230351 Theorizing InterAmerican Studies (S) (WiSe 2021/2022)

American Pluriverse. The In-Betweens of Identity Politics.

Recently Latin-American societies have defined themselves as pluricultural or even plurinational, while in North America metaphors of the „melting pot," the „salad bowl,“ "nation as transnationality," or "postethnic nation" are used to refer to cultural and ethnic diversity. In this sense, the Americas are a case in point for the rejection of unilinear, monocultural and universal ascription, instead multilinear, pluriculture and pluriversal paths of social and cultural mutual development and co-evolution can be explored. In this course we are not only interested in the intersection of – more or less – fixed identities, such as class, race, gender, ethnicity, age – but especially in the in-betweens, the hybridizations and creolization as well in the social differentiations within social and cultural groups in the Americas. In a transdisciplinary manner drawing on history and cultural studies this course gives an introduction into current theories and conceptualizations in the field of identity politics from Alaska to Patagonia relating them also to their historical predecessors.

Bibliography

Kaltmeier, Olaf / Foley, Michael / Raab, Josef / Rufer, Mario und Rinke, Stefan (ed.): Routledge Handbook to the History and Society of the Americas. New York: Routledge 2019.

Kaltmeier, Olaf / Rohland, Eleonora / Tittor, Anne und Hawkins, Dan (ed.): Routledge Handbook to the Political Economy and Governance of the Americas. New York: Routledge 2020

Raussert, Wilfried / Anatol, Giselle Liza / Thies, Sebastian / Corona Berkin, Sarah und Lozano, Carlos José (Hrsg.) (2020): The Routledge Handbook to the Culture and Media of the Americas. London / New York: Routledge