Culture and Identity in a Globalizing Europe

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The course aims at understanding globalisation and its relationship to identity formations in a cultural register. It examines the way different types of identity are constructed and how these processes of identity construction are linked to globalisation. The module starts with a conceptual analysis of the relations between globalisation and modernity. From this central conceptual ‘core’ the course extends to theoretical and empirical research into the construction of three different types of identity: religious identities, consumer identities, and digital identities. Each of the axes will be examined on three levels of abstraction. Through reading texts by Max Weber, Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault the concept of globalisation is connected to the relevant canon of philosophical and sociological literature. Second, drawing on recent scholarship, the formation of religious, consumer and digital identities is studied. Third, some of the more pressing topics related to culture and identity in Europe are debated. Please note that this is an elective course and available places are limited.