AN/PS330 - Self and Identity in a Post-Modern World

Being a "self" in this postmodern, new-liberalized world, as an emerging adult, while studying abroad presents an array of challenges for the development of identity. This course interrogates identity and self in the postmodern era of globalization and new liberalism. As we are increasingly globalized and connected, the traditional anchors of self and identity are losing their hold. This course explores some aspects of self and identity focused in particular on the construction of self and how the experience of emerging adulthood is modified through emotions, culture, experience and memory. Using a relational approach to selfhood, we will then explore different facets and contexts in which the self emerges, such as competences, passion, values, purpose, gender, race, spirituality, and interpersonal relationships. We will explore what it means to be authentic on the one hand, and, on the other, what sorts of representation society and we ourselves erect that can promote self-deception. The study abroad experience will provide useful examples by which to analyze the different theoretical and conceptual positions explored. Students will be expected to synthesize the different perspectives in an analysis of their lived experience.