Identities
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2 |
August 3rd |
Primitivism and Authenticity Reading – Thomas King Reading 2 – Belinda Borrell |
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3 |
August 10th |
Race Reading 1 – Sunshine Kamaloni Reading 2 – Daniel Miller |
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4 |
August 17th |
National Identity Reading 1 – Richard Keily et al Reading 2 – Avril Bell ASSIGNMENT 1 DUE |
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5 |
August 24th |
Ethnicity Reading 1 – Douglas Cornell and Douglas Hartmann Reading 2 – Melinda Webber |
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6 |
August 31st |
Hybridity: Negotiating Ethnic Identities Reading 1 – James Liu Reading 2 – TBC ASSIGNMENT 2 DUE |
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September 7th – 18th |
Mid Semester Break |
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7 |
September 21st |
Indigeneity and Māori IDs Reading 1 – Evan Poata-Smith Reading 2 – Lily George
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8 |
September 28th |
White Settler Identities and Pakeha Identities Reading 1 – Jessica Terruhn Reading 2 – Alison Jones
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9 |
October 5th |
Ethnic Minorities and Belonging Reading 1 – Elsie Ho and Richard Bedford Reading 2 – Helen Lee
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10 |
October 12th |
Neo-Racism and Precarity Reading 1 – Ghassan Hage ESSAY DUE
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11 |
October 19th |
Everyday Racism and White Fragility Reading 1 – David Mayeda et al
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12 |
October 26th |
White Fragility Reading 1 – DiAngelo
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Course summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
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