Links:
[1] http://www.iesabroad.org/study-abroad/programs/barcelona-liberal-arts-business
[2] http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/apa-crib.html
[3] http://apastyle.apa.org/
[4] http://users.rider.edu/~suler/zenstory/thisthing.html
[5] http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/dk/GLOBPM.htm
Self And Identity In A Postmodern World
This course interrogates identity and self in the postmodern era of globalization and neo-liberalism. In a world in which economic, political, cultural and human frontiers are increasingly being torn down, the parameters that have traditionally circumscribed self development are becoming less and less clear. This course will examine how global telecommunication, worldwide migrations, evolving values, and an ever changing and expanding marketplace of goods, services, and ideas impact self and identity. What was once distant, strange and incomprehensible can be instantly accessed, whereas what as once firmly established tradition is increasingly becoming distant, strange, and incomprehensible. The parameters which have previously defined our self and identity, of what is expected, good, normal, and valued, are no longer clearly and unambiguously given, such that the self is increasingly saturated and hybridized. The notion of the “authentic self” in the postmodern era will be explored in the context of relational, psychological, and social perspectives. Contemporary Spanish identity in the context of nationalism, immigration, and commerce will be examined as a means of elaborating upon the complexity of self and identity development. The experience of studying abroad will provide further insights into the impact of cultural and geographical change on self and identity.
IES ATTENDANCE POLICY: Attendance is mandatory for all IES classes, including field studies. Any exams, tests, presentations, or other work missed due to student absences can only be rescheduled in cases of documented medical or family emergencies. If a student misses more than three classes in any course half a letter grade will be deducted from the final grade for every additional absence. Seven absences in any course will result in a failing grade.
By the end of the course, students are able to:
• apply the concepts of postmodernism and globalization to experiences of daily living;
• describe the self and identity in a sociocultural context;
• analyze the notion of a “real” or “authentic” self in the context of the class readings and their own experience;
• analyze how worldwide migration, technological advances and exposure to multiple value systems
can impact self and identity;
• compare and contrast American and Spanish identity;
• analyze the impact of studying abroad on self and identity.
Field studies: These are classes on site in which the student has the opportunity to see and hear how postmodernism and globalization are played out in real life.
Lectures: Lectures provide the students with an opportunity to gain an overview of the course content
and to clarify issues.
Class discussion: The aim of class discussions is to facilitate the students’ ability to apply the theoretical material to lived experience. They also offer the student the opportunity to argue their views and hear the perspective of other students on selected topics.
Article presentation: Each student presents at least one reading during the course. This further allows the student the opportunity to actively engage with theoretical material with the objective to apply it to specific, concrete situations.
Reader: The reader is compiled of a selection of key academic readings, chosen with the aim of providing a general understanding of the subject matter.
Reading guides: These are provided, where appropriate, to aid the student in focusing on the most relevant information.
Group presentations: Movies such as Terminator, American History X and Matrix will be used as a case study to explore key issues discussed in class. Students will work in groups and present their findings in class presentations.
Critical incident journals: Students keep “critical incident journals” in which they describe and analyze key experiences relevant to the course material. The objective of the journal is to actively explore the lived aspects of identity and self in the context of changing cultures.
LANGUAGE OF PRESENTATION: English
Midterm exam (15%); Final exam (20%); Term paper (20%); Class participation (includes reading discussion) (10%); Group presentation (15%) Paper on self in groups (10%); Critical incident journal (10%)
Group presentation and paper on self in groups: Movies such as Fight Club, Total Recall, American History X and Matrix will be used as a case study to explore key issues discussed in class. The film used must be one that in some interesting capacity thematizes issues related to self and identity. Students will work in groups and present their findings in class presentations. The presentation will consist of two
parts: One will be a presentation of the self in question, the central themes and issues that are raised by the movie in the context of the class material. Thus, the character should be analyzed in terms of the “authentic self”, the “empty self”, the “liquid self”, racial identity development, gender identity, sexuality, and so forth. The second part of the presentation will be a critical analysis of the issues at hand, as illustrated by the self in question. You will work in group of 4 or so. Since group work can raise a series of issues, you will also write a short paper commenting on the experience of working in a group. This is in part to offset any of the difficulties inherent in group work (division of labor), and in part of provide an opportunity to reflect on “self-in-relation”. Further information available on the Moodle page
Academic paper: Students will carry out an interview with a fellow student to explore key aspects of self and identity and how they are affected by the experience of study abroad. The paper will follow the format of a qualitative research project. Specific details will be available on Moodle. The idea here is to make sense of the lived experience of another student using the material covered in class. The paper should be 10-12 pages in length, typed, doubled-spaced, font 12.
