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17.506

Ethnic Politics

3-0-9 units · Graduate

Introduces students to the classic works on ethnic politics, familiarizes them with new research and methodological innovations in the study of ethnic politics, and helps them design and execute original research projects related to ethnic politics. Readings drawn from across disciplines, including political science, anthropology, sociology, and economics. Students read across the four subfields within political science. Graduate students specializing in any subfield are encouraged to take this subject, regardless of their previous empirical or theoretical background.

Fall 2024

This course introduces students to the classic works on ethnic politics, familiarizes them with new research and methodological innovations in the study of ethnic politics, and helps them design and execute original research projects related to ethnic politics. Readings are drawn from across disciplines, including political science, anthropology, sociology, and economics. Students read across the four subfields within political science: American Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and Political Theory. Graduate students specializing in any subfield are encouraged to take this subject, regardless of their previous empirical or theoretical background.

Readings

Spring 2007 · Ethnic Politics II

This course is designed mainly for political science graduate students conducting or considering conducting research on identity politics. While {{% resource_link "06702ad4-540e-4f6d-a7d7-65b93ff9bc68" "17.504 Ethnic Politics I" %}} is designed as a primarily theoretical course, Ethnic Politics II switches the focus to methods. It aims to familiarize the student with the current conventional approaches as well as major challenges to them. The course discusses definition and measurement issues as well as briefly addressing survey techniques and modeling.

Readings

  • SES #: 1 · Topics: Introduction · READINGS: (no readings)
    Reading assignment
  • James, William. “On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings.” In Theories of Ethnicity: A Classical Reader . Edited by Werner Sollors. New York, NY: New York University Press, 1996, pp. 34-36. ISBN: 9780814780350.
    Listed reading
  • Weber, Max. “Ethnic Groups.” In Theories of Ethnicity: A Classical Reader . Edited by Werner Sollors. New York, NY: New York University Press, 1996, pp. 52-56. ISBN: 9780814780350.
    Listed reading
  • Barth, Fredrik. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference . Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 1998 [1969], pp. 5-38. ISBN: 9780881339796.
    Listed reading
  • We will examine different measures of ethnic diversity, starting with the widely used ethnolinguistic fractionalization (ELF) found in the 1964 Atlas Narodov Mira .
    Listed reading
  • Atlas Narodov Mira . Moscow, Russia: Miklukho-Maklai Ethnological Institute at the Department of Geodesy and Cartography of the State Geological Committee of the Soviet Union, 1964.
    Listed reading
  • Alesina, Alberto, Arnaud Devleeschauwer, William Easterly, Sergio Kurlat, and Romain Wacziarg. “Fractionalization.” Journal of Economic Growth 8 (2003): 155-194.
    Listed reading
  • Posner, Daniel N. “Measuring Ethnic Fractionalization in Africa.” American Journal of Political Science 48, no. 4 (2004): 849-863.
    Listed reading
  • Fearon, James D. “Ethnic Structure and Cultural Diversity by Country.” Journal of Economic Growth 8, no. 2 (2003): 195-222.
    Listed reading
  • Brown, Rupert. “Social Identity Theory: Past Achievements, Current Problems, and Future Challenges.” European Journal of Social Psychology 30, no. 6 (November 2000): 745-778.
    Listed reading
  • Sidanius, James. “The Psychology of Group Conflict and the Dynamics of Oppression: A Social Dominance Perspective.” In Explorations in Political Psychology . Edited by Shanto Iyengar and William McGuire. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780822313243.
    Listed reading
  • Horowitz, Donald. Ethnic Groups in Conflict . 2nd revised ed. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000, chapters 1 and 2. ISBN: 9780520227064.
    Listed reading
  • Brubaker, Rogers. Ethnicity Without Groups . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780674015395.
    Listed reading
  • Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism . London, UK: Verso, November 16, 2006, selections. ISBN: 9781844670864.
    Listed reading
  • Van Evera, Steve. “Primordialism Lives!” Comparative Politics Section Newsletter (Winter 2001).
    Listed reading
  • Doyle, Michael W., and Nicholas Sambanis. Making War, Building Peace: United Nations Peace Operations . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006, chapter 3, pp. 67-105 (measures and findings on hostility and death). ISBN: 9780691122755.
    Listed reading
  • Snyder, Timothy. “Memory of Sovereignty and Sovereignty Over Memory: Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine, 1939-1999.” In Memory and Power in Post-War Europe: Studies in the Presence of the Past . Edited by Jan-Werner Muller. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp. 39-58. ISBN: 9780521000703.
    Listed reading
  • Petersen, Roger. “Memory and Cultural Schema: Linking Memory to Political Action.” In Memory and Second World War II: An Ethnographic Approach . Edited by Francesca Cappolletto. Oxford, UK: Berg, 2005. ISBN: 9781845202057.
    Listed reading
  • Sniderman, Paul. The Outsider: Prejudice and Politics in Italy . Reprint ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780691094977. Read entire book. Also, read appendices that list the questions used in the surveys.
    Listed reading
  • Forbes, H. D. Ethnic Conflict: Commerce, Culture, and the Contact Hypothesis . New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780300068191. Read the entire book.
    Listed reading
  • Gibson, James. Overcoming Apartheid: Can Truth Reconcile a Divided Nation ? New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 2004, pp. 133-150.
    Listed reading
  • Somer, Murat. “Cascades of Ethnic Polarization: Lessons from Yugoslavia.” Annals, American Academy of Political and Social Science 573 (January 2001): 127-151.
    Listed reading
  • Laitin, David D. Identity in Formation: The Russian-Speaking Population in the Near Abroad . Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998, chapter 1, pp. 3-35. ISBN: 9780801484957.
    Listed reading
  • Kuran, Timur. Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995, pp. 1-44, 137-154, 222-243, and 310-325. ISBN: 9780674707573.
    Listed reading
  • Elster, Jon. “Review of Timur Kuran: Private Truths, Public Lies.” Acta Sociologica 39, no. 1 (1996): 112-115.
    Listed reading
  • Students should familiarize themselves with the model and bring in ideas and examples for practical application of the model. Students should also read a short summary of the model: Rothfeder, Jeffrey. “ Terror Games .” Popular Science 264, no. 3 (March 2004). ↗
    Listed reading
  • SES #: 11 · Topics: Student presentations · READINGS: (no readings)
    Reading assignment

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: Permission of instructor Acad Year 2027-2028: Not offered Acad Year 2028-2029: G (Spring) 3-0-9 units

Sources