MA Postcolonial Studies

The dissertation is a core component of all Masters programmes at SOAS. The supervised dissertation research requires the ability to work independently on an original piece of research, to demonstrate familiarity with the relevant literature and present the resulting dissertation in a clear and organised format. The research and writing of the Masters dissertation is a crucial component of Research-based Masters training. The dissertation has a 10,000 word limit and counts for 33% of the overall degree. For details on presentation and submission dates, see the Postgraduate Taught Masters Handbook.

This module explores in an interdisciplinary fashion theoretical interrogations of relationships of power, domination and resistance in the context of imperialism and colonialism in the modern period (late nineteenth-century to the present). A range of literary and filmic works from Africa, East Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia, the Caribbean and diaspora will inform engagement with postcolonial theoretical texts relevant to the concepts underpinning colonial and decolonial representation and practice, such as empire, colony, nation, race, indigeneity, class, gender, sexuality, and the 'sublatern'. These will address the intersection between epistomology and structures and power, and how this is manifest in literary and cultural expressions, representations of colonialism and decolonisation, neo-colonialism, allowing us to explore the heterogeneous meanings, intersections and strategies of analysis that have emerged with reference to postcolonial studies.

This module outlines the development of African Philosophy in the 20th century, a discourse that hinges on the following questions: does philosophy exist in Africa? What are the specific qualities that distinguish it from Western philosophy? We will survey the trends in African philosophical thought classified under the rubrics of ethnophilosophy", "nationalist-ideological philosophy", "sage philosophy", and "professional philosophy", and discuss specific concepts with philosophical reference or resonance, such as race, time, but also development or art. Several classes will be devoted to influential contemporary philosophers, in particular Paulin Hountondji, Kwame Anthony Appiah, V.-Y. Mudimbe, Henry Odera Oruka, and Kwasi Wiredu."

This module will introduce students to postcolonial literary studies through two key conceptions of identity: race and gender. The module will engage with the contemporary postcolonial novel (to be updated yearly), as it engenders critical insight into race and racism, gender and sexual identity and their intersections. It will introduce students to the vocabulary of critical race and gender theories as well as intersectionality as part of the development of literary analytic and critical reading skills. At the end of the module, students will be proficient in literary analysis and have a familiarity with key concepts in postcolonial studies.

The module gives students a good general introduction to Contemporary African Literature(s) and to demonstrate to them some of the ways in which creative writing in the form of prose narratives, the novel, poetry, drama, etc help create an understanding of the socio-cultural, economic and political issues that define life and existence on the African continent and its diaspora. The module is also meant to help encourage students develop critical and analytical skills that move away from dominant Eurocentric and Western perspectives and to present the teaching, researching, understanding and analysis of Africa from African-centred perspectives.

This module discusses the question how language is related to the conceptions of identity and society in the African context. The module offers different perspectives on the relation between language and identity, and on the dynamics of language use in Africa.

This module introduces students to ethnographic studies in and of a particular region in Sub-Saharan Africa, its resident populations, and its diasporas, viewed through a variety of interconnected topics that have been important in the anthropological literature. With a particular focus on West Africa, East Africa, or Southern Africa, students will have the opportunity to explore classic and contemporary anthropological themes such as social organization, political economy, religion, gender and sexuality, race/ethnicity, personhood, the body, consumption, labour and livelihoods, violence and justice, and social identities, as they take shape in particular locales. The module also encourages students to consider how anthropological and historical understandings help us to recognize the fundamentally interconnected and global nature of any nation, subregion, or region, whose boundaries are often designated or shift as a result of colonial, post-colonial, and neo-colonial social processes and power relations.

This course offers an exploration of the formation of diasporas and their cultural politics. It looks at how diasporic subjectivities are formed through gendered aesthetic practices and performances, which can take on and signify religious, cultural, political meanings, which are in turn constantly negotiated, hybridised and re-fashioned across bodies, times and spaces.

What is migration? Is this the “age of migration”? What is Diaspora and what challenges do diasporic communities bring to modern political constructions such as the nation-state, national “imagined” communities, citizenship and their associated metaphysics of sedentarism? This course will explore these issues by critically engaging with the ways in which migration and diaspora have been understood historically and in modern and contemporary times. Different theories, approaches, and disciplinary angles will be introduced and discussed. We will also consider what de-colonising approaches to migration and diaspora might look like. By drawing on established and less charted bodies of work on migration studies, diaspora and identity, transnationalism, postcolonial and de-colonial studies the course offers an interdisciplinary approach to the emergence of diasporas, the reformulation of 'home' and the simultaneous instability and reinforcement of nation-states.

