In this course, you will be introduced to the developing field of studies on ‘belonging’ – and invited to contribute to this field yourself. We start with a couple of pivotal terms/verbs: feeling at home, making home and belonging. We analyze the importance of these emotions in private lives and politics, and ask ourselves what inclusionary and exclusionary impacts these notions have in people’s lives. 

This course tries to answer a couple of urgent questions of our days: why are so many politicians and citizens obsessed by national identity, national culture, national language, national history? Why is citizenship these days so much about “who belongs here?”, “Who is truly Dutch, French, Hungarian, Polish or American?” and far less about social citizenship (welfare state rights) or about political or civic aspects of citizenship? Why do we see the return of ‘the native’, the rise of nativism all over the world: in India, Russia, the US, in many African countries? In other words, why does the predominant question these days seem to be: who has the right to feel at home? 

Timetable

You can find the timetable on Datanose.

Registration

Registration is possible for Bachelor's students participating in an Honours programme. Registration will start on 6 June at 10 am and end on 11 June at 11 pm. You can register through the online registration form that will appear on Honoursmodules IIS (registration is NOT through SIS). Placement is at random and students will hear within two weeks for which course(s) they are registered. There is no guarantee for placement if you register after 11 June, so make sure you register on time! 

For questions about registration please email to: Honours-iis@uva.nl 

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