(see http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/apa-crib.html [2] or http://apastyle.apa.org/ [3] )
Journals: Provide students with a private and relatively informal space in which to reflect on the issues we are discussing in class. Note that “issues we are discussing in class” is operative. Although they are indeed fascinating, this is not a travel journal or “my thoughts about being here in Spain”. You will be graded on your degree of engagement with the issues at hand. This is not an “academic” journal, I will be quite happy if you simply write a free-flow of your reflections on the issues at hand. What did you think about the reading? How did you feel during the discussion in class? What was that about? What does it make you think about or remind you of? Does it apply to your life, your experience? And so on. Again, it is not just “I think x or y” nor a rehash of what the most recent article says but rather an engagement with the issues we are addressing.
Session 1: Introduction and overview
Session 2: What is the self?
Required Reading: Suler, J. 1998 What is this thing called self? Available online at http://users.rider.edu/~suler/zenstory/thisthing.html [4]
Session 3 Who am I?
Required Reading: Bruns, G. L. (2008). Derrida's Cat (Who Am I?). Research in Phenomenology 38(3), 404-423.
Session 4: Globalization and the self
Required Reading: Kellner, D. Globalization and the Postmodern Turn (available online at
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/dk/GLOBPM.htm [5] )
Session 5: Critical perspectives on the Western self (I): The liquid self
Required Reading: Bauman, Z. (2005). The individual under siege In Liquid Life (pp. 15-38). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Session 6:Gen Y self
Required Reading: Arnett, J.J. Emerging adulthood: Understanding the new way of coming of age. In J.J. Arnett & J.L. Tanner (eds.) Emerging Adults in America: Coming of Age in the 21st Century. Washington DC: APA Press (pp. 3-19).
Sebor, J. (2006). Y Me. Customer Relationship Management November, 24-27
Session 7: Critical perspectives on the Western self (II): The empty self
Required Reading: Cushman, P. (1990). Why the Self Is Empty: Toward a Historically Situated Psychology. The American psychologist, 45(5), 599-611.
Session 8: Critical perspectives on the Western self (III): Individualism-collectivism
Required Reading: Kitayama S. & Markus, H.R. (1995). Culture and self: Implications for internationalising psychology. In N.R: Goldberger & J.B. Veroff (eds.). The Culture and Psychology Reader. New York: NYU Press (pp. 366-383).
Session 9: Situating the self in time and space
Required Reading: Mitchell, S.A. (1993). Multiple selves, singular self. In S.A. Mitchell, Hope and Dread in Psychoanalysis. New York: Basic Books (pp. 95-123).
Session 10: Paging the real “me”
Required Reading: Mitchell, S.A. (1993). True selves, false selves, and the ambiguity of authenticity. In S.A. Mitchell, Hope and Dread in Psychoanalysis. New York: Basic Books (pp. 124-151).
Session 11: I am what I feel
Required Reading: Wheeler, G. (1997). Self and shame: A Gestalt Approach. Gestalt Review 1(3), 221-244.
Session 12: There is no self
Required Reading: Percy, N. (2008). Awareness and authoring: the idea of self in mindfulness and narrative therapy. European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Vol. 10, No. 4, December
2008, 355–367
Session 13: Midterm review
Session 14: Midterm exam
Session 15: Thinking about race
Required Reading: Thompson, C. & Carter, R. (1997). An overview and elaboration of Helms’ racial identity development theory. In C.E. Thompson and R.T. Carter, (Eds.). Racial Identity Theory: Applications to Individual, Group, and Organizational Interventions: 15-32. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Pp. 15-32.