How might we understand art as a site of politics?  In this module we consider how visual artists and art collectives have taken positions on political change in Africa since the early twentieth century, spanning from anti-colonial resistance and the struggle against apartheid to the Arab Spring and Rhodes Must Fall movement.  Through case studies ranging from early portrait photography in West Africa to recent live art protests, we think through aesthetic approaches to the political.

This module is designed as an overview of Global Film Industries for MA Global Creative and Cultural Industries students who may or may not have a background in Film Studies. The module will focus on approaching film languages and film industries from a decolonised perspective, paying particular attention to important films, filmmakers, and film industries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, and to moments of radical rupture within mainstream film culture (particularly in relation to gender).

This module introduces history, theory and methodology in the study of Taiwan cinema through examining key works by major filmmakers from Taiwan and the Chinese diaspora as well as the socio-cultural condition of their production, distribution, exhibition and consumption. Special attention will be paid to issues such as the construction of local and national identities through film, national film historiography, as well as mainstream and alternative film practices.

This module aims to provide students with a broad knowledge base to understand Taiwan's culture and society. Because of its multifaceted cultural and ethnic mix and the complex colonial history, the module looks at Taiwan’s contemporary culture, unpicks the various dimensions of the complicated social change, and considers the colonial legacy and the impact of globalization. The focus of the module is placed on the highly contentious issue of identity politics of the post-war era. By exploring contemporary Taiwanese cultural change and social development, this course facilitates a solid understanding of the complexity of this place, offers an interesting reference point to think about China and Japan, and provides a better understanding of the greater East Asian society. Because most courses cover China, Japan and Korea, this module can connect the dotted line to form a more complete picture of East Asia.

This module will introduce students to the growing field of world literature. It will broadly survey contemporary theoretical discussions in the field through two major entry points: language and translation and movement and identity.

This module offers a thorough grounding in the origins and development of Cultural Studies as a field, as well as an exploration of the various methodologies employed in the study of cultural production, the media, and the construction of every-day life. The works of key thinkers and practitioners in the field will be examined, alongside their use of critical lenses including identity, race, ideology, power, class, and representation, as well as questions of institutionalisation and disciplinarity. The module aims to test the applicability of these theories and approaches in the contexts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as well as diasporic situations.

This module aims to introduce students to the major debates and topics in the fields of Comparative Literature. It aims to develop critical understandings of the field and its place alongside other theoretical approaches to the study of literature.

This module will continue the work from Comparative Literature: Methodology and Critique, although it is its own free-standing module. In this term, the focus will be on the various cutting edges of the field. To accommodate this, the module will be updated every year, but example topics might include themes such as: decolonization, queer theory; intermediality; and digital humanities.

This module builds on the insights gained in Cultural Studies: Origins, Development, Methodologies, by focusing explicitly on the ongoing development of Cultural Studies as a field in specifically non-Western contexts. It investigates the evolution of the field's critical mission and its originary focus on the cultural distribution of power, and the ethical, moral and political questions raised by that focus. It does so by offering a series of key case studies drawing on cutting-edge work in, from and on the cultures of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, as well as their diasporas around the world, and invites students to work and learn collaboratively and experientially, putting their analytical insights to use in novel and ground-breaking ways.

The purpose of this module is to familiarise students with the main debates in gender and development and to introduce new ways of conceptualising the field, critiquing the concept of gender as generally applied in development, and also development itself. We will study issues relevant to gender and development not usually included within the development paradigm, like the coloniality of gender. We will also discuss how the gender binaries came to be so pervasive globally. Gender here is viewed as a set of normative behavioural prescriptions that apply to men as much as to women and men and masculinities will be treated as an integral part of the field alongside women and femininities. Gender is also understood not simply as an issue of individual male-female relationships but as inherently political.

