COML 4110

The National Question: Theory and Critique

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2023-2024 Catalog.

For critical theory, the nation and nationalism have always been vexed issues. How to consider the relation of the nation and capital? Is the nation merely an institution that serves to ideologically ground the labour market? Is it merely an apparatus to regulate and segment the "bearers" and "guardians" of labour power, and guide them to the sphere of exchange? Is it a real reflection of division amongst peoples? Is it an ancient entity, on par with the state, which persists into the modern era? And what should be the clarification of how the nation functions within the cycle of reproduction, in which capitalism must interact with elements exterior to its own cyclical movement in order to guarantee its social basis and persistence? In taking up the long history of theorizations of the nation and nationalism in the general orbit of contemporary theory, we will attempt to gain a holistic theoretical assessment of the limits and possibilities of this field of criticism.

Distribution Category (ALC-AS, CA-AS)

When Offered Spring.

Breadth Requirement (GHB)

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