Jensen, R. "White privilege shapes the U.S.," Baltimore Sun, July 19, 1998, p.C-1. Also distributed on the LA Times/Washington Post wire and used in papers around the country.
"More thoughts on why system of white privilege is wrong," Baltimore Sun, July 4, 1999, p. C-1.
Session 16: Catalonia is not Spain. Or is it ?
Required Reading: Marshall, S. (2009). Languages and national identities in contact: the case of Latinos in Barcelona, International Journal of Iberian Studies, 22 (2) 87–107
Session 17: Style
Required Reading: Bovone, L. (2006) Urban style cultures and urban cultural production in Milan: Postmodern identity and the transformation of fashion, Poetics 34 (2006) 370–382.
Session 18: Gender
Required Reading: Gediman, H.K. (2005) Premodern, Modern, and Postmodern Perspectives On Sex and Gender Mix, Journal of the American Psychoanalyitic Association 53: 1059, 1059-107
Session 19: Sexuality
Required Reading: Mitchell, S. (2003) The strange loops of sexuality. In Can love last? (pp. 59-92). New York, NY: W.W: Norton
Session 20: Digital self
Required Reading: Turkle, S. (2008). Always-on/Always-on-you: The Tethered Self. In Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies, James E. Katz (ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008.
Session 21: Study abroad self
Required Reading: Comp, D. (2008). Identifying Sojourner Change after a Study Abroad Experience: a Content Analysis Approach. International Tipocs 2(1), 65-87
Session 22: Putting all together: Mutational self
Required Reading: Zingsheim, J. (2011). Developing Mutational Identity Theory: Evolution, Multiplicity, Embodiment, and Agency. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies 11(1) 24–37
Session 23: Group presentations
Session 24: Exam review
Final Exam
Arnett, J.J. Emerging adulthood: Understanding the new way of coming of age. In J.J. Arnett & J.L. Tanner (eds.) Emerging Adults in America: Coming of Age in the 21st Century. Washington DC: APA Press (pp. 3-19).
Bauman, Z (2005). The individual under seige. In Liquid Life (pp. 15-38). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bovone, L. (2006) Urban style cultures and urban cultural production in Milan: Postmodern identity and the transformation of fashion, Poetics 34 (2006) 370–382.
Bruns, G. L. (2008). Derrida's Cat (Who Am I?). Research in Phenomenology, 38(3), 404-423.
Comp, D. (2008). Identifying Sojourner Change after a Study Abroad Experience: a Content Analysis Approach. International Tipocs 2(1), 65-87
Cushman, P. (1990). Why the Self Is Empty: Toward a Historically Situated Psychology. The American psychologist, 45(5), 599-611.
Gediman, H.K. (2005) Premodern, Modern, and Postmodern Perspectives On Sex and Gender Mix, Journal of the American Psychoanalyitic Association 53: 1059, 1059-107
Jensen, R. "White privilege shapes the U.S.," Baltimore Su n, July 19, 1998, p.C-1. Also distributed on the LA Times/Washington Post wire and used in papers around the country.
"More thoughts on why system of white privilege is wrong," Baltimore Sun, July 4, 1999, p. C-1.
Kellner, D. Globalization and the Postmodern Turn (available online at http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/dk/GLOBPM.htm [5] )
Kitayama S. & Markus, H.R. (1995). Culture and self: Implications for internationalising psychology. In N.R: Goldberger & J.B. Veroff (eds.). The Culture and Psychology Reader. New York: NYU Press (pp. 366-383).
Marshall, S. (2009). Languages and national identities in contact: the case of Latinos in Barcelona, International Journal of Iberian Studies, 22 (2) 87–107
Mitchell, S.A. (1993). Multiple selves, singular self. In S.A. Mitchell, Hope and Dread in Psychoanalysis. New York: Basic Books (pp. 95-123).