Whether we think about migration, development, geopolitics, or citizenship, all questions of our time seem to revolve around the conceptualisation, functions and effects of borders and bordering processes. Borders are central to processes of social change, and the course identifies different approaches to studying borders’ significance in such processes. Borders have also become a key site of policy and political intervention, and the course explores border management practices related to fostering, preventing or channelling the circulation of commodities and people. Finally, the course reflects on the relation between borders, border management and inequalities. Borders are gendered, racialised and power laden. Yet, they are also sites of agency, resistance and subversion. Borders are privileged sites of analytical enquiry, as they render concrete and reproduce selective opportunities, inequalities and contestations.

This team-taught course aims to provide an understanding of how aid and aid institutions have impacted on developmental prospects and practice. It explores the role, purpose, and complexities of aid in development through an examination of what forms ‘aid’ takes, and how this contributes to development; the role of specific types of organizations involved in delivering aid; the contexts in which aid is distributed; and the complexities and challenges involved. Thematically, the course is divided into three main areas: firstly and exploration of key ideas and themes in aid and development; secondly, an examination of aid at differing organizational levels; and thirdly, an exploration of aid delivery and practice in specific contexts. It will draw on experiences from a variety of contexts to provide a grounding in how aid and development are linked, and how ‘aid organizations’ function.

In this module we explore a wide range of policy processes around the world that shape the dynamics and impacts of international migration. The module provides students with the opportunity to engage critically with the complex configurations of institutions, politics and normative claims that underpin migration-related policy (with an emphasis on contemporary policy developments, although these are situated in an historical perspective). It also challenges students to explore alternative policy approaches. In particular, we consider debates and initiatives relating to international labour migration and migrants’ rights; education, skills and mobility; various forms of economic and political transnationalism; and refugee movements. Students investigate the positions taken by a variety of stakeholders, from migrant associations, NGOs, employers and trade unions, to emigration states, destination states, regional bodies and international organisations.

In this module, we are aiming for a participatory and intellectually stimulating learning experience. The module engages with theories and approaches that are applied in the study of the working poor in the Global South - and to a lesser extent the Global North - and their collective agency and activism through labour movements, social movements and struggles grounded in both productive and reproductive sites of contention. We begin with an exploration of the main approaches to labour and development in an historical context. We then move on to analyse how neoliberalism and globalisation have incorporated the labouring classes of the South through processes such as informalisation and feminisation of work. The module homes in on the strategies and campaigns of trade unions, labour organisations, social movements and environmental campaigns.

This course explores feminist and gendered approaches to the study of global political economy. First, the course explores feminist contributions to the study of the world economy and its intersecting inequalities, including during COVID-19 times, and illustrates feminist analyses of the global assembly line. Second, it introduces social reproduction theorizations and illustrates processes of commodification of social reproduction under neoliberalism, by examining the rise and features of global care and reproductive chains. Third, the course explores links between accumulation, gender, and race, by introducing gendered approaches to racial capitalism, coloniality, and indigeneity. It analyses feminist intersectional, anti-racist and decolonial political movements including BLM; and introduces debates on abolition feminism and reproductive justice. Finally, the course illustrates gendered approaches to agrarian change, food, and the ecology. 

This course is about the economic structures, institutions and policy challenges in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The module starts with a broad economic history of the region since the mid 19th Century and goes on to address selected aspects of economic policy in the contemporary period in areas related to natural and human resources. Among the topics covered are: the oil sector, labour migration and capital flows, problems of industrialization in resource based economies, and population transition. For the purposes of this course, the MENA region comprises the Arab countries, Iran and Turkey.

This course provides an introduction to the post-1950 evolution of the main economies of the Asia-Pacific region (comprising Northeast and Southeast Asia). It looks at macroeconomic issues, with a particular focus on growth, trade and investment flows, and fluctuations in economic indicators since the middle of the 1990s.

This module explores economic development in post-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa, bringing together macroeconomic and microeconomic perspectives. It presents theoretical and policy-relevant debates that are of interest not only to those who want to learn about Sub-Saharan Africa specifically but also to those who are seeking to develop a global understanding of economic dynamics.

Migration and diaspora are - like gender – not descriptive, objective categories, but analytical tools to name positions of power. In this course we discuss what gendering, diaspora and migration can imply as analytical (not descriptive) categories and how they are constructed interdependently by power relations. We will engage with a range of approaches to gender, migrations and diasporas and will address the social and political dimensions of migration and diasporas as well as politics related to constructions of non/belonging, cultural productions and imaginations.

