This course gives a comprehensive introduction to a specific area of contemporary anthropological investigation. Current research trends and recent theoretical developments are explored through critical discussions with emphasis on anthropology's evolving engagement with the selected field. The course offers a unique opportunity to be acquainted with diverse aspects - methodological, epistemological and theoretical - of the research process, aspects that lie at the very basis of anthropological analysis and practice, and of ethnographic production.

Course Theme Spring 2017:

This course addresses the question of how nationalism fares politically, socially and culturally under conditions of advanced globalization. Nationalism has been one of the major forces shaping not only international politics but also important aspects of individual lives all over the world throughout the 20th century. Although its demise in the face of globalization has been widely predicted over the past two-three decades, empirical observations suggest that far from declining, nationalism, at least in Europe, may be on the rise again albeit in a new context pervaded by neoliberal thinking. This raises two questions: (1) is nationalism, an ideology closely associated with the height of modernity - the 19th and 20th centuries - still a suitable way for imagining and organizing political communities in the post-industrial, post-modern, globalized, and neoliberal world of the 21st century? (2) And if nation-states have to deviate substantially from the original ideal type in order to adapt to globalization, what forms do these deviations take? There are of course several possible paths. One of them is being charted by the oil-rich states in the Persian Gulf, a region hardly ever mentioned in the literature on nationalism because it fits with none of the existing nation-building models. The Gulf states are the empirical focus of this course. Precisely because of their exceptionalism, the study of their socio-political practice can fruitfully open for new angles from which to read the classic theories of nationalism and citizenship.

The scholarship on nationalism draws on a vast range of disciplines within the social and human sciences. Anthropology's contribution is characterized by its use of ethnographic research methods and its focus on "real people doing real things". Theoretically, the course explores nationalism and related topics from a multidisciplinary perspective in which the anthropological approach occupies an important place.

In this course the oil-rich states in the Persian Gulf are used as case studies to address general questions about nationalism, citizenship, the commercialization of higher education and national security, international migration, and the welfare state. It is thus relevant not only for students of nationalism narrowly defined and of the Middle East but also for students with wider topical and regional interests.

• Provide an overview of the chosen field of study, with particular emphasis on its history and key debates.
• Explain the current state of research in the chosen field of study.
• Explain the various methodological and theoretical considerations that must be made in order to further the course's field of study.
• Apply key concepts and perspectives from the course in an independent written work.

Lectures

2-4 hours per week

3-5 weeks

10 hours in total

Department of Social Anthropology

Fosswinckelsgate 6

5007 Bergen

E-post: Studieveileder@sosantr.uib.no

Home page: http://www.uib.no/antro/

Phone: +47 55 58 92 50

Fax: +47 55 58 92 60