Mitchell, S.A. (1993). True selves, false selves, and the ambiguity of authenticity. In S.A. Mitchell, Hope and Dread in Psychoanalysis. New York: Basic Books (pp. 124-151).
Mitchell, S. (2003) The strange loops of sexuality. In Can love last? (pp. 59-92). New York, NY: W.W: Norton
Percy, N. (2008). Awareness and authoring: the idea of self in mindfulness and narrative therapy. European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Vol. 10, No. 4, December 2008, 355–367
Sebor, J. (2006). Y Me. Customer Relationship Management November, 24-27
Suler, J. 1998 What is this thing called self? Available online at http://users.rider.edu/~suler/zenstory/thisthing.html [4]
Thompson, C. & Carter, R. (1997). An overview and elaboration of Helms’ racial identity development theory. In C.E. Thompson and R.T. Carter, (Eds.). Racial Identity Theory: Applications to Individual, Group, and Organizational Interventions: 15-32. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Pp. 15-32.
Turkle, S. (2008). Always-on/Always-on-you: The Tethered Self. In Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies, James E. Katz (ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008.
Wheeler, G. (1997). Self and shame: A Gestalt Approach. Gestalt Review 1(3), 221-244.
Zingsheim, J. (2011). Developing Mutational Identity Theory: Evolution, Multiplicity, Embodiment, and Agency. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies 11(1) 24–37
Barcinski, M., & Kalia, V. (2005). Extending the boundaries of the Dialogical Self: Speaking from within the feminist perspective. Culture & Psychology, 11(1), 101-109.
Bauman, Z. (2001). Identity in the globalising world. Social Anthropology 9, 9(2), 121-129
Carlson, D. (2001). Gay, queer, and cyborg: the performance of identity in a transglobal age. Discourse 22(3), 297-309.
Chidester, P., Campbell, S., & Bell, J. (2006). Black is blak: Bamboozled and the crisis of a postmodern racial identity. Howard Journal of Communication 17(4), 287-306
Gergen, K. (1991). The self under siege (1-17). In The saturated self, Dilemmas of identity in contemporary life. New York: Basic Books.
Malson, H. (1999). Women under erasure: Anorexic bodies in postmodern context. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 9(2), 137-153.
McAdams, D. (1996). Personality, modernity and the storied self: A framework for studying persons. Psychological Inquiry, 7(4) 295-321
McAdams, D. P. (1997). The case for unity in the (post)modern self: A modest proposal. In R. Ashmore & L. Jussim (Eds.), Self and identity: Fundamental issues (pp. 46-78). New York: Oxford University Press.
Philips, D.A. Masculinity, male development, gender, and identity: Modern and postmodern meanings. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 27:403–423
Phoenix, A. (1997). "I'm white! So what?" The construction of whiteness for young Londoners. In M. Fine, L. C. Powell & L. M. Wong (Eds.), Off white: Readings on society, race, and culture. New York: Routledge.
Polkinghorne, D. E. (1988). Self-narrative; Narrative and self. In Narrative knowing and the human sciences; (pp. for class: 105-117; 146-157). Albany: State University of New York Press.
Qing, D (2004). Toward a critical feminist perspective of culture and self Feminism & Psychology, (14)2, 297-312
Rattansi, A., & Phoenix, A. (2005). Rethinking youth identities: Modernist and postmodernist frameworks. Identity 5(2), 97-123.
Rose, N. (1989). Obliged to be free. In Governing the soul: The shaping of the private self (pp. 217-233). London: Free Association Books.
Schrag, C. (1999). The self after postmodernity. New Haven: Yale University Press
Tappan, M. B. (2005). Domination, subordination and the Dialogical Self: Identity development and the politics of ideological becoming. Culture & Psychology, 11(1), 47-75.
Wolputte, S. V. (2004). Hang on to your self: Of bodies, embodiment, and selves. Annual Review of Anthropology, 33, 251-269.