This course is intended to provide both an introduction to queer theory, as well as to engage with the question of its relevance in contemporary Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. This course will use struggles for sexual self-determination as a prism through which to consider broader questions about the constitution of modernity, the proliferation of identities, rights and claims for justice, the consolidation and deconstruction of postcolonial national identities, the aspirations and anxieties of postcolonial elites, etc. These questions will be studied contextually, with topics in many weeks focusing on a single area case study, or a comparison of two or more country-contexts.

The aim of this course is to offer a historical and critical survey of contemporary gender theory in order to explore the challenge of gender studies for interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research. It will further examine the interface between gender theory and a variety of other theoretical perspectives applied to the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, including postcolonialism, critical theory, postmodernism and poststructuralism. The course will also investigate central questions of epistemology and methodology in relation to the application of gender theories in the field of cross-cultural studies. Students will be introduced to feminist and gender theory research methods and hermeneutics in order to develop research and interpretive skills for undertaking their own quantitative and qualitative research.

The aim of this course is to offer a historical and critical survey of contemporary gender theory in order to explore the challenge of gender studies for interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research. It will further examine the interface between gender theory and a variety of other theoretical perspectives applied to the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, including postcolonialism, critical theory, postmodernism and poststructuralism. The course will also investigate central questions of epistemology and methodology in relation to the application of gender theories in the field of cross-cultural studies. Students will be introduced to feminist and gender theory research methods and hermeneutics in order to develop research and interpretive skills for undertaking their own quantitative and qualitative research.

This module is concerned with South Africa's tumultuous twentieth-century history. It commences with the reconstruction of the South African state following the end of the South African War (1899-1902), and examines the respective origins and consequences of formal segregation (1910s - 1930s) and apartheid (1940s - 1980s). It is especially concerned with the ways in which ordinary Africans negotiated daily life within the strictures of these forms of state repression. A significant part of the module is concerned with the emergence of African nationalism, resistance to apartheid, and the collapse of the apartheid state at the end of the twentieth century, a conflict that engulfed all of southern Africa.

This module examines themes and notions of 'modernity' in the Korean cultural context, through a syllabus which considers issues surrounding representation, identity, landscape and memory in Korean literature and film. It aims to provide students with the skills to read, analyse and understand Korean literary works and films against past and present socio-historical contexts and critical discourses.

This module focuses on understanding and applying the concepts of culture, otherness, and cultural translation approached from the perspectives of translation studies, post-colonial, and cultural studies. By taking this module, students can locate themselves in the wider context as translators/interpreters.

The module examines modern and contemporary Japanese fictional works across literature and popular culture. The texts and audiovisual sources (manga, anime) selected all offer alternative visions of Japan, challenging notions of a supposedly homogeneous and monolithic modern country. Through careful analyses of primary sources, the module reflects on fictional representations of peripheral identities in literature, such as rural communities, social, ethnic, and cultural minorities, but also on the representations and consumptions of popular media related to so-called “subcultures”, including manga and animation as well as their fandom.

This module examines Korea’s emergence as a modern nation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and subsequent development as two separate states after division in 1945. We will look in detail at the key historical themes and events that have shaped 20th century Korean culture and society.

This module explores historical and contemporary dimensions of the relationship between International Law and colonialism/ imperialism.

In the first part of the course, we will consider the historical mappings of the colonial endeavour within international law as well as theoretical debates concerning colonialism, post-colonialism and neo-colonialism. In the second half, we will focus on a variety of contemporary international law issues – e.g., statehood and recognition; self-determination of peoples; failed states; administration of territory; racialisation and capitalism; and reparations- in light of the historical and theoretical perspectives introduced in the earlier part of the term.

This module uses diverse legal, historical, anthropological and sociological literature to introduce the dynamic region of Southeast Asia to SOAS postgraduate students. We are guided by a law and society approach, which places an emphasis on empirical, interdisciplinary understandings of the historical and present-day Southeast Asian polities; their social, religious and legal regimes; and the ways they have interacted with one another. You are not required to possess any prior knowledge of legal studies or, indeed, of Southeast Asia. Your weekly classes will be led by experts in the field of Southeast Asian Studies, and you will be able to learn a great deal about the historical, social and legal dimensions of life across Southeast Asia.

This module aims at conceptualising a new law and development initiative for Africa by critically engaging with the traditional “law and development movement” and identifying its methodological shortcomings with respect to Africa. It examines the scope and limitations of law as an instrument of development and explores what contributions law, legal theory and legal institutions can make towards the realisation of human, economic and socio-political development in Africa.

This module explores old and new theories of law and development relevant to Africa through thematic topics that fall within the three key aspects related to development: Human Development, Socio-political development and economic development. The module applies the successes and limitations of law as an instrument of development identified in LDA I, and determines what contributions law, legal theory and legal institutions can make towards the realisation of human, economic and socio-political development in Africa.

The module has a comparative approach, examining national, regional and international perspectives of highlighted issues within an African context.

This module provides a critical understanding of the theoretical and conceptual approaches to the relationship between communication, culture, arts and politics in the Middle East.

A central component of globalization is the mass movements of people and the consequent growth of a variety of communities and networks whose lives are played out across and beyond national borders. Media and communications are central to the lives and practices of such collectivities and take many different forms. Many diasporas have developed a range of media channels to bind members and maintain connection with the homeland. Religious communities are amongst the biggest transnational media players, for example in the development of Christian broadcasting channels or the multiplicity of sites for Koranic interpretation on the Net.

The modules addresses topics in Global Media and Post-National communication through using a comparative approach focused on case studies in the Global South. The comparative approach is important particularly because media studies developed along the US-UK axis making it imperative to ask how media theories can be used in other parts of the world, address their ethnocentric and normative assumptions and exploring different approaches arising from other genealogies and histories.

This interdisciplinary module will critically engage with contemporary academic debates around post-truth media environments, definitions of misinformation, conspiracy and information warfare. It will introduce key theoretical approaches around the role of media in the construction of prejudice and conspiracy while drawing on diverse approaches in critical media studies, social psychology, gender studies, sociology, politics and cultural studies. The module will help students acquire the necessary theoretical and methodological approaches to critically engage with, and understand, the role of media as well as the role of media users in the construction of post-truth societies, inter-group conflict, prejudice and discrimination.

The Jewish people have been on the move for as long as they’ve been called Jews. Key dates of expulsion define Jewish history - 586 BCE, 1492, post-1948 - but took place in regions that are today associated with Sephardi/Mizrahi Judaism. This class will consider the musical styles of the Jews of Arab lands through the experience of exile and diaspora. Focusing on the languages, rituals and musical styles that developed over centuries across the Arab world, we will examine how the experience of Jewish exile helped to shape Middle Eastern and North African soundworlds.

Music in Global Perspective introduces aspects of the discipline of ethnomusicology with a particular focus on musical sound and performance. The course covers styles of teaching and learning cross-culturally, including approaches to teaching world music in the classroom. Students consider ways of representing musical structures and styles from the perspective of researchers, teachers and performers. Students engage with approaches to musical creativity, and processes of composition and improvisation. We consider anthropological and psychological approaches to musical performance, embodiment and affect, and their relevance in different cultural contexts, including approaches to music and the body, music in ritual contexts, music and healing, as well as the cultural study of musical instruments.

In this module, selections of Palestinian writings in different genres will be read and analysed as exemplars of literary responses to a situation of alienation and displacement, with particular focus on tradition and innovation, the construction and maintenance of identity, coping strategies and the evolving social function of literature in the context of the current conflict.

The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the ways in which varying bodies of scholarship across and intra-various disciplines engage and study Palestine, and also an examination of how the study of Palestine cuts across and informs scholarly, theoretical, political and disciplinary approaches. The course addresses issues relating to the questions of conflict and political economy, development, cultural politics, social and economic relations, identity, and other major concerns of humanities and social sciences.

This module provides a historical overview of the Israel-Palestine conflict, from late Ottoman Palestine, through the 1948 war and the establishment of Israel, to the Oslo accords. The module interrogates the historical dynamic in Palestine/Israel and its contestations through social and cultural history.

This module offers historical, theoretical and empirical perspectives on the nature and causes of conflict and its impact of on social and economic development in Africa, Asia and the Middle East over the past century, as well as memory and justice responses to violence. It emphasises the crucial linkages of conflict, memory and justice, in particular the prevalence of unaddressed or manipulated memories of violence, historical grievance and impunity as causes of further conflict.

This module seeks to provide PG students in Comparative Political Thought and other interested students at the department a substantial background in political theory and approaches to the analysis of political thought. It works slowly and closely on some key texts in the history of political thought, and situates them in their global, racial, economic, and gendered contexts by considering questions of empire, class, slavery, location, and more. At the same time, and as part of an effort to re-think the curriculum, the module undoes distinctions between “primary” and “secondary” readings on several levels.

This is a course on culture in contemporary South Asia that highlights the multiple forms, languages, and avenues of cultural production; the relationship between local, national, and transnational/global domains; and the remix and reuse of older repertoires and forms in contemporary situations. During the first half of the term the course will introduce key elements of cultural theory and their application to South Asian contexts and materials and problematise the notion of national culture, while noting the ways in which nation-states in South Asia produce and broadcast particular cultural models. During the second half of the term the course will focus on challenges to and complications of these models through instances of cultural and political activism, changing concepts of 'legitimate language', and non-state media production.

The module will examine an array of examples and forms of resistance literature from South Asia, and may include anticolonial, Dalit, feminist and LGBTQ narratives, political satire and protest literatures, across both prose and poetry.

This module will examine the key issues pertaining to the representation of war, revolution and independence in a selection of literary works in English translation by South East Asian authors. The module will encourage the critical appreciation of literary works, which range from poetry to novels and short stories.

The module will examine key issues pertaining to the representation of genders and sexualities in a selection of films made by South East Asian filmmakers.

The so-called ‘resurgence’ of religion in the public sphere in recent decades is now a significant area of interdisciplinary scholarship eliciting a complex array of responses, ranging from vehement opposition to the very idea that religious concepts and commitments have a right to expression in public, political debates to a reassessment of the provenance and implications of divisions between the secular and the religious and their relationship to the nation state. The current geopolitical landscape wherein ‘religion’ has become a force to be reckoned with has demanded a reassessment of once predominant understandings of processes of secularisation, as well as the meanings of, and tensions inherent within, secular assumptions and secularist positions. The notion that there is no singular secularism, but rather a plurality of secularisms, and of religion as an invention of European modernity and colonialist exigencies are two of many emerging efforts to reconceptualise the meanings of religion and the secular and the entangled relationship between them. This course will offer a comprehensive overview of the various debates around the nature of the secularism and the role of religion in the public sphere.

The course begins by establishing the religion in a historical context starting with early Muslim migrations and settlement in Britain in the 19th century, through the various phases of subsequent migrations, to the institutionalising of Islam in Britain in the early twentieth century and the emergence of community leaders. Within this framework it will cover the different ethnic, sectarian and doctrinal approaches to Islam belonging to and/or adopted by migrants and second and third generation Muslims. The second part of the course will focus on particular issues that have arisen, uniquely, out of the above context and in response to world events.

This module builds on the first term module ‘Religion and Global Politics: Theories and Genealogies’ in order to question dominant approaches to religion and politics. Taking a thematic approach, we will examine a range of topics where the seemingly self-evident division between religion and politics is subjected to critical, applied analysis that engages specifically with contexts, perspectives, and practices in the global south. Themes will include religion, sectarianism and democratisation processes, the relationship between religious discourses and political violence or conflict resolution, the legislative difficulties presented by contradictions in liberalist political principles that underpin the political systems of the global North and its models of multiculturalism, variant conceptions of state-religion relationships, the role of religion in identity politics, state responses to religious identity claims and priorities, free speech and blasphemy, and religious discrimination in the framework of international human rights discourses, amongst others

The so-called ‘resurgence’ of religion in the public sphere and the domain of the political more generally in recent decades is now a significant area of interdisciplinary scholarship, eliciting a complex array of responses, ranging from vehement opposition to the very idea that religious concepts and commitments have a right to expression in public, political debates to a reassessment of the provenance and implications of divisions between the secular and the religious and their relationship to the nation state and the post-colony. The current geopolitical landscape wherein ‘religion’ has apparently become a force to be reckoned with has demanded a reassessment of once predominant understandings of processes of secularisation, as well as the meanings of, and tensions inherent within secular assumptions and secularist positions. The notion that there is no singular secularism, but rather a plurality of secularisms, and of religion as an invention of European modernity and colonialist exigencies are two of many emerging efforts to reconceptualise the meanings of religion, politics, and the secular and the entangled relationship between them.
This course will offer a comprehensive overview of these debates focusing particularly on theorisations of the nature of secularism and the role of religion in the public sphere as well as the genealogies of these debates in order to attend to the central issue of how the relationship between religion and politics is constituted, understood, and instantiated in